APPPAH’s
Cultural Inclusion Commitment
Vision
APPPAH’s vision is that families from ALL cultures - from conception through birth to postpartum - will have equitable access to support and education in having healthy pregnancy and birth experiences and in becoming conscious parents guiding, loving, and supporting conscious babies.
Mission
The mission of APPPAH’s Cultural Inclusion Committee is to address diversity across cultural communities including identities and experiences such as race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, class, ability, and immigration status.
We work with the awareness of
- Intergenerational and collective trauma
- Intersectional systems of oppression
- Recognition of the imperative for decolonization.
We advocate and promote access to preventive and supportive services for families from diverse backgrounds. We also advocate and promote access to education for underserved communities. APPPAH provides support and education, as well as preventative and reparative prenatal and perinatal health services for families that have historically been within oppressive and non-inclusive systems.
Cultural Inclusion Initiatives
APPPAH’s Cultural Inclusion Committee is dedicated to:
Ensuring our education programs are inclusive and representative of all cultures and diverse communities
Providing a library of resources that serve specific cultures and needs
Providing a list of practitioners who serve the needs of diverse cultures
Develop scholarship opportunities to qualified individuals for membership and education.
Cultural Inclusion Committee Interim Chair: Audrey Miles-Cherney
Cultural Inclusion Committee Interim Chairperson: Audrey Miles-Cherney, BS, MSOL(c), CD, CBE, CLE
Audrey Miles-Cherney (she/her/hers) is a Maternal Child Health Specialist, doula, and educator (specializing in birth, lactation, postpartum adjustments, newborn care and safety) with in-depth multicultural leadership training. Audrey currently lives in Colorado (USA) on indigenous homelands of the Tabeguache (Ute) People. Audrey is APPPAH’s Administrative Director and serving as Interim Chairperson for the Cultural Inclusion Committee. She has been a part of the birth support field since 2008 with a passion for improving outcomes for families in the early transitions of parenthood, especially underrepresented families that commonly have less access to culturally appropriate supports and resources including families of color, indigenous, Deaf, and LGBTQIA+ families. From the age of 11, Audrey was raised in a non-traditional family in an era and location when community, spiritual, and legal supports rarely existed for LGBTQIA+ individuals or families. Audrey currently serves on Colorado State’s Maternal Mortality Review Committee, is a Board Officer for the Pikes Peak Regional Doula Association, a member of her local Safe Kids coalition, active in her community of faith’s Social Justice mission/outreach programs, and a student of American Sign Language and Spanish so to have fewer barriers to serve these communities.
Do you have cultural resources you would like to share with APPPAH to include in our Cultural Resources Library?
Email Audrey Miles-Cherney at inclusion@birthpsychology.com