CARRYWELL Virtual Conference

LINK TO JOIN WEBINAR: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83182849034?pwd=Keaq8Uv0zovxaGt7CAHkC8YfSn4mbw.1

One of CARRYWELL’s goals is to continue to educate couples struggling with infertility on options to grow one's family. Searching for the best and right options can be overwhelming not to mention the time and money spent on the consultations. This virtual conference is intended for you and your spouse to come together and get the answers you have been seeking. Hear from industry experts and your peers all from the comfort of your home, so grab some dinner and join us for an informative and transformative two nights!

Agenda:

Monday, April 22, 2024
6:30 PM: Embryo Adoption/Donation by NEDC
7:00 PM: Domestic & International Adoption by Lifeline Child
7:30 PM: Surrogacy by Family Inceptions

Tuesday, April 23, 2024
6:30 PM: Legal Aspects of Adoption/Surrogacy by Magic City Law
7:00 PM: Mind-shift from Infertility to Family by Connect Counseling & Consulting & WOVN Wellness
7:30 PM: Advocacy Update by RESOLVE and Fight for Alabama Families

Speakers and Topics:

Embryo Adoption & Donation

Dr. Jeffrey Keenan | National Embryo Donation Center: Embryo Adoption & Donation

Dr. Jeffrey Keenan, a highly respected infertility and reproductive medicine specialist, leads the NEDC team. He is the center’s president and medical director and a fertility specialist with Rejoice Fertility in Knoxville, TN. He is board certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology, as well as Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility.

Dr. John Gordon | National Embryo Donation Center: Embryo Adoption & Donation

Dr. John David Gordon is the medical director and owner of Rejoice Fertility in Knoxville, TN. Before joining Rejoice in August 2019, Dr. Gordon served as co-director of Dominion Fertility in Arlington, VA for 20 years. Over those two decades he was listed as one of Washington’s top doctors in Washingtonian, Northern Virginia and Arlington magazines.

Moderated By: Rodney Miller | CARRYWELL Board President

Rodney and his wife Mary Leah, struggled to get pregnant for over 10 years. After 6 failed IVF cycles, we ultimately decided to adopt embryos. Now we have two beautiful twins that have changed our world.

Domestic & International Adoption

Claire Davis | Lifeline Children Services: Domestic Adoption

Claire joined the Lifeline team in April of 2009 and currently leads our Domestic Adoption team in the Birmingham office. She’s originally from Dallas, Texas but moved to Birmingham to attend Samford University where she studied Sociology. She went on to attend the University of Alabama to receive her Masters in Social Work. Claire and her husband, Joel, have three sons – Isaiah, Nico, and Benji. Claire’s favorite thing about working at Lifeline is meeting new families and preparing them for the journey of parenting through adoption. She considers it a great joy to partner with families in a (literal) life-changing process! She has also been trained as a TBRI (Trust Based Relational Intervention) Practitioner through the Karen Purvis Institute for Child Development at Texas Christian University.

Karla Thrasher | Lifeline Children Services: International Adoption

Karla is a graduate of the University of Alabama at Birmingham and a licensed social worker. She is also a TBRI® Practitioner, certified by the TCU Karen Purvis Institute of Child Development. Karla has been on staff at Lifeline since 2001 and currently serves as the Director of International Adoption. In her role, Karla is privileged to manage the day to day of Lifeline’s International Department and provide leadership to the international team. She coordinates with other Lifeline departments and outside ministry partners to better serve waiting children and families. Some of the specific focuses in Karla’s role at Lifeline are government compliance, customer service and quality assurance. She considers it a great honor to share the gospel through the gift of adoption! Karla lives in Birmingham, AL with her husband Jamie. They have three adult children. Karla’s family are her biggest cheerleaders in her ministry at Lifeline

Moderated By: Heather Minor

Surrogacy

Jessi Winkler | Family Inceptions

From the time she was a young girl, one of Jessi Winkler’s primary traits was that she enjoyed helping people and helping lighten their burden, whether they be family, friends, or strangers. Her mom likes to remind her that when she was four years old, she once left the mailman a crayon-drawn note and $2, thinking he was delivering their mail for free. Nobody was remotely surprised that as an adult, Jessi became a licensed social worker, or that she eventually became a gestational surrogate-twice.

After a decade in the world of infertility and Third Party Reproduction, Jessi was eager to help other surrogates and Intended Parents through the same complicated path that she’d just walked. In early 2021, she accepted a position as a Journey Manager for Family Inceptions, an Atlanta-based surrogacy agency, and now prides herself on the personalized attention she gives every single client she has. She is passionate about transparency and compassion in her field, and is an advocate and an educator for Assisted Reproductive Technologies, believing that empathy is most often blocked by ignorance. Jessi resides in Georgia with her husband, Sean, and two sons, Alex and Jackson, and enjoys traveling, with or without them, cooking, and reading. She is also an avid fan of The Braves and the Georgia Bulldogs, and is still gleefully basking in the success of their 2021 seasons.

Moderated By: Lucy Poole

Lucy grew up in Atlanta, GA and graduated from Vanderbilt University in 2010, moved to Birmingham in 2012, married her husband Conyers, and now works as a recruiter for OnBoard Legal. In 2017, Lucy survived a rare and very fatal pregnancy complication called an amniotic fluid embolism with the birth of their first child. This complication had lasting physical effects, the most devastating of which was secondary infertility. Through grief, she leaned on Christ in a new way as the ultimate healer, comforter, and waymaker. She and her husband Conyers welcomed a second child through a life-changing surrogacy journey in 2019. Lucy is passionate about connecting with others who experience both birth trauma and infertility.

Legal Aspects of Adoption & Surrogacy

Ashleigh Dunham | Magic City Law

AshLeigh Meyer Dunham is the founding partner at Magic City Law, an all-female boutique family law firm in Birmingham, Alabama. She graduated from the University of Alabama and Cumberland School of Law. She has practiced with a focus in family law including ART, Adoption, Divorce and Child Custody cases for over 14 years. Her own infertility battles fuel her to a passion in representing couples in ART and Fertility cases including surrogacies, embryo adoption, egg donation and sperm donation. She has written articles on ART in Alabama and Evidence in Family Law Cases for The Alabama Lawyer. She is currently a Resolve Professional and is serving on the Legislative Services Agency to draft the surrogacy statute. She is the proud mom of an IVF daughter born after five years of fertility treatment and struggles.

Moderated By: Liz Casement | CARRYWELL Board Member

Liz and her husband, Mike, always wanted to adopt children but the journey to their family as they know it today was anything but predictable. Through foster care, adoption, and biological children, their family grew to include four children in two short years. Despite the challenges that come along with it, Liz and Mike consider adoption one of the greatest blessings to their marriage and their family.

Mindshift from Infertility to Family

Debby Shunnarah | Connect Counseling & Consulting

Debby holds a Masters degree in Clinical Mental Health and an advanced certificate in Marriage, Couple and Family counseling. After experiencing her own struggles with fertility over 25 years ago, she came to realize the importance of counseling both partners, as infertility affects the couple as a whole. Taking a person centered approach, Debby is able to tailor treatment for her couples according to their needs and goals.

Jen Bartlett | WOVN Wellness

Jennifer pursued her Master’s in Clinical Mental Health Counseling after having served in Houston, Texas, with Teach for America. There, she witnessed the impact of mental health quality on students’ academic and social outcomes, which ignited her passion to make accessible therapeutic services attuned to individuals’ unique needs.

She’s since honed her clinical interests to those of the modern woman, specializing in issues such as—Infertility, pregnancy, and postpartum adjustment, Anxiety, Life-stage transitions, Relational challenges and Absence of balance or fulfillment. She takes an integrative approach toward treating every client not as a collection of symptoms, but as a whole person, each deserving gentle encouragement, appropriate challenges, and healthy doses of good humor.

Moderated By: Mallory Wear | CARRYWELL Executive Director

IVF Advocacy Update

Barbara Collura | RESOLVE

Barbara Collura serves as the President/CEO of RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association. Barbara is a nationally recognized expert on infertility and the family building journey, with a special emphasis on the personal experience of those struggling to build their family. Barbara has worked with the World Health Organization on infertility definitions and clinical guidelines, worked with ACOG on their clinical definitions for infertility, and served a four-year term on the Advisory Council of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development at NIH.

Barbara is an expert on public policy issues facing the infertility community that impact both patient access and clinical care. Barbara has been a guest on the TODAY Show, MSNBC, Fox & Friends, and Nightline. She is routinely quoted in major media outlets on a variety of topics related to infertility. Barbara is passionate about RESOLVE’s mission as the organization was a source of support and information during her own battle with infertility.

Corinn O'Brien | Fight for Alabama Families

Corinn O’Brien is the Vice President of Policy at A+ Education Partnership and the founder of the Fight for Alabama Families Coalition (FFAF) in partnership with RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association. As a passionate advocate, Corinn leads a dedicated group of advocates, patients, and providers in efforts to protect IVF and fertility care in Alabama through FFAF.

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