Aliza Ancier
Pregnancy After Loss
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Dr. Aliza Ancier PT, DPT, PCES specializes in helping women navigate their motherhood journey. She has a doctorate in physical therapy with a special interest in maternal health and is a trained mindfulness teacher and educator. Aliza is a mother to three wonderfully rambunctious children at home and one of her twins, in her heart.

Shira Collings
LGBTQ+ group
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Shira Collings, MS, NCC, LPC (she/they) is a psychotherapist in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She primarily specializes in eating disorders, disordered eating, and body image, and is especially passionate about providing LGBTQ+-affirming, neurodiversity-affirming, and fat-affirming eating disorder care. Shira’s personal experience with pregnancy loss sparked their passion for supporting those who are struggling to build their families as well.

Nechama Fried
Primary Infertility
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Nechama, MS, LCPC, LPCC, has a Master’s in clinical psychology and is a licensed professional counselor in Maryland and Ohio. In the past, she has worked in school-based and community mental health. She has a passion for maternal mental health complications including infertility, postpartum depression/anxiety, and pregnancy and infant loss. In line with that, she has facilitated support groups for POEM (Ohio's chapter of Postpartum Support International). Nechama feels fortunate to teach at Columbus Torah Academy and take care of her kids. In her spare time, she enjoys cake decorating, photography, and battling the weeds in the yard.

Aliza Abrams Konig
Surrogacy Support Consultant
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Aliza Abrams Konig is the Director of Student Leadership at Yeshiva University. Throughout Aliza’s career, she has worked within areas of student life, team building, creating curricula, and enriching the experiences of thousands of students through Experiential Education. Earlier in Aliza's career she served as the YU Director of Alumni Engagement, Assistant Principal at Central, Yeshiva University High School for Girls, Director of Student Life at Stern College, and as the Director of Jewish Service Learning for the University, where she built the service learning curriculum and established chessed missions around the world. Aliza is a member of the inaugural Wexner Field Fellows program through the Wexner Foundation. She has spoken worldwide in synagogues, community centers, and schools about leadership, education, faith, prayer and issues related to the contemporary Jewish family, dating, infertility, surrogacy and family, and is a sought-after consultant on surrogacy. Aliza holds a BA in Judaic Studies from Stern College, and a Master’s in Social Work from the Wurzweiler School of Social Work and is now a doctoral candidate at Wurzweiler. Aliza, her husband Samuel, and their family live in Riverdale, New York, where they are very involved with their community, synagogue, and other local organizations.

Shirel Korobkin
General Fertility Support - Israel
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Shirel, with a background in colour management and graphic communications, made Aliyah (moved) to Israel in 2020. During her first few months as a new immigrant (olah chadashah), Shirel discovered she was pregnant. After a healthy pregnancy, at 26 weeks, Shirel found out there was no heartbeat and had to deliver her baby. Shirel felt she had no one to turn to for support. Shortly after her loss she moved to a remote city with no English-speaking resources, friends, or family, which created a void for the support she desperately sought. She found IWSTHAB who helped guide her through her loss, a pregnancy after that loss (PAL), and eventually welcoming a healthy rainbow baby. Shirel currently resides in Harish, Israel, and is very involved with developing events and support for the English-speaking community there. She is very grateful to be working with IWSTHAB and looks forward to giving back to the very same community that helped her through her most difficult moments. Shirel understands the challenges new immigrants and members of English-speaking communities face while navigating their fertility journeys in Israel and looks forward to providing support with compassion, empathy, and understanding.

Gail Miller
Childless Not By Choice
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Gail Miller MD is a life coach, Maternal-Fetal Medicine physician and TEDx speaker. She is the founder of Path Onward Life Coaching empowering women who are childless not by choice to live fulfilling and purpose filled lives.

After she realized biological children would not be part of her story, she went on a personal journey to grieve the loss and rediscover who she was before she realized that being a mother wasn’t going to be part of her life. Her path included navigating the challenges of being a stepmother without biological children. She then reimagined her future.

She is passionate about helping other women find the same healing and wholeness she discovered along the way. With her coaching, Gail empowers women to rediscover who they were before they knew their dreams of motherhood wouldn’t come true regardless of what stage they are at in their lives. She helps clients redefine their visions and embrace the good in their lives.

Part of her mission is also to educate those unfamiliar with the emotional toll that often comes with unwanted childlessness. She advocates for those directly affected and educates friends and loved ones about how to support them.

Talia Mizrahi
First Trimester Loss
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Talia is trained as an Early Childhood Mental Health Specialist and is a Certified Grief Educator. She has a passion for authentic conversations and believes deeply in the power of connection as people share their stories of loss and integration in the context of a caring community. Talia found tremendous comfort in the relationships she built with fellow-grievers in the aftermath of her own loss, and has pivoted professionally to make grief support her primary focus (and love!). She facilitates a grief group for adults under the supervision of grief expert David Kessler, runs an in-person group at a local children's grief center, and educates on grief-informed practice in several arenas. Talia feels it is an honor and privilege to be invited to walk alongside those in grief, and she is humbled to be able to hold space for others at their most vulnerable moments. Talia lives in Cincinnati, and when she is not drinking dark roast coffee or making up silly rhyming songs to amuse her children, she daydreams about curling up on the couch with a good book.

Rina Hennes Sabes
Secondary Infertility
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Rina is a social worker and therapist on a mission to make the world a little brighter for the people that she crosses paths with. In her role as a clinical therapist at Jewish Family Service of Metro Detroit, she works with adults of all ages to provide support, reduce isolation, and empower them to live their most authentic lives. Rina is particularly passionate about education, advocacy, and support for perinatal mental health, with a special interest in infertility and loss. She has created and co-facilitated several groups for women and strives to create a safe and inclusive space to talk about the heavy things that are too often carried alone. Rina is on the board of her synagogue, Young Israel of Oak Park (Michigan), and runs a free gown rental for women in her community. Rina can also be found spending time in nature, reading when she should be sleeping, and enjoying a really good bar of dark chocolate.

Talia Sanford
IVF For Genetic Reasons
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Originally from Riverdale, NY, Talia K. Sanford received her Bachelor of Arts in Biology from Yeshiva University Stern College for Women and her Master’s of Science in Human Genetics from Sarah Lawrence College. Talia is currently a full-time Genetic Counselor at Illume Fertility where she covers a range of topics including carrier screening, family histories of cancer, PGT-A/M/ SR, situations involving egg and sperm donation, and the implications of transferring mosaic embryos.
Talia loves to bake, sing, take long walks while listening to podcasts, host dinners for friends and family, and travel to new places with her husband.

Lielle Sugar
Second/Third Trimester Loss and TFMR
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Lielle Sugar J.D. L.M.S.W. is truly passionate about supporting the fertility community. After graduating from Brooklyn Law School, Lielle experienced her own fertility and pregnancy loss journey ending in the birth of her two IVF children. The support Lielle received during that time opened her eyes to a need for better supports within the field. During her time at Boston University School of Social Work, her field placements included time at a fertility clinic that specializes in third-party reproduction. Lielle is also a practicing psychotherapist, with an LMSW in Connecticut. When she is not devoting her energies to the community, Lielle loves to garden, cook, and spend time with family.