Sexual Health

HVBN is a membership network only and not responsible for the opinions, practice, or health care services provided by individuals listed on this site. We recommend that clients confirm that a provider’s beliefs and practices are consistent with their own.


JULIETTA APPLETON, MPA, CCE, CHT
(914) 325-6011 (phone or text)
(Speaks Spanish and English) 

julietta@mindplusbodybirth.com
www.mindplusbodybirth.com
*Serving families in Northern Westchester and Putnam counties (NY) and Fairfield (CT)
*

JULIETTA APPLETON
 is a birth doula and hypnotherapist with more than 30 years of experience and attendance at over 200 births. She is the creator of mind+body birth, a unique, science-based system of birth hypnosis and childbirth education designed to help pregnant women achieve a calm, empowered birth. She has helped hundreds of people overcome their fears and limiting beliefs to create positive change and achieve their goals. She is a founding member of HVBN, and is the founder and former director of the first freestanding birth center in Westchester County, NY--The Birth Cottage. She possesses a Masters degree in Public Administration, has trained doulas, helped establish and operate two postpartum doula services, and has worked with individuals and couples as a sex educator, childbirth educator, birth doula, and postpartum doula. 

Julietta gave birth to both her children in birth centers, and is a fierce midwifery advocate. The experience of giving birth naturally was so powerful and deeply spiritual, it inspired Julietta to become a childbirth educator and doula.  In her role as doula, she helps create a sense of safety and calm surrounding the birthing mother, and provides her and her family with non-judgmental support. 


ZOE BIRNBAUM, MD
4 Chatsworth Ave, Suite 202
Larchmont, NY 10538
914-809-0940
zoe@zoebirnbaummd.com
www.zoebirnbaummd.com

DR. ZOE BIRNBAUM is a board-certified reproductive psychiatrist serving Manhattan and Westchester who is skilled in treating emotional difficulties across adulthood, with specialty training in perinatal mental health. Dr. Birnbaum's style of treatment is warm, compassionate, collaborative and personalized. She is now accepting new clients virtually and/or in person In Larchmont, NY.

Dr. Birnbaum completed her undergraduate education at Colgate University, where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa in Behavioral Neuroscience. She earned her medical degree from NYU Langone School of Medicine, after being inducted into the AOA society. She completed her internship and residency training at NYU Langone Medical Center. She graduated from fellowship in Reproductive Psychiatry at NYU Langone Medical Center / Bellevue Hospital, with a training focus on treating women’s mental health across the life span, with an emphasis on the peripartum and postpartum. She also carried out a psychoanalytic psychotherapy fellowship at Columbia University. Dr. Birnbaum has taught and mentored medical students and residents at NYU Langone School of Medicine in the Department of Psychiatry. She also founded the psychiatry residency Wellness Committee and narrative medicine curriculum. Dr. Birnbaum is a member of Postpartum Support International, The Women's Mental Health Consortium, The American Society for Reproductive Medicine, Hudson Valley Birth Network, and The Marcé of North America Perinatal Mental Health Society.

Dr. Birnbaum believes that fruitful psychiatric care depends on a trusting and warm relationship. She cares for each of her clients with kindness, honesty, and curiosity. She works to support her clients in making substantial improvements in their lives along with gaining a deeper understanding of themselves and their relationships. Dr. Birnbaum has extensive experience in diagnosing and treating conditions that impact wellness and happiness including depression, anxiety, life stage transitions, relationship difficulties, and grief. She uses psychotherapy, medication, and lifestyle recommendations to help her patients find meaning.

Dr. Birnbaum has special expertise in treating women who are pregnant, who are thinking about becoming pregnant, or who are undergoing fertility treatments. She also works with women who suffer from postpartum related mood changes, menstrual cycle related mood changes, grief related to infertility and pregnancy loss, trauma related to childbirth, sexual difficulties, chronic pelvic pain, challenges in bonding and attachment to newborn, adjusting to parenthood, mood changes in menopause and other mental health difficulties that can present throughout women's lives. Sessions focused on medications and lifestyle while pregnant, postpartum, breastfeeding, or during fertility treatment are available as well.

Dr. Birnbaum has experience in advanced psychoanalytic and psychodynamic psychotherapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, sex therapy for couples, emotionally focused therapy for couples, motivational interviewing, and supportive therapy.


VICKI BLOOM
Birth Doula
Certified Lactation Counselor
Postpartum Doula
Full Spectrum Doula
Placenta Encapsulator
www.wholeselfdoula.com
www.westchesterplacenta.com
wholeselfdoula@gmail.com
914-450-9574


I believe that you don’t become a different person when you become pregnant, begin labor, enter your birthing space, or bring your baby home for the first time. As your doula, I take the time to learn who you are and what will help you and your family to feel comfortable, informed, prepared, and ready to engage with your birth, both in advance and through the ever-changing moments of the birth process.

I am passionate, flexible, and comforting, but also grounded, no-nonsense, and strongly evidence-based. My clients come from all walks of life, but I am especially drawn to support people who can fall through the cracks of the medical system or feel unheard through the process of standardized birth, such as younger and older parents, single parents, LGBTQIA+ parents, people in non-traditional careers, families in transition, and parents of size. I also specialize in supporting alternative parents who want a professional with whom they can share their family dynamics openly, such as polyamorous families and people in power-dynamic relationships. I bring a full-spectrum background that sees all of of the aspects our reproductive lives as connected, and additional training as a certified lactation consultant and Hypnobabies doula. My fascination with the placenta, the only organ that the human body creates for a temporary purpose, leads me to offer placenta encapsulation, photography and art.


DR. ARANTZAZU “ZAZU” CIOCE, PT, DPT, CAPP-OB
Certified Pelvic Health Physical Therapist (prenatal, birth and postpartum)
Founder, Phoenix Physical Therapy & Wellness
Orgasmic Birth Educator and Birth Doula
Reiki Master, Womb Energy Healing, Trauma-Informed Breathwork Facilitator
Text: (914) 340-4623
Email:
zazu@phoenixpt.info
www.phoenixpt.info

Sessions delivered from a private clinic (Woodcliff Lake NJ), virtual visits and/or online programs, or within the comfort of your home (mobile visits), depending on each client's needs. Mobile visits offered in Rockland county, northern Bergen County and Westchester County. Please visit my website to see a full list of services and schedule availability.

DR. ZAZU CIOCE, PT, DPT, CAPP-OB Hi I'm Dr. Zazu, and I believe that your body holds the blueprint for the healing you are looking for. Whether that is physical healing of your body and specifically pelvic floor, or deeper energetic and emotional healing that may actually be contributing to your physical symptoms, too. In my 10+ years of experience helping people with their pelvic health and orthopedic rehab, I have found that our mind-body-spirit connection helps speed up the process and creates even deeper healing than we anticipated, which is why oftentimes my clients say they feel like an entirely new person, really the person that they always felt was the most true version of themselves, after working together.

We all need support and someone to walk with us during our healing journeys, and especially as our bodies change and evolve during womanhood. I've learned to combine my 10+ years of scientific medical training and experience, with the grounded energetic practices of Reiki and Breathwork, that move us forward in our healing and recovery pathways.

You can find a full list of services on my website listed above, however here is an abbreviated list:
- Bladder & bowel urgency, pain, or leakage (including during pregnancy)
- Pregnancy & Birth Education, Pelvic floor preparation for Labor & Delivery
- Pregnancy pains like back/hip/SIJ or Pubic symphysis pain
- Chronic pain rehab and return to safe movement program
- Postpartum return to exercise & running
- Diastasis Recti assessment & Core rehabilitation
- Pain with sex, gyn exam, or insertion of menstrual products
- Sexual Health Enjoyment and Improvement
- Dry needling to support tissue healing, pain & function (in person, in NJ)
- C-section scar mobilization & Core recovery
- New Parent Pelvic Health Support Group- online support group run at different times of the year
- Empowered Postpartum Online Self-Paced Pelvic Healing Course
- Reiki and Womb Reiki Energy Healing (one on one, as well as Group Birth Healing Circles)
- Trauma-Informed Breathwork & Energy Healing
- Closing of the Bones Ceremony & Rituals

If you are concerned about your pelvic floor health specifically, but don't know where to start, please take this Free quiz and learn ways how to support your body here: https://forms.gle/KXfj6guZ9oUPDrHG6

If you are desiring to connect with your womb energy and deepen your consciousness around your emotional and energetic health, please sign up for my Free Conscious Connected Womb Breathwork Session here: https://www.phoenixpt.info/product-page/conscious-connected-womb-breath-session


JENNIFER DEMBO, LCSW (she/her/hers)
jenniferdembo@edparenting.com

JEN DEMBO, LCSW, studied social work at Simmons University and has completed advanced training in maternal mental health, perinatal loss, sexual pain, menopause, and challenges for pregnant/postpartum survivors of childhood sexual abuse.

Jen has provided support to women and their families for over two decades. She recognizes that every parent-child relationship is unique and honors various perspectives on pregnancy, adoption, assisted reproduction, sexual health, surrogacy, childbirth, parenting, grief and loss.

Jen is certified in both labor support doula practice and childbirth education, and has attended births in home, birth center and hospital settings around the NYC tri-state area. She is the former president of the Hudson Valley Birth Network and founding chair of its Social Justice Committee. She is a board member of Birth Education Beyond the Ordinary (BEBO), an organization that provides low-cost labor, postpartum, lactation and childbirth education support to families throughout Westchester County. Additionally, Jen is an adjunct faculty instructor and guest lecturer at the Simmons University School of Social Work.


SHARIFA GRANT, RN, CLC, LMT
Birth Support 
Registered Nurse
Certified Lactation Counselor
Licensed Massage Therapist
Certified Traditional Herbalist
718.306.9410 (call/text)
info@sharifagrant.com
*Serving families in Westchester, Orange, Rockland, Dutchess and Putnam County*

SHARIFA GRANT provides holistic birth support services. She is a birth doula, registered nurse, certified lactation counselor, licensed massage therapist and certified herbalist. She serves Westchester, Orange, Rockland, Dutchess, and Putnam counties.

Sharifa was born and raised in the Bronx, to a large and loving family. Her Caribbean-American upbringing informs her natural approach to birth work, herbalism and holistic healing. Sharifa believes a healthy pregnancy begins prior to conception and lasts well beyond delivery. Empowering birthing people, building community and compassion are at the heart of her work. In this vein, Sharifa also provides natural fertility counseling as well as postpartum nutrition and healing support. Virtual support is also available for parents living in remote locations.


KATHY HERRON, CNM
Midwifery at Harrison
(Full Circle Women's Health)
450 Mamaroneck Avenue, Suite 414
Harrison, NY 10528
(914) 421-1500 (office)
www.fullcirclewomenshealth.com

KATHY HERRON has been a midwife since 1986. She created her private practice, Full Circle Women's Health, in 2000 -- Westchester's only midwife-owned, independent, midwifery practice with hospital admitting privileges. Full Circle is now Midwifery at Harrison and part of the Northwell system, providing us with a strong infrastructure and enabling us to take most insurances. Our group of 5 midwives still offers the close relationships and personalized attention that is the foundation of our midwifery care. Office visits are at our center in Harrison, and births are at Phelps in Sleepy Hollow—a certified Baby-Friendly hospital with the most midwives and the lowest cesarean rates in the area.

Kathy took a 4-year break from caring for pregnant women to nurture the next generation of midwives as an assistant professor for the Midwifery Institute at Jefferson. During that time, she maintained a gynecology practice, providing gentle and empowering care to women from a teen's first visit through the post-menopausal years. Her special interest is helping women with sexual pain and dysfunction, collaborating with a pelvic-floor physical therapist. They take a holistic and caring approach to the diagnosis and treatment of the many conditions that can contribute to this issue.

Kathy is now back to full-time, full-scope practice, caring again for pregnant and birthing women and continuing her gynecology care as well.

Kathy welcomes new and existing clients for pregnancy, gynecology, or sexual health appointments.


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DR. MELISSA KERAS-DONAGHY, DPT, WCS, CLT
Board Certified in Women's Health Physical Therapy
In person and telehealth appointments available
@ Full Circle
450 Mamaroneck Avenue, Suite 414
Harrison, NY 10528
914-421-1001
kerasdonaghypt@gmail.com

Dr. MELISSA KERAS-DONAGHY, PT, DPT, WCS, CLT (she/her/hers) earned her doctorate in physical therapy from Simmons College and has over 30 years of physical therapy experience. She specializes in all aspects of pelvic floor dysfunction, including pelvic pain, treating adults and children of all genders. Other areas of interest include urinary incontinence and fecal incontinence, biofeedback assessment and treatment, post-surgical treatment, pre-natal and postpartum pain and dysfunction, diastasis recti rehab, new Mom guidance for return to running and fitness and post-mastectomy and breast cancer rehabilitation. Dr. Keras-Donaghy is board certified in women's health physical therapy from the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA). She is also a board-certified Lymphatic therapist, treating all aspects of lymphedema including upper extremity, trunk, and lower extremity lymphedema in adults and children. She has extensive teaching experience in pelvic floor physical therapy. She currently collaborates with her midwife colleagues to care for adults with sexual pain.


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ANGIE MORDECAI M.S., M.Ac., L.Ac., Dipl.OM (NCCAOM)
596 Warburton Avenue
Hastings on Hudson, NY 10706
(917) 670-8564
angie@ketermedicine.com
www.ketermedicine.com

ANGIE MORDECAI is a doctor of Chinese medicine, acupuncturist, and herbalist. She is especially skilled at creating highly refined customized herbal prescriptions, and using constitutional five element acupuncture for the treatment of anxiety, depression, digestive disorders, and menstrual and reproductive difficulties. Her interest in health and in the wider human experience began after discovering yoga and meditation at age 15. Since then, she has pursued training in yoga therapy, Ayurvedic bodywork and herbalism, Western herbalism, prenatal movement, birth support, and human development. She especially enjoys working with women prior to conception and during pregnancy to nourish strength and health for labor, birth, and the postpartum period. She sees patients in person for acupuncture, and virtually for health consultations and herbal medicine prescriptions. She is also available to make house calls for those who cannot travel in Westchester County.


MARIA O’CONNOR, MPT
Pelvic Health Therapist
Hopp Pelvic Floor Therapy
1420 Boston Post Road
Larchmont, NY 10538
(646) 256-9412
maria@hopp-therapy.com

I grew up in a small fishing village in Southern Sweden overlooking the Baltic Sea. My journey to become a physical therapist and my passion for helping people began early in life, after my beloved grandfather had a massive stroke. Watching his healing process inspired me to lend a helping hand to people in need. I started PT school in 2004 and have pursued my dream of wanting to be a great listener and healer ever since.

In my years working in PT clinics and pediatric settings, I came to understand that the pelvic floor remains largely overlooked. What sometimes presents as an orthopedic issue is often compounded by a pelvic floor issue. It is my goal to look holistically at the individual.

I’ve given birth to three children and live an active lifestyle and know the frustration of leakage and the inadequacy of traditional care. I began to do more research and understood how pelvic floor therapy can treat a variety of issues in both men and women. I discovered there were ways I could help.

Being diagnosed with lupus in early 2023, I experienced firsthand a long and often grueling recovery. I dealt with dismissive doctors and endless tests. Eventually I found a team who listened and developed a treatment plan that was intrinsic to me.

My first Pelvic Floor course opened up new insights and treatment methods for the issues some of my PT patients complained of, including issues I experienced myself. It became an “Aha!” moment and it changed my life both physically and professionally. My passion for promoting the awareness and importance of pelvic health to women and men started from that day. I have since completed many courses and certifications while being mentored by experienced pelvic floor therapists to learn how the pelvis interacts with the rest of the body. The majority of my practice was completed in the NYU Pelvic Health Department.

I have found my greatest professional fulfillment in pelvic health. I am honored to be able to do the work I do.



SLOAN POST, LCSW, PMH-C

Owner, Therapist, and Supervisor
Westchester Parent & Child Therapy
48 Mamaroneck Ave
Suite 19-21
White Plains, NY 10601
201-431-5170
www.sloanpost.com
www.westchesterparentandchildtherapy.com

SLOAN POST is the owner of Westchester Parent & Child Therapy and a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) with extensive experience supporting individuals and families through life’s challenges. Specializing in working with moms, children, adolescents, and families, Sloan works with clients at all stages of motherhood, offering guidance and support for both the joys and the difficulties that arise. She has expertise in helping individuals manage OCD and anxiety, supporting them through intrusive thoughts, compulsions, and overwhelming worries. Sloan also works with individuals and families who have experienced various forms of trauma, including those navigating the perinatal period and the transitions that come with motherhood.

Sloan fosters a supportive and empathetic environment where clients feel safe to share their stories and work through challenges. Her approach balances insight into past experiences with a focus on present goals, empowering clients to develop tools for growth and healing. Sloan values collaboration and adaptability, helping each individual or family find solutions that feel authentic and effective. She integrates Perinatal Mental Health (PMH-C), Child-Parent Psychotherapy (CPP), Developmental Dyadic Psychotherapy (DDP), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and Internal Family Systems (IFS) into her work.

Sloan sees clients in-person in White Plains and virtually in NY and CT.


LAUREN TETENBAUM, LCSW, JD, PMH-C
Therapist & Advocate for Women
www.TheCounseLaur.com
914.721.0329
Lauren@TheCounseLaur.com

LAUREN A. TETENBAUM, LCSW, JD, PMH-C is a Westchester County-based mom of two, a writer, a former lawyer, and a social worker specializing in supporting millennial moms and young women through life transitions.

Through her counseling practice, Lauren facilitates psychoeducational groups and coaching workshops to empower postpartum and other women in corporate settings, provides therapy to individuals and couples in New York, Connecticut, and Florida, and contributes thought leadership on topics like maternal mental health, gender equity, and working parenthood. Learn more about Lauren at www.TheCounseLaur.com or connect with her on Instagram (@thecounselaur) or LinkedIn.


CHRISTINE JUDE WINUS, LMT, CST, RM
Rising Earth Healing Arts
www.risingearthhealingarts.com
Christinejude@risingearthhealingarts.com
(845) 288-3006

CHRISTINE JUDE WINUS is a New York State Licensed Massage Therapist specializing in somatic women's wellness. Christine is a craniosacral therapist, a somatic wise woman educator, Arvigo Techniques of Maya Abdominal Therapy Practitioner and holistic birth doula. Christine has been supporting women in all stages of their life from menstruation to menopause for over a decade. Christine offers natural approaches for fertility support through bodywork, shamanic womb healing, somatic practices, education, and herbal support.

She supports those who are seeking a natural approach for fertility support or seeking complimentary care to IVF or IUI treatments through bodywork and somatic therapy. She is a certified prenatal massage therapist and weaves her expertise into her birth doula education sessions. Christine offers integrative prenatal massage treatments as it is cooperative in providing a foundation of care and support during pregnancy integrating massage, craniosacral therapy, breath work, meditation and visualization practices to support pregnancy and birth plans. She welcomes partners into treatment sessions as their participation is important not only in the birthing process but throughout pregnancy and the postpartum period. Christine’s trauma informed practice positions her as an ally to those who have experienced uncomfortable or mismanaged births and fertility issues, miscarriages, and lack of ob/gyn affirmative care.