
Space is limited for this groundbreaking program available to the public for the first time. Sign up for the free info session and discover how Tender Love can transform the way you care for clients and yourself.
In this innovative course, you will discover how an Embodied Trauma Informed Resilience Oriented (eTIRO) approach nurtures you and your clients, improving client care and preventing burnout. You’ll join a virtual community of supportive professionals and earn continuing education hours.
With Tender Love, you will:
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Discover how toxic stress and trauma impact birthing people and their support professionals
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Explore the role of cultural, historical, and systemic sources of stress and trauma
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Expand your understanding of resilience and its role in trauma healing and recovery
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Increase your embodied resilience so you can improve your professional quality of life and client care
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Learn how to Identify, track, and attune to stress responses in others for improved co-regulation and empathy
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Examine how eTIRO principles can be implemented into perinatal/birth/postnatal policies, procedures, and practices
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Connect with like-minded care professionals for potential collaboration and coalition building
The Tender Love Difference
PERSONAL
Other training may focus only on the client, but the physical and emotional demands of perinatal work can impact your ability to provide compassionate and effective care. We believe that when perinatal professionals are calm and cared for, they are more able to attune to client needs and respond with compassion and skill.
EMBODIED
Other training may focus solely on intellectual knowledge and technical skills, ignoring the role of the body for both the client and the practitioner. We believe that birthwork is inherently embodied work, and that compassionate and effective care is supported by growing somatic awareness and cultivating embodied resilience.
CONNECTED
Other training is limited to single professions. We believe that building connections and community is essential for providing the kind of care that families deserve. Our training and companion virtual community are designed to break down silos and foster connection, collaboration, and support among perinatal professionals.
Meet the Tender Love Facilitation Team
With combined decades of experience, our Facilitation Team will guide you every step of the way through your Tender Love journey.
Nkem Ndefo, MSN, CNM, RN, (she/they) is the founder of Lumos Transforms and creator of The Resilience Toolkit. Licensed as a Registered Nurse since 1995 and a Nurse Midwife since 2000, Nkem holds a Master’s degree in Nursing from Frontier Nursing University. She has extensive post-graduate training in complementary health modalities and emotional therapies. As a clinician, Nkem has worked in settings ranging from large volume hospitals to mobile community clinics. She founded and operated a full scope midwifery and homebirth practice from 2000-2007 and she maintained a small holistic private practice in Los Angeles from 2007-2020. Additionally, she worked for the California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative researching maternal death outcomes.
Nkem is an expert in the trauma-informed and resilience-oriented (TIRO) approach, embodied anti-oppression, and healing justice. She served on the Los Angeles County Trauma-and Resilience-Informed Systems Change Initiative Workgroup, developed a pilot violence-prevention academy for peer support workers as part of Los Angeles County Department of Public Health’s Trauma Prevention Initiative, served as the lead for Los Angeles County Department of Health Services’ equity, diversity, inclusion, and antiracism initiative, and co-directs Embody Lab’s Integrative Somatic Trauma Therapy Certification and Embodied Activism Programs.
A skilled practitioner, dynamic speaker, and valued strategist. Nkem is known for her unique ability to connect with people of all types by holding powerful healing spaces, weaving complex concepts into accessible narratives, and creating synergistic and collaborative learning communities that nourish people’s innate capacity for healing, wellness, and connection.
Mikaela Johnson Vaal (she/they) is a Certified Facilitator of The Resilience Toolkit, Licensed Massage Therapist, Certified Birth and Postpartum Doula, Lactation Educator, Yoga Instructor, and Reiki Master living and working in Los Angeles. She is trained in a wide range of modalities to support health and healing for people from all walks of life, with a special focus on reproductive health, pregnancy, and postpartum care. Mikaela has over twenty years of experience working with people in challenging situations and is fiercely passionate about improving healthcare equity for birthing and postpartum people – specifically Black, trans, and nonbinary folks.
As a Perinatal Care Specialist, Mikaela holds space for people as they navigate reproductive health and perinatal care by providing emotional support, physical comfort, practical assistance, and non-medical care. Mikaela pulls intuitively from her vast repository of knowledge and skills when working with clients – tailoring her approach to meet the individual needs of each client. She believes that awareness is power, and supports her clients to confidently navigate their own wellness journey so they can advocate for themselves, their bodies, and their families.
Tender Love Course Overview
SESSION 1
The evolution of the embodied Trauma Informed Resilience Oriented (eTIRO) approach and its role in the perinatal context
Building embodied resilience with the Resilience Toolkit
SESSION 2
The stress-trauma continuum and its impacts on the somatic, emotional, mental, behavioral, and relational levels in the perinatal context
SESSION 3
Cultural and historical sources of trauma and resilience and their influence on individuals, families, institutions, and systems
SESSION 4
Resilience and its role in trauma healing and recovery
Attunement to stress-relaxation responses for improved co-regulation and empathy
SESSION 5
Preventing and mitigating vicarious trauma and burnout to improve perinatal professional quality of life and client care
Integrating embodied resilience and eTIRO principles when working with clients’ trauma stories
SESSION 6
Strategies for eTIRO principle implementation in perinatal policies, procedures, and practice
Cross-role collaboration and coalition building in the perinatal healthcare team
About Continuing Education Credits
Provider Nkemdilim Ndefo is approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing, Provider Number 15871, for 18 contact hours. (Nursing Board continuing education hours are accepted by CAPPA, DONA, and Lamaze International).
18 R-CERPs recognized by IBLCE. IBLCE CERPs Recognition Number: STP Number C2023080. (IBLCE continuing education hours are accepted by ICEA).
Questions? Contact us at info@lumostransforms.com or +1-323-254-7775.

Course Schedule
The Tender Love Training Program consists of 18 contact hours of group training, 2 open office hours, and access to our exclusive community and learning platform with active affinity spaces and discussion boards. All training sessions and office hours will happen live, with replay/recordings available.
Phase 1 – 9 contact hours
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June 28, 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM Pacific
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July 12, 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM Pacific
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July 26, 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM Pacific
Phase 2 – 9 contact hours
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August 9, 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM Pacific
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August 23, 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM Pacific
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September 6, 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM Pacific
Office Hours with Nkem & Mikaela
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August 2, 9:00 AM – 10:30 AM Pacific
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August 30, 9:00 AM – 10:30 AM Pacific

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