Justisse Fertility Awareness Educator Conference Schedule
Click the arrow for more details. From November 4–8, 2025, in Santa Elena, Colombia, we’ll gather for keynote addresses from inspiring voices in fertility awareness, hands-on workshops, and meaningful discussions that spark connection and collaboration.
Tuesday 4th
Meet Elizabeth
Elizabeth Arguello is a visual artist, illustrator and muralist of Costa Rica with a particular interest in integrating the world of women into her art.
After finishing her studies with a degree in Fine Arts at the University of Costa Rica, she worked in some relevant advertising agencies in the country’s scene as a senior graphic designer and as a design director.
Since 2016, he has worked as an independent artist on illustration projects, muralism, augmented reality (AR), 2D animation, video mapping, painting, editorial design, among others. His work has been exhibited in countries such as Argentina, Colombia, Peru, Chile, Mexico, Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands, the United States and Nicaragua.
Her style reflects the connection between tropical nature and modernity, a universe full of strong women, textures, contrasts and stories. She currently has a project of illustrations and murals with augmented reality called “Cervixtas” where she experiments with technology to give a new look at our female body.
About Cervixtas
Interactive art exhibition of illustrations and murals of vulvas with augmented reality.
Cervixtas was born as a personal idea of exploring the artist’s body from different perspectives. They represent a visual essay of a person’s relationship to those body parts depicted in her art. With this exhibition, the idea is not only to recognize herself but to invite others to recognize themselves and generate conversation about how they relate to this part of their bodies. Stories of the vulvas emerge in the murals through animations generated by augmented reality. “Cervixtas” makes visible the internal body through illustration, murals, and animated representations of the cervix across a full menstrual cycle. Using a free AR app, viewers interact with the art to provoke new conversations and awareness about the female body, embodiment, and collective narratives. This installation will be available throughout the convention for participants to explore.
Wednesday 5th
Meet Jenny
Jenny began her studies with Justisse in 2009, and became a faculty member in 2018. In Sweden, she has championed fertility awareness and women’s empowerment through body literacy in countless debates, lectures & webinars, client sessions and social media for 16 years. Her first book “Fertilitetsförståelse” (“Fertility Awareness”) was published in 2022 and her second is set for winter 25/26.
What We’ll Explore
Jenny will take us through the journey of fertility awareness in the Scandinavian mainstream; the controversy, debates, cancelling, misconceptions and slow acceptance. She will share her experiences as the flagbearer for FAM in Sweden, and her insights on how we may integrate with the medical system (and if we want to), legitimize our profession and hopefully create a new reality for those approaching menarche now.
Meet Jenny
Jenny began her studies with Justisse in 2009, and became a faculty member in 2018. In Sweden, she has championed fertility awareness and women’s empowerment through body literacy in countless debates, lectures & webinars, client sessions and social media for 16 years. Her first book “Fertilitetsförståelse” (“Fertility Awareness”) was published in 2022 and her second is set for winter 25/26.
Meet Genevieve
Geneviève has been working with menstrual cycles and fertility since 2009. She began her studies at Justisse College International in 2013, and became a faculty member in 2021. As the first secular certificated fertility awareness educator in Ecuador, her purpose is to continue to bring this essential information to Spanish-speaking countries, and help to train more HRHPs in South America.
What We’ll Explore
A closer look at the updates to the Justisse Method(s), the rationale behind them, and the new teaching materials.
Meet Anna
Anna Churchill, FAE, began her personal journey with fertility awareness in 2001, around the same time she graduated from Bates College with a BA in Anthropology. Her desire to share fertility awareness with others drew her to enroll in Sarah Naomi Bly’s Fertility Awareness Educator (FAE) teacher training program (now The Well), which she completed in 2014. Anna is a founding member of the Association of Fertility Awareness Professionals (AFAP) and served on the Board of Directors for 9 years. She is a FAE with Maven Clinic where she counsels clients around the world toward reaching their fertility goals. Anna lives in Massachusetts with her partner and two teenagers.
What We’ll Explore
The Association of Fertility Awareness Professionals (AFAP) is a professional membership organization dedicated to unifying and strengthening the profession of Fertility Awareness education. We invite anyone interested in learning more about our work to join us for an information session. We’ll give some background on the org and talk about the benefits of membership. Current members are invited to join to learn more about the resources available to you through the org.
Meet Vivien
Vivien Reece is a fitness coach and stripper/sex worker based in Michigan, USA, as well as a current Justisse student. In her personal life she is a contact improv dancer, a tennis player, a bookworm, sober from alcohol, a psychonaut, and childfree by choice. Vivien is passionate about helping women find, train, and improve their body agency and relational power, combining intellectual inquiry with creative physical experiencing.
What We’ll Explore
This workshop will help illustrate how foundational consent is to body literacy, and how foundational body literacy is to consent. This will challenge the idea that consent is only about permission, and suggest that consent is something that we can acquire more skill and control over in our own lives. She’ll offer practical and creative activities for how to actually improve the body-based and relational communication skills that are needed to reach mutual agreement, or consent.
Meet Colleen
Dr. Holland is a master bodyworker, Justisse trained FAE, and a functional medicine provider specializing in reproductive health since 2001. Her particular expertise lies in mitochondrial and infradian biology where she writes, teaches and speaks about “Restoration of Health Cycles” based upon cellular metabolism and its relationship to light, nutrients, and nervous system regulation.
What We’ll Explore
In this presentation, Colleen will explain the function of mitochondria in health (beyond making ATP) and their role in circadian and infradian biology. The influences of light, nutrients, emotional well being, and connection which inform mitochondrial metabolism and how that impacts reproductive health will be explored. Best of all, the solutions presented for working with clients, will be within every FAE’s scope of practice!
Thursday 6th
Meet Clair
Clair is a certified fitness trainer and yoga instructor on Vancouver Island, Canada.
What We’ll Explore
Start your day with an all-levels yoga practice designed to gently awaken your body and mind before diving into the day’s seminars and discussions.
Meet Geraldine
Since 1977, Dr. Matus has practiced various healing arts from a psychophysiological perspective. Her professional training includes modalities grounded in functional medicine and depth psychology. The intention of her work is to support the development of the wholeness of human physiology and personality, through diet, lifestyle, ritual, celebration, dreamwork, and creativity. Her approach is contemplative and justice oriented. Her lifepath continues to be guided by dreams and synchronicity.
In this presentation Dr. Matus will share her theoretical insights and clinical experience with respect to the topic.
What We’ll Explore
Leonard Cohen’s song Light as a Breeze includes the line “But don’t forget there’s still a woman / Beneath this /Resplendent chemise.” This line came to Geraldine’s mind one day when considering how the FABM movement is moving more and more deeply into the scientific paradigm and forgetting the subtilties of the person that is engaged with the method, including educators and promoters. This lecture and workshop will be an opportunity to explore what exactly is beneath that resplendent chemise and why does that matter in the context of the FABM movement.
Meet Marguerite
Dr. Duane, a board-certified family physician, is co-founder and Executive Director of FACTS about Fertility, an organization dedicated to educating medical professionals and students about the science supporting fertility awareness-based methods (FABMs) and restorative reproductive medicine (RRM). She serves as an Adjunct Associate Professor at Georgetown and Associate Professor of Restorative Reproductive Medicine and Director of the Center for Fertility Awareness Based Education and Research at Duquesne University’s College of Osteopathic Medicine. Dr. Duane cares for patients via a direct primary care house-calls based practice, MD for Life. She has served on the board of the American Academy of Family Physicians and the Family Medicine Education Consortium.
What We’ll Explore
Miscarriage, also referred to as early pregnancy loss, is defined as spontaneous loss of pregnancy prior to 20 weeks gestation. With an estimated risk of 15% of clinically confirmed pregnancies ending in miscarriage, it is the most common adverse event in pregnancy, resulting in the loss of more than 500,000 human lives every year. If miscarriage was tracked as a cause of death, it would be the third leading cause of death in the United States second only to heart disease and cancer. Since miscarriage is so common and it is associated with significant physical and psychological morbidity, it is important to recognize its significance, assess who may be at increased risk for miscarriage and identify potentially modifiable risk factors that we may address to prevent this devastating tragedy whenever possible. This lecture includes a collection of patient cases with a history of miscarriage, who went on to have successful pregnancies after identification and treatment of relatively common modifiable risk factors.
Meet Lisa Leger
Lisa was in the first class of Justisse Method teacher trainers to graduate in 1989 and has practiced ever since; providing private consultations, public education and professional training in holistic reproductive health. She has managed supplement stores and worked in community pharmacy, receiving further training and insights from clinicians about natural health products. Lisa hosts public events to share her ideas about building a bridge between natural and conventional medicine.
What We’ll Explore
A close look at the evidence that has emerged since the mRNA injectable technologies were launched under emergency use conditions in response to Covid-19. Reports of menstrual disturbances after injections with this new medical intervention were discussed during the vaccine roll out, but the importance of their impact was dismissed and the public was reassured. Since the roll out, research has been gathered that allows a clearer understanding of the disruptive impact this intervention may have had on the reproductive health of those who consented to the intervention.
Meet Natalia
Natalia Rodriguez is a passionate educator with a heart for fertility awareness. She holds a Master’s in Education Entrepreneurship from the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor’s in Business Administration from Universidad de los Andes. She is trained in the symptothermal method and Creighton. With over a decade of experience in education program design, curriculum innovation, and entrepreneurship, she has worked across NGOs, the public sector, and higher education, including medical education.
As a fertility awareness educator, Natalia is the founder of FAM Academy, where she empowers women in Latin America with evidence-based knowledge on fertility awareness-based methods (FABMs) and hormone health. She also collaborates with FACTS to educate medical professionals on integrating FABMs into clinical practice.
Originally from Colombia and now based in Washington, DC, Natalia is a devoted wife and mother committed to advancing women’s health education through research, advocacy, and innovative teaching.
What We’ll Explore
This workshop will function as a listening circle and co-creation space, where participants will identify real-world obstacles—cultural, educational, spiritual, financial—that prevent women from accessing, understanding, or trusting FAM. Then, using entrepreneurship tools such as problem mapping, value proposition design, and MVP (minimum viable product) strategy, we will work in small groups to begin crafting innovative, user-centered solutions.
Whether you’re a seasoned educator, a practitioner, or a passionate learner, this session will spark new ideas and offer practical tools to help you become a creative disruptor in the fertility awareness movement.
Meet Laura
Laura Zuluaga was born in Medellín, Antioquia, Colombia. She is a Doula, Women’s Therapist, and guardian of the ancestral wisdom of the Americas. She also works as a photographer and audiovisual producer, and is the director of the documentary Yatukua: The Voice of the Mother.
What We’ll Explore
Yatukua: The Voice of the Mother is a 35 minute short film documentary on Indigenous midwifery practices. This beautiful film demonstrates the hows and whys of ancestrally influenced midwifery care in a contemporary Colombia, South America.
About Colectivo Parteras Aburra
The Aburra Valley Midwifery Collective is a union of independent, intercultural midwives who share a combination of traditional, indigenous training as well as specific medical formation. We support families in healthcare, fertility, pregnancy, birth and postpartum. As midwives in the Colombian context, our role within society is wider than pregnancy and birth; its rather a position of integrative care for health, family and life itself.
What We’ll Explore
As midwives we work with bodily reading as a fundamental tool for understanding the underlying needs and expressions of the body. However, our take of bodily literacy is completely different: using the lenses of the indigenous understanding of the body as a sacred territory. We will present our work, our altars and our understanding of the body, and we will create an integrative manifestation of some of our therapeutic tools that we use (ex. body reading tools, specific massage and uterine movement techniques)
Meet Susanna
Susanna is a traditional midwife and a 2022 graduate of Justisse College. She was born in Sweden but lives in Santa Elena, Colombia, for the last 10 years with her husband and three daughters. She works both online and in the Colombian territory to support reproductive health using charting and integrative medicine tools. She accompanies pregnancy, home-birth and postpartum through a combination of traditional and modern knowledge that she has gathered through her studies and through many years shared with indigenous masters all over the South American continent.
What We’ll Explore
The Inipi, sweatlodge, is an ancient ceremony of the north-american indigenous tribes. Stones are heated in the fire and then brought into the center of the inipi, where we sit in darkness and presence while singing traditional songs to the beat of the drum. Even though its symbolic meaning is immense; it can shortly be summarized to the act of entering into the womb of the mother earth in order to pray, purify and direct our thoughts and actions as human beings. We enter into the lodge to communicate and come into contact with the sustaining forces of life – water, air, earth and fire.
Friday 7th
Meet Clair
Clair is a Personal Trainer & Yoga Teacher blending strength, balance, and ease.
What We’ll Explore
Start your day with an all-levels yoga practice designed to gently awaken your body and mind before diving into the day’s seminars and discussions.
Meet Anne
Dr. Liljedahl graduated from Justisse College in July 2023. She’s a licensed MD, board certified in emergency medicine and family medicine. Anne is also trained as an abdominal massage practitioner.
She is currently enrolled in a 4 year program “Explorations in shamanism” through Tending the Fires, training in spiritual leadership and personal responsibility through study and practice.
She currently works with WOMNI, a company in Sweden, offering virtual consultation for women in perimenopause and women dealing with hormonal issues.
What We’ll Explore
The perimenopausal transition has been and is still recognized as a kind of initiation in many cultures that are connected to the land; A process of becoming. Growing into a wise woman, or from mother to crone.
Modern cultures medicalize and bring fear to this normal process; characterizing it as a period of intense symptoms, the end of youth, and the beginning of invisibility. The Western medical system offers hormone therapy, mostly focused on adding back oestrogen, as a “solution” for the failing female body.
In this lecture Anne will explore what is happening during this very important phase of life. She will compare how cultures, connected to the land, view this transition and address the physical, emotional, social and spiritual implications of the process. Finally, she will discuss how we can create our own, embodied understanding of what it means to become a healthy elder.
Meet Lisa
Lisa was in the first class of Justisse Method teacher trainers to graduate in 1989 and has practiced ever since; providing private consultations, public education and professional training in holistic reproductive health. She has managed supplement stores and worked in community pharmacy, receiving further training and insights from clinicians about natural health products. Lisa hosts public events to share her ideas about building a bridge between natural and conventional medicine.
What We’ll Explore
A review of naturopathic care of the luteal phase. Including a plan of action to rule out common considerations like thyroid involvement, and a deep dive into research on beta-carotene as a useful supplement to support progesterone production by the corpus luteum.
Meet Carolina
Carolina holds a degree in Political Science with a minor in Journalism from the University of Los Andes. She worked as a social project coordinator at Fundación Corona until 2015, when she moved to Panama.
Since 2014, Carolina has practiced the symptothermal method and certified as a Fertility Awareness Educator by Fertility Education and Medical Management (FEMM) in 2019. In 2023, she expanded her expertise by becoming a facilitator of the Australian Mama Rising model, which specializes in the transition to motherhood (matrescence). She currently also works as a Medical Assistant for the FEMM Telehealth team.
As the founder of Tus Reglas, she has transformed the lives of over 600 students through her courses. Her mission is to support women and adolescents in reconnecting with their bodies, understanding their menstrual cycles as allies, and making informed decisions about their well-being.
A passionate advocate for women’s health, Carolina specializes in breaking down complex concepts into simple, practical explanations, creating a safe space to explore intimate topics that invite reflection and personal transformation.
What We’ll Explore
The transition into motherhood—known as matrescence—is a profound and often underestimated developmental shift that encompasses physical, emotional, hormonal, social, and spiritual transformation. Despite its depth, many women enter this phase unprepared, without the tools or language to understand the changes they are experiencing. Fertility Awareness Educators are uniquely positioned to support this journey, yet this intersection remains largely unexplored within our field.
In this presentation, I will explore how the symptothermal method can become a powerful ally during matrescence, helping women stay connected to their bodies, navigate postpartum cycles, reclaim autonomy, and foster self-understanding during a time often marked by disorientation and identity shifts.
Drawing from my experience as a certified FEMM educator and a trained facilitator in the Mama Rising™ framework—a model developed in Australia to support women through matrescence—I will share insights, tools, and strategies to integrate body literacy education with the emotional and psychological needs of new mothers. We will discuss how tracking biomarkers can provide a sense of continuity, how cycle awareness supports emotional regulation and identity reconstruction, and how educators can hold space for the multifaceted experiences of matrescence within their teaching practice.
This session will be particularly valuable for fertility awareness educators who work with postpartum women or who wish to expand their understanding of how to better support clients navigating the early years of motherhood. It aims to open a conversation about the role of fertility awareness beyond conception and contraception, offering a more holistic and compassionate framework for reproductive education.
Through this lens, we can affirm the menstrual cycle as not only a physiological process but also a compass for self-awareness —even, and especially, during the tender and complex landscape of matrescence.
Meet Elisa
Dr. Barza combines her expertise as a medical doctor and a Fertility awareness educator to advocate for better integration of female physiology in medical practice. Inspired by her discovery of menstrual cycle charting early in medical school, Elisa recognized the critical need for improved education on female health. Her background in functional medicine, internal medicine, endocrinology, and family medicine equips her with a comprehensive understanding of the healthcare landscape. Through her work, she seeks to foster collaboration and understanding between fertility awareness educators and healthcare providers, ultimately improving the care women receive.
What We’ll Explore
Dr. Elisa will share with FAEs what doctors actually do know – and what they don’t know about Fertility Awareness. The purpose of this presentation is to lead to a better understanding of what bridges are needed to be built between the FABM community and conventional health care workers. The audience will learn what women actually experience when going to the doctor for contraceptive advice; in what ways they have been helped and harmed.
Meet Salomé
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Salomé is a certified full-spectrum doula and HRHP student at Justisse College International who speaks French, English, Portuguese, and Spanish. She works with clients in- person, in the south of France and online.
She has a background in Anthropology and worked for many years in the humanitarian sector (mostly working on sexual and gender-based violence and human rights) before being trained as a doula in Colombia and France.
Salomé created UTERA SANA as a safe space to provide every birthing person and menstruating individuals with the resources, tools, support, and evidence-based information they need to navigate their reproductive health journey with confidence and empowerment.
What We’ll Explore
This presentation will explore the intersections between sexual trauma, reproductive health, and the therapeutic potential of psychedelic and ethnobotanical substances. We will challenge the limitations of Western biomedical paradigms and advocate for more integrative, embodied, and culturally respectful approaches to healing.
We will analyze how the practice of menstrual cycle observation and fertility awareness can support post-traumatic healing processes. These approaches help restore interoception, offer a practical structure for emotional regulation, and can inform the optimal time to undergo or integrate a psychedelic experience, particularly for people whose emotional vulnerabilities are closely linked to hormonal fluctuations.
Meet Holly
Holly Berry is a burlesque artiste from Cape Town, South Africa. She has graced stages around the country since she joined The Rouge Revue Burlesque Company in 2020, and taught workshops both in South Africa and Switzerland. This workshop marks her debut appearance in South America!
Holly Berry is one of the Rougettes; the company’s top tier performers. Right hand women to the headmistress of the Rouge Revue, Lady Magnolia, the Rougettes mentor the newer dancers and support them on their journey to their first solo performances.
As a performer, Holly Berry represents everything cheeky, haughty, and just a little bit naughty through her acts – telling stories of awakening to the delights that life has to offer. Unearthed from the richest soil and ripened by the feminine divine, she is here to teach you a little bit about the magic that is burlesque.
What We’ll Explore
Burlesque has long been a celebration of empowerment, self-expression, and the feminine divine. This workshop is an invitation to explore that, whether you want to channel a slow-burning siren, a playful showgirl, or simply feel more at home in your own movement. You don’t need any dance experience; just a willingness to drop into your body, have fun, and maybe, surprise yourself.
We’ll begin with an introduction to burlesque, followed by a gentle warm-up to ease into movement, wake up the senses, and become more present in our own skin. From there, we’ll start to explore some classic burlesque-inspired moves and drills – think playful struts, cheeky hip rolls, and elegant arm lines. You’ll learn how to add a touch of tease and theatre to simple movement, and how to carry yourself with confidence. We’ll then put it all together with a simple routine that allows you to express your own style and personality.
Wear something you can move comfortably in, and please bring along an extra scarf or loose shirt to play with as a prop during the choreography section.
Saturday 8th
This program includes back-to-back presentations followed by a Q&A with both speakers
Meet Chloe
Chloe Skerlak is a Certified Justisse FAE and passionate, period-positive educator based in Edmonton, Alberta. With over a decade of experience in menstrual and reproductive health, Chloe specializes in teaching people of all ages how to understand, appreciate, and work with their menstrual cycles.
She’s especially known for her engaging, shame-free approach to cycle education for tweens and teens. Through her Period Positivity workshops, Chloe creates safe, fun, and empowering spaces where young people can explore body literacy, charting basics, cervical mucus, and conscious cycle care — all while dismantling the stigma that too often surrounds menstruation.
Her teaching style is playful yet grounded in science, combining storytelling, hands-on activities, and relatable analogies that make fertility awareness accessible and affirming. Chloe has facilitated workshops in schools, community groups, and private settings, and is deeply committed to helping the next generation grow up informed and confident in their bodies.
What We’ll Explore
Chloe will discuss how introducing young people to their menstrual cycles and fertility can shape their relationship with their bodies for life. Topics will cover why it matters to teach body literacy early — not just for menstrual management, but for cultivating self-trust, confidence, and a grounded understanding of the body’s natural rhythms. She will walk us through how she structures youth-friendly fertility awareness workshops, including games, storytelling, and charting activities that are engaging and age-appropriate.
The audience will also reflect on the mindset and skills needed to teach this work well: how to create a safer, inclusive space, how to honour diverse experiences of puberty and menstruation, and how to answer tricky questions with grace. She’ll share real-life examples of what’s worked (and what hasn’t), plus ideas for customizing the content to different age groups or settings (schools, community groups, or parent-child workshops).
Finally, Chloe will touch on the practical side — marketing, collaboration with schools or parents, and finding your unique voice in this space.
Whether you’re already working with youth or just feeling the call to begin, this session will leave you inspired, resourced, and more confident to guide the next generation into cycle wisdom.
Meet Genevieve
Geneviève has been working with menstrual cycles and fertility since 2009. She began her studies at Justisse College International in 2013, and became a faculty member in 2021. As the first secular certificated fertility awareness educator in Ecuador, her purpose is to continue to bring this essential information to Spanish-speaking countries, and help to train more HRHPs in South America.
What We’ll Explore
Genevieve will share about the process we have had with creating mother/daughter menarche retreats in Ecuador. She has found that mothers need to work first, within themselves to accompany their girls through this important milestone. She will share all that she has learned for those interested in working with this population.
