About Us

Evergreen Perinatal Education is committed to providing quality education and consultation to organizations, healthcare professionals and individuals working with expectant and new families, to ensure that new mothers have access to knowledgeable, compassionate and supportive resources throughout their childbearing journey.

Teaching Philosophy

Faculty at Evergreen Perinatal Education are deeply committed to the important role the healthcare system plays in nurturing healthy family outcomes. Our educational offerings emphasize the significance of breastfeeding in promoting these healthy outcomes and in fostering the unique and special relationship of mother and child. Our interactions with students, whether in-person or through our online training programs, are personal and memorable. Our instruction is delivered so that students grasp and appreciate the unique and facilitative role they play in helping a mother feed her child. Evergreen Perinatal Education prepares students to build on their knowledge and experience, and we lay the foundation for additional exploration and advanced practice. By providing students access to challenging case studies and innovative learning experiences in safe, yet realistic situations, we allow for this discovery and synthesis to unfold comfortably and at a student's own pace.

We are committed to ensuring that every student leaves feeling more confident, invested, and well prepared to provide exceptional support to expectant and new families.

What Do Our Programs Offer? Why Are We Different?

Evergreen Perinatal Education's comprehensive programs cover a wide range of topics in maternal and child health, with the greatest focus on infant feeding practices. Our goal is to improve the efficacy of healthcare delivery, while increasing consumer and staff satisfaction and improving health outcomes for women and their families. Our live programs can be customized to meet the education needs of hospitals, private and public clinics and community maternity and pediatric services.

Evergreen Perinatal education, LLC is an IBLCE code compliant organization.

Evergreen Perinatal Education has been accepted by International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners® (IBLCE®) as a CERP provider for the listed Continuing Education Recognition Points (CERPs) programme. Determination of CERPs eligibility or CERPs Provider status does not imply IBLCE®’s endorsement or assessment of education quality. Topics covered can be found in the IBCLC Detailed Content Outline.


Faculty

Kristi Charboneau, CLE

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President

Kristi's journey exemplifies the impact of quality lactation education. During her pregnancy, she attended classes at Evergreen Hospital Medical Center, now EvergreenHealth, which provided her the tools and confidence to initiate and then successfully establish breastfeeding with her firstborn over tripling the AAP minimum recommendation with profound results. These experiences moved her to transition her career into being a lactation and perinatal educator and advocate which she has done passionately for the past two decades. Kristi blends empathy and rigorous research to deliver the highest standards of care, positively transforming the lives of those she meets. From 2011 to 2024, she served as the manager at Evergreen Perinatal Education, ensuring the exceptional quality of education while maintaining financial sustainability which enabled EPE to subsidize programs for communities historically excluded. As the newly appointed President, Kristi is dedicated to expanding educational content and fostering partnerships to promote equity and inclusivity in lactation education, addressing existing inequities in practice and education, and continuing to maintain the long standing high quality research based instruction EPE has been depended upon since its founding.


Ginna Wall, RN, MN, IBCLC

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Clinical Director

Ginna received her master's degree in nursing from the University of Washington in Seattle and has been an IBCLC since 1987 later working with IBCLE on the exam committee. Ginna founded the lactation program at University of Washington in 1986 bringing evidence-based, family-friendly care to the high-risk hospital and clinic setting until her retirement. Her works Development of Nursing Diagnosis, Prenatal Breastfeeding Courses, Breast Pump Rental Program, Breastfeeding Assessment Form, creation of Formal Outpatient Lactation Clinic and more have set the standard used throughout the United States, including the CDC when they developed their mPINC. In 2009, Ginna led the University of Washington Medical Center through Baby-Friendly certification. Her commitment to research and knowledge dissemination can be seen through her founding the Publication of Lactation Support Newsletter, Seattle Lactation Journal Club, tenure as part of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Human Lactation and faculty of Evergreen Perinatal Education since its inception speaking internationally providing research-based best practice.

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Matthew Charboneau, BA, MA, CLE

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Director of Diversity, Inclusion, Culture and Equity

Matthew received his Masters of the Arts in Cultural Policy from the University of Warwick, UK. He lectures internationally on the necessary shift of rhetoric used in institutions using critical theory while providing best practice solutions for implementation. His collaboration across various sectors, including associations such as UNICEF and Baby-Friendly USA, to revise policies, refine systems, and deliver educational programs for capacity building. He joined Evergreen Perinatal Education in 2019 assisting them with online course development. Matthew’s new role is to help further equity and inclusion initiatives.


Christine Muenz, BA, MA, CLE

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Lecturer

For more than 25 years Christine has taught classes for parents in a Baby Friendly hospital, spoken at schools, toddler groups, and parent education organizations, and facilitated support groups for new parents. In addition to her work with parents, since 2011 Christine has worked with Evergreen Perinatal Education and lectured nationally at infant feeding conferences, teaching healthcare professionals and guiding them in how to take care of the vulnerable pregnant and postpartum families they serve. Her classes blend a genuine love of parents and their children, a sense of humor, and compassion, while at the same time delivering evidence-based, best practice information. Some areas of expertise include infant feeding, discipline, weaning, safe sleep, maternal mental health, growth & development, fostering a healthy relationship with food, extended family relationships, and other joys and challenges that parents face. Realizing that the need is great and not everyone can make their way into a classroom, Christine founded Strength and Surrender. For parenting and lactation tips without any shame or guilt messages, just practical insights and lots of empathy, follow her on Instagram @strengthandsurrender.


Donnianne Noble, RN, IBCLC

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Lecturer

Donnianne received her RN degree in 2004, deciding at that time to dedicate her education, skills and expertise to working with new families in their transition to parenthood. In 2007 she became an Internationally Board Certified Lactation Consultant and currently works at EvergreenHealth, North America's first "Baby Friendly Hospital". Donnianne joined the EPE faculty in 2011.


Mark Spitzack, BA, MSM

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Social Media Specialist

For two decades, Mark worked as the Coordinator of Perinatal and Pediatric Support Projects at M Health Fairview Masonic Children's Hospital, where he supported families with lactation, perinatal loss, and pediatric bereavement. Working with local partners and as former Board of Director of the Minnesota Breastfeeding Coalition, Mark established 4 milk collection depots for the local HMBANA milk bank, facilitated the first U.S. fatwa authorizing the use of donor milk and facilitated dispensary arrangement for donor milk. Mark does lecture writing and social media work for EPE.


Ava Charboneau, BS, NASM-CNC, PA-S

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Writer

Ava received her Bachelor of Science in Health Science and minor in nutrition at Chapman University. She is in her clinical year at Chapman University's Physician Assistant school expected to earn her masters this December. Before her schooling resumed, she worked in a preventative medicine clinic where she used her certification as a nutrition coach and experience as a medical assistant and medical scribe. Ava plans on emphasizing women's health.


Melissa Kuebler

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Web Developer

Melissa received her degree in Computer Science from Duke University and has been working in the web development industry for over 19 years. She has been maintaining the EPE website since 2007.


Molly Pessl, RN, BSN, IBCLC, FILCA

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Retired Founder of Evergreen Perinatal Education

Molly received her nursing degree from the University of Michigan where she first learned the importance of breastfeeding, during a time when few women were encouraged or chose to breastfeed. Molly was Education Coordinator for the Family Maternity Center at Evergreen Health from 1985-2003 responsible for developing comprehensive parent and professional education programs. She was part of the first cohort of International Board Certified Lactation Consultants. Her dedication to lactation lead to international recognition. The International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners hired her as President for 6 years during which the reach expanded to offering exams across 4-continents. UNICEF requested her assistance with starting the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative in the Philippines in 1992. Following this experience, Molly came back to the states and co-lead Evergreen Health into becoming the first Baby-Friendly Hospital in the United States and wrote the 1996 Lactation Management Curriculum. After working at EvergreenHealth, Molly founded Evergreen Perinatal Education which has lead her around the globe providing lactation education to help facilitate the paradigm shift back to breastfeeding until her retirement in 2023.