Pre-Conference Workshops
1.30PM - 3.00PM Session
Laurel Wilson
Modernising Lactation Education for Today’s Families
Laurel Wilson is an international speaker, TEDx presenter, author, perinatal expert, lactation consultant, and integrative health coach with over 30 years of experience in maternal-child health. She served as Executive Director of Lactation Programs for CAPPA for 17 years and was a Board Member of the United States Breastfeeding Committee from 2016 to 2019. Laurel currently sits on the Advisory Boards for InJoy Health and the Colorado Breastfeeding Coalition. She is the owner of MotherJourney, an organization focused on training perinatal professionals in integrative and holistic care. As an Academic Development Specialist for the GOLD Lactation Academy, she led the development of its comprehensive 95+ Hour Lactation Course. Laurel holds a degree in Maternal Child Health: Lactation Consulting and is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC).
An accomplished author, Laurel co-wrote The Attachment Pregnancy and The Greatest Pregnancy Ever, and served as the original editor of the CAPPA Lactation Educator Manual. Her work blends modern science with traditional mind-body-spirit practices, reflecting her deep commitment to honoring the transformative journey into parenthood. Laurel’s passion for supporting families is rooted in her own experiences as a mother, and she continues to inspire professionals and parents around the world with her warmth, knowledge, and vision.
This workshop will aim to explore the evolving landscape of lactation education, with a focus on what truly benefits today's parents. Drawing on nearly two decades of experience as a lactation educator, faculty member, and director, Laurel Wilson will guide participants through the challenges and opportunities in both traditional and virtual breastfeeding education. Together, we’ll examine the shift away from classroom lectures to online learning, including the benefits and risks of social media as an educational tool. Participants will discover evidence-based strategies tailored to diverse learning needs and gain practical tools to enhance engagement in virtual breastfeeding classes and support groups. The session concludes with hands-on activities designed to inspire connection, confidence, and informed decision-making among the families we serve.
Justine van der Watt
Guide to setting up and striving in private practice
Justine is a nurse, endorsed midwife, and IBCLC. She has worked in private practice as an IBCLC since 2017, and added private midwifery in mid-2019. She develolped a passion for supporting breastfeeding after struggling to breastfed her daugther in 2014 and exclusively expressed for 10 months.
This workshop, led by Justine, provides invaluable insights into essential considerations such as insurance, business naming, website development, and social media strategies. Justine wrote the LCANZ guide to setting up a private practice, and since 2022, has also facilitated the Clinical Forum Meetings, a monthly meeting fostering collaborative discussions amongst IBCLCs on anything related to clinical practice. Drawing from this experience, the workshop delves into the regulatory responsibilities that health professionals must navigate, with a focus on advertising compliance to ensure ethical and lawful practices.The session will also explore emerging technologies, including AI-powered programs for automatic dictation and note taking. These innovations hold great promise for streamlining administrative tasks, but they also raise questions about their reliability, security, and ethical implications. Are these tools the future of healthcare, or do they present new challenges?Join Justine for a workshop designed to empower health professionals with the knowledge and tools needed to establish and thrive in private practice while staying compliant and forward-thinking.
3.30PM - 5.00PM Session
Shel Banks
Shel Banks is a leading voice in infant feeding, known for her calm authority, clinical expertise, and deep commitment to supporting families—especially those whose babies fall outside the textbook norms. Based in northwest England, she combines her NHS Baby Friendly role with a specialist IBCLC practice focused on unsettled babies, faltering growth, and formula-fed infants—groups often underserved in mainstream care.
With over two decades of experience, Shel is widely respected by families, healthcare professionals, and policymakers alike. She is the Clinical Director at Anya, a digital platform transforming antenatal, feeding, and parenting support, and chairs Nursing Matters, a group advocating for breastfed infants within systems that often overlook them.
Her influence spans national policy and clinical practice: she has contributed to three NICE guidelines, served on multiple national committees, co-authored Cochrane reviews, and is the author of Why Formula Feeding Matters (Pinter & Martin, 2022). Currently pursuing a PhD on supporting families with unsettled babies in universal services, Shel continues to teach, consult, and drive change. Her work is grounded in the belief that every family deserves practical, personalised, and non-judgmental support.
In this workshop Shel will discuss using your counselling skills to communicate with care, with a focus on supporting neurodivergent and trans/non-binary families.
Susanna Scurry
Susanna is a retired midwife and International Board-Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) and continues to support families through her community-based practice. She also served as an intervention IBCLC for a randomized controlled trial conducted by the Hunter Medical Research Institute and the University of Newcastle at the John Hunter Hospital.
The aim of this workshop is to upskill health professionals working with new mothers in the immediate post-partum period. Research demonstrates exclusive breastfeeding rates fall dramatically within the first month following birth. The early post-partum period is a critical window in which to establish an adequate breastmilk supply. As 39% of women birth by caesarean section (C/S) in Australia, with one third of operative births being primigravid women, this workshop aims to upskill midwives in theoretical and practical ways to support the post-operative mother and infant. The EQUIP randomised control trial (RCT) this workshop information is based on, was conducted within a BFHI accredited facility. The intervention group had higher exclusive breastfeeding rates despite a higher C/S and complication rate at one month and 4 months, of the infant's age. This interactive workshop will discuss and demonstrate antenatal education strategies and hands on post-partum support for health care workers including open ended counselling techniques, safe skin to skin, and appropriate commercial baby milk usage. Using scenarios from the RCT, with a focus on postoperative problems, the workshop aims to brainstorm issues encountered by mothers and midwives both in hospital and following early discharge. Workshop participants will be given time to ask questions, given access to educational resources and other tools to support breastfeeding practices thereby reducing the usage of commercial baby milk.Topics such as sub-optimal feeding, attachment issues, infant weight loss in hospital and the first few weeks postpartum, and jaundice will be addressed.
About LCANZ
Lactation Consultants of Australia and New Zealand Ltd (LCANZ) is the professional organisation for International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC®) and others who have an interest in lactation and breastfeeding. Our core business is to provide members with information and educational opportunities to enable them to continue to advance their practice as lactation consultants and enhance the profession of Lactation Consultancy generally in Australia and New Zealand.
LCANZ acknowledges the traditional custodians across the lands on which we live and work, and we pay our respects to elders past, present and emerging.