The Team
Who We Are


Beka Blythe
Founder & Facilitator
Welcome! My name is Beka Blythe, Founder of For Love & Babes. I am also a Certified Professional Midwife who specializes in prenatal care, natural birth, postpartum well-being, lactation support and childbirth education.
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I have a background in hospital birth as an OB-tech, and as a doula and began studying midwifery in 2009. I was a midwifery student for about 4 years and studied with multiple preceptors in the Four Corners area and studied abroad in the Philippines. I have been licensed and practicing in Colorado and New Mexico since 2014 and feel so blessed to provide midwifery services to families in the community I love.
After the birth of my youngest son I found myself needing support that didn't yet exist in our community. It was through that experience and recognizing the same needs in other women I served that motivated me to take part in starting the For Love & Babes organization. It's been such a privilege to serve families in this way, and with the incredible FL&B team.
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I live in Ignacio on a horse ranch with my husband and three amazing children. We all enjoy spending time as a family with our many animals and in the beautiful outdoors that surround us.
Joy Frazer
Founder & Facilitator
Joy Frazer is a midwife and a naturopathic doctor who specializes in natural birth, lactation consulting, and well baby care. She has had a practice in Durango, CO since 2007. She honors the body’s innate ability to birth babies, breastfeed and heal itself. She is committed to facilitating the health of families and individuals through kind and compassionate care.
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Joy has had a passion for supporting new families through mom and baby support groups since the beginning of her career and even more since becoming a mother in 2012.
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Joy lives in Durango with her husband and two sons. Her sons were born at home surrounded and supported by her husband and her midwives. Her motherhood journey was rough at times with the challenges of infants and small children. She has deep compassion and empathy for mothers and new families. Now her kids go to school and are very involved in sports, so life is easier!


Izzy Bonecutter
Facilitator
My name is Izzy Bonecutter. I grew up in Durango, Colorado where I was supported by the Durango community and raised in the surrounding mountains, rivers, and deserts. I studied Psychology through school and am now grateful to continue living amongst and giving back to the people in this community now as a birth doula, medical/midwife assistant, and postpartum circle facilitator for For Love and Babes. I am devoted to supporting mothers through the continuum of birth, as there is so much that unfolds and opens once the birth has closed. Often, this chapter is overlooked.
I have always loved deeply connecting with others and believe most of my growth was rooted in becoming vulnerable in my connections. It's daunting to open up and be fully seen, but it's healing when you realize you are being held...You begin to hold yourself a bit more too. When I am witnessed in my authentic expression and met with love and the absence of judgment in a relationship, I make sure to hold it close to my heart. It is in these relationships that I feel most at home. They have been the catalyst on my own journey towards feeling empowered, fuller of compassion for myself, and less alone in my experiences.
For Love and Babes is a container that fosters these relationships. It is my deepest intention to show up emanating this energy as a facilitator and to help each circle bloom rooted in the belief that you can be fully witnessed as you are, (messy, deeply joyful, deeply sad, full of light, angry, ashamed, etc.) and still be wholeheartedly loved, held, accepted, and connected. You are so not alone on this journey and I hope stepping foot into a circle of other moms navigating this new territory brings you a sigh of relief. I am truly looking forward to sitting in circle with you!
Drea
Facilitator
Hello! My name is Drea and I'm a graduate of the baby support group. I loved it so much, I couldn't let it go and had to find a way to keep meeting with other moms, and from that has come the toddler moms support group! As a group, we are a work in progress, from in-person to zoom to Marco Polo, but I love it so much to be in community with other moms as our babies become toddlers and toddlers become kids.
This transition of becoming a mother has been indescribable and one of the biggest, hardest things I've ever done. It has meant everything to me to be able to support and be supported by other women in the same wild transition. And I have BIG dreams of what community and mutual support could look like for mothers, and a strong desire to make it more available to us all.

Nikki Gillespie
Facilitator
I have worked with the whole body system for over twenty-five years.I am an Advanced Certified Rolfer, Hakomi Practitioner, Trauma Coach, Doula and Somatic Sex Educator. As a holistic practitioner, I mentor the client on a physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual level in order to provide opportunities for healing. My work is designed to both comfort and interrupt the clients system. My intention is to provide an accepting, curious and safe environment for people to explore their own system and how they walk in the world in order to open to a fuller sense of their potential. I am a Mama and believe if all Mothers received the support their bodies, hearts and souls need 80% of the problems of the world would dissolve.
Kate Osterloh
Facilitator
Kate Osterloh joined a postpartum support group after the birth of her daughter River in 2022, and the solidarity was crucial to surviving those early days. She is so happy to contribute to the For Love & Babes mission as a new facilitator. Before landing in Durango in 2020, she spent 12 years working for the U.S. Foreign Service overseas, focusing on public diplomacy and humanitarian assistance for refugees. She has an MA in International Human Rights Law from the American University in Cairo, and is now back in school pursuing a career in mental health counseling. She loves creative writing, photography, and the beauty of this incredible land.


Melissa Reitman
Facilitator
Hello. My name is Melissa Reitman. I am an empty nest mother of 3 awesome kids, a Pelvic Floor Physical Therapist, a Birth Doula and La Leche League Leader. I am grateful to have the privilege to be a part of pregnancy, labor/delivery and postpartum recovery into the 4th trimester!! My passion for all things body and birth began in my youth and after over 30 years of practice, is at an all time high. In June of 2021 I opened One on One Wellness, a physical therapy practice with an emphasis on holistic treatment including pregnancy and beyond. I believe the mind, body, soul and spirit are all connected and all need attention for complete healing and recovery. When I am not geeking out on a birth podcast or another PT course, You might find me reading, walking/hiking, paddle boarding, camping, cross country skiing or just hanging out with my family and 4 pound therapy dog, Cholula.
Kelly Skaggs
Facilitator
Hi Everyone! I am Kelly and am thrilled to be a part of the For Love and Babes group. I first attended this group when I had my son Ollie 2.5 years ago. I feel so lucky to be able to help facilitate these groups to other new mothers in our community as I have experienced firsthand the impact that connecting with new mothers can do.
There is nothing like the connection you can build with other new moms experiencing such similar things. I love the immediate bond that is formed when sharing space with other mothers who are going through the similar ups and downs of postpartum life.
Currently I stay home full time with my son Ollie and am expecting another baby early Summer. My background is in psychology and I was a school counselor prior to entering motherhood. I became extremely passionate about birth and breastfeeding when I was pregnant and decided to pursue getting my CLC certification. I offer home visits, lactation consultations and teach breastfeeding workshops to expecting mothers in our community!



Kelly Zepelin
Facilitator
Kelly Zepelin, a proud mother to Lily (born August 2022), initially joined the Love & Babes postpartum support group as a participant. Inspired by the incredible sense of community and support it offered, she has remained on as a volunteer for Love & Babes ever since. She is currently co-facilitating an online toddler support group. Kelly has a PhD in Cultural Anthropology, specializing in the ethnobotany of the Southwest United States, and is planning to return to school in the fall of 2024 to pursue a career in mental health counseling.


Matt Zepelin
Facilitator
Matt Zepelin moved to Durango with his wife, Kelly, in 2020. Their daughter, Lily Rae, was born in 2022. Going through the various challenges of being a new parent, and hearing that For Love & Babes had long seen the need for a dads group, Matt volunteered to facilitate the first group in the fall of 2023, with plans to hold new groups about twice a year. Matt works at Earth Law Center, an environmental nonprofit headquartered in Durango. Originally from Denver, his background includes work in book publishing and somatic education, and in his (now rather limited) free time, he enjoys hiking, cross-country skiing, and watching soccer.