Background and Education

Theresa is board certified by the National Board Certification in Occupational Therapy and a Certified Professional Marquette Method NFP Instructor.  She has a passion for women's health and fertility and optimizing health through knowledge of cycles and charting.  She earned her BA in philosophy and theology from Thomas Aquinas College 2008, and went on to get a Masters of Science in Occupational Therapy through Grand Valley State University in Michigan in 2018.  She has done training in various clinical settings including inpatient rehabilitation, home health, and pediatric care, and became board certified in 2020.  Following this, she united her love of women's health to her clinical expertise in OT by undergoing further certification to become a Marquette Method fertility educator. 

As an instructor, she has assisted women in coming off birth control, navigating postpartum and breastfeeding, and through other special circumstances such as miscarriage and managing PCOS symptoms.  She has also personally used the Marquette Method for over 11 years and has hands-on expertise in using the Clearblue and Mira monitors.  She loves helping clients determine whether the Clearblue Monitor or Mira Analyzer best fits their cycle tracking needs, and assists them in understanding their hormone data to avoid or achieve pregnancy. 

Theresa's NFP Story

When my husband and I were engaged, we were required to take an NFP course as part of our engaged preparation at our parish in Greenville, South Carolina.  We met with a Couple to Couple League couple in an online group course and learned Sympto-Thermal method of NFP in preparation for married life.  We learned a lot about tracking and charting and how my hormones work in beautiful concert with God's design for new life with regular patterns of infertile and fertile days.  It gave us a great foundation for NFP as we learned about mucus and temperature biomarkers.  We needed to avoid pregnancy for a couple of years after the wedding as my husband finished up with a medical research post and started residency, and for the most part sympto-thermal worked for us.  Mucus tracking was always difficult for me, though, with a tricky constantly present basic infertile pattern (sypmto-thermal users will know what I'm talking about!).

After our first baby was born, I dreaded the idea of trying to understand mucus patterns postpartum (which is notoriously confusing) and switched to learning and using the Marquette Method.  I knew it was a well-researched method that works in breastfeeding, and I had a few friends who loved the method.  I was relieved I was able to use it even when I had to switch to exclusive pumping and bottle feeding for my daughter.  I had thought we might go back to sympto-thermal when regular cycles returned, but we loved how simple the daily testing of Marquette was and I loved letting go of mucus observations and having an objective marker with a clear test result.  I also didn't have to worry about getting an accurate temperature reading in the morning when I'd been up and down all night nursing the baby!  We never went back.  

Over the years I learned so much about the ins and outs of the method, and the research to backup how to navigate changing circumstances.  I was extremely comfortable with the method when I entered the Marquette teacher training program, and loved deepening my research, understanding, and expertise in order to help other women.  All Marquette Method instructors need to be healthcare professionals, and it's been the perfect way to unite my skills from my occupational therapist background with my love of women's health and fertility.  I am passionate about helping women in a variety of special circumstances, from PCOS to perimenopause to infertility struggles. through the research-based protocols and tools available with the Marquette Method.  I have both used and taught couples how to incorporate double checks of temperature tracking with Tempdrop, progesterone urine tests to confirm ovulation, and hormone tracking with the Mira monitor.  I love the new femm-tech products coming out on the market and am passionate about being a part of a method at the forefront of research in this area.  

We now live in Raleigh, NC with our four children (we had three boys after my daughter). My husband Johnny is a fellowship trained upper extremity orthopedic surgeon at Bone and Joint Surgery, and I currently stay home with our kids.  In my spare time I read literature and host book clubs for women/couples, paint watercolor, experiment with gluten-free sourdough, and teach natural family planning as a Marquette Method Certified Professional.  I'd be honored to help you along your own journey with NFP.