We Can't Wait To Meet You! 

Althea Hrdlichka, CPM

Owner & Founder. Midwife 
Althea Hrdlichka is a Certified Professional Midwife licensed in Colorado, Wyoming and Arizona. After completion of her clinical training in Arizona and Northern Colorado, she graduated from National Midwifery Institute in October of 2016 and received her national licensure in February of 2017.
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Althea Hrdlichka is a Certified Professional Midwife licensed in Colorado, Wyoming and Arizona. After completion of her clinical training in Arizona and Northern Colorado, she graduated from National Midwifery Institute in October of 2016 and received her national licensure in February of 2017.

Althea started her solo homebirth practice in 2016 and shortly after began pursuing her dreams to open Northern Colorado’s first free standing birth center, Tender Gifts Midwifery & Birth Center. Althea began her career as a birth and postpartum doula in 2009 after the birth of her 4th baby. Her drive for supporting families during the most precious times in their lives began after having a number of different birthing experiences herself, ending with the most perfect homebirth.

She has had the honor of attending over 500 births. Althea has helped the women in our community with preconception counseling, providing complete prenatal care during pregnancy, labor and birth. As well as care for mother’s and baby’s in the postpartum period. Tender Gifts serves clients in Northern Colorado and Southern Wyoming.

Althea’s goal for her practice is to provide gentle, loving care to any and all clients, helping them have the birth experience they deserve. 

​Althea’s passion while serving on the Colorado Midwives Associate board of directors is to help bring the changes our state needs, not only with our rules and regulations, but  helping facilitate conversation and changes amongst the midwifery community in order to better serve all.
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Karin Braun
​CNM, APRN

Clinical Director
Karin has been attending births since 1992. Karin started as a nurse and certified direct entry midwife and obtained her CNM degree in 2000. She is very excited to be able to work with the Tender Gifts team.
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​Karin owned and operated a birth center in Anchorage, Alaska and has attended births worldwide. Karin has spent many years in the northern Arizona birth community and has established a strong connection there. As a CNM Nurse Practitioner, Karin is able to offer a higher level of care to women and their families including well woman care, contraception and long-term/lifetime healthcare. Karin also brings a strong faith in the birthing process to the table coupled with clinical aptitude and excellence. Karin has four children and one grandchild that she cherishes.

Victoria Engelhard, CPM

Midwife
Victoria Engelhard is a Colorado Licensed Midwife and a Certified Professional Midwife. She graduated from Mercy in Action College of Midwifery in 2018 after completing her clinical training at Mercy Birth Center and L’Abri Midwifery in Idaho. ​
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Victoria was born at home and grew up in a culture where midwifery care and homebirth was the normal way of life.

​Inspired by what she witnessed, Victoria wanted to provide the midwifery model of care to the women and families of her own community. Victoria is excited to serve as a midwife in Northern Colorado.

Kayla Wright
​CNM, WHNP

Midwife
Kayla is a Certified Nurse Midwife, Women's Health Nurse Practitioner, and Certified Lactation Counselor. At some level, Kayla's path was always destined to bring her to Midwifery. She is excited to be part of a supportive and collaborative team of midwives at Tender Gifts.
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Kayla's "aha" moment came at age 10 with small hands pressed against her fifth-grade teacher's pregnant belly. Since then, her focus never wavered and she graduated at the top of her class from Yale University School of Nursing in 2014 with her Master's in Nursing. Prior to joining Tender Gifts, she worked for six years as the medical director for a freestanding birth center in Montana

AUBREY MAST
​CPM

Midwife
​​Aubrey Mast is a Certified Professional Midwife licensed in Colorado. She graduated from Mercy in Action College of Midwifery in 2019 after completing her clinical training in Northern Colorado.
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​​Aubrey finished her training with Tender Gifts Midwifery, where she went on to stay as a staff midwife. Aubrey found her passion for midwifery after attending the birth of her best friend’s baby, at home. While Aubrey first considered a career in nursing, she soon realized out of hospital midwifery was her calling. Aubrey has a passion to educate families and facilitate the birth they desire.

BRECKLEN ABLES

Student Midwife
Brecklen Ables has joined Tender Gifts Midwifery as the newest student midwife continuing the desire she has to serve birthing families that she began when she became a doula three years ago.
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Brecklen Ables has joined Tender Gifts Midwifery as the newest student midwife continuing the desire she has to serve birthing families that she began when she became a doula three years ago.

Brecklen’s passion for birth started when she was preparing for her first baby. She began learning anything and everything she could about pregnancy and birth: studying hypnobabies, watching her nutrition, and making a birth plan. That entire birth plan went wrong, ending in an unplanned cesarean. Meanwhile, her sister had a successful home birth with a midwife and doula. After that, she made hiring a doula the first thing she did when she became pregnant a second time. It was after experiencing that support first hand that she knew she wanted to start her path towards supporting women in birth by becoming a doula.  

​Brecklen’s desire to support birthing families has now shifted from being a doula to becoming a midwife and she cannot wait to start her journey with Mercy in Action College of Midwifery so she can serve and learn from her community. 

Admin Team

CHRYSTAL BOULDEN

Administrative Director
​Chrystal was born in Jamaica and raised in South Florida. In 2016 she earned her MBA in Healthcare and has been working in healthcare administration since 2010.
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​Chrystal was born in Jamaica and raised in South Florida. In 2016 she earned her MBA in Healthcare and has been working in healthcare administration since 2010. After having her beautiful daughter in 2016, and struggling postpartum with no assistance, she knew helping women find much needed resources for better outcomes was what she wanted to do. Her goal is to educate women, particularly African American women, about their birthing options and choices in hopes that no one has to experience what she went through.
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​In 2017 she found her passion and destiny and began working at a birth center in AZ. Until she found that center, she didn't even know birth centers existed or that giving birth at home was even an option! This has sparked her passion even more by providing consultations to new and established birth centers. She is now the Administrative Director to a number of birth centers in Colorado and in Arizona, where she gets to travel and work remotely. Her contagious smile and big heart is at the core of Tender Gifts.

JENNY TAYLOR

Office Admin
Jenny has 20 years in the health industry. Her expertise is giving patients access to the care they need as quickly as possible. ​
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Jenny has 20 years in the health industry. Her expertise is giving patients access to the care they need as quickly as possible. She makes sure the office runs efficiently for the patients and staff. She helps with insurance issues, planning for their personalized attention and care, and reminds patients about their appointments.

When Jenny isn’t managing the office, she keeps busy knitting and spending time with her children and grandbabies.  Being involved in her community and with the people there is important to her too.