ACT Program
2021-2022 Cohort

Randy Ashford, LMHC, IMH-E®

I have worked as an early childhood therapist and consultant for a number of years, and in a variety of capacities. I have professional interests in trauma, equity, developmental neuroscience, and the human ecosystems where these phenomenon unfold, with a particular interest in early care and education settings.

“The ACT Program has been a wonderful opportunity to build a more holistic understanding of the many intersecting factors that influence early development, and to enrich therapeutic practices thanks to an incredible faculty and guest instructors, including well-known figures in the field of infant and early childhood mental health.”

Maria Ayala, MSW LSWAIC

Born and raised in Sunnyside, a small town between Yakima and Tricities, which is three hours away from Seattle. Married my high school sweetheart. We have three children 17,14, and 4. I enjoy spending time with my family and traveling. I graduated from Heritage University with a Bachelor of Social Work (2007). In 2020 I received my Master of Social Work degree (MSW) from Walla Walla University. I spent 12 years of my career as a case manager working with diverse populations. I’ve been working in the mental health field since obtaining my MSW. My plan is to be licensed, LICSW, within a year.
My desire is to normalize mental health and end the stigma. I truly believe if we support and educate parents/caregivers during their children’s early years not only will they learn co-regulation skills to support their children, but their children will gain the skills they need to be able to self-regulate and cope. So hopefully by the the time they are in middle or high school they will need very minimal support.

One of my many projects is “Wellness Group” which I do voluntarily in my community. The Wellness group is for youth and parents/caregivers. Youth will gain a better understanding of mental health. Youth will learn skills to help them cope with daily stressors, understand different mental illnesses, the warning signs of someone struggling with their mental health, and so much more. Parents/caregivers will also be getting mental health education.

I currently work at Triumph as a Lead Mental Health Counselor. Triumph is a multifaceted community service provider offering a continuum of care for substance use and mental health disorder treatment. I also have a seasonal job. I am a facilitator for the Strengthening Families Program since 2019. The program is seven weeks and is offered in Spanish and English. I’ve been doing this for over two years.

As a new clinician, the skills I have gained and the knowledge I am taking away from the ACT program are immeasurable. It was incredible to have the opportunity to learn from amazing professors and clinicians. I am thankful for this program and look forward to applying what I learned.

Meeghan Bergmann

I work as an Early Childhood Mental Health Specialist/Consultant at an Early Learning Center in Seattle, Washington that serves children and families impacted by homelessness. I have a passion for supporting the integration of an ECMH framework/relational way of being in early learning/child care settings in a way that is responsive to the unique needs of the staff, children and families of the specific early learning community. I work at a center that consistently strives to understand how systems of oppression are impacting the lives of the children, families and staff in our early learning community while seeking to be accountable to the ways that we individually and/or collectively uphold systems of oppression or move towards liberation. This orientation to the work has transformed my perspective and practice while supporting my commitment to equity in my professional as well as personal life. I am also a Promoting First Relationships Provider on a UW Research Project and facilitate Reflective Consultation groups for Early Childhood Providers. I have a passion for working collectively with our Washington ECMH community to increase access to reflective consultation groups for interested providers!

My seed project is working with Parent-Child Relationship Programs (PCRP) to offer affordable reflective consultation (RC) groups for Washington State providers with the hopes in the future there will be more matching of Consultants & folks looking for affordable RC groups in the future. An RC group is scheduled to begin in July and space is currently available. See the RC group information flier HERE and/or email Meeghan for more information. Thanks!

“The ACT program provided a high quality, thoughtful, accessible clinical foundation that I had been longing for as an early career provider that integrated early childhood mental health and diversity informed practice. A relational way of being and learning was embodied in the ACT community by instructors and cohort members which will continue to impact me throughout my ECMH journey.”

Bessie Green, LCSW, IMH-E® III

Bessie Green is a licensed clinical social worker in private practice in Fairbanks, Alaska. Her clinical experience includes work with children and families involved with child welfare and dealing with experiences of family violence, in the community, in a domestic violence shelter, and in jail. Bessie has worked in the area of domestic violence intervention with adult and child survivors of violence and with people who have used violence since 2002. She graduated from Humboldt State University’s MSW program, which focused on Social Work in Rural and Indigenous Communities, in 2016. In her private practice Bessie provides direct services to children and adults, along with reflective consultation and support to professionals and paraprofessionals in the areas of infant and early childhood mental health, child welfare, tribal child welfare, family violence, and crisis intervention services. You can learn about Bessie’s private practice at www.bessiegreenlcsw.com.

“The ACT program gave me the foundation I was looking for to feel confident as a clinician with infants and young children and their families. I am so grateful to have had this wonderful experience in this amazing learning community.”

Krista Haller, LPC, PMH-C

Krista is a licensed professional counselor and certified perinatal mental health specialist with a private practice focused on the emotional terrain of pregnancy, postpartum, and early parenting. She also serves as the Mental Health Specialist for an Early Head Start program, offering reflective consultation and trauma-informed support to staff and families.

Currently pursuing her Infant Mental Health Endorsement (IMH-E®), Krista brings a relational, equity-driven lens to her work—holding space for complexity, nuance, and the real stories that shape caregiver-child dynamics. She’s especially drawn to the overlap of systems and personal narrative, where professionals can show up fully human.

Her work is grounded, curious, and candid—favoring authenticity over polish.

“The ACT Program offered space for honest reflection and connection with a like-minded community. I felt safe showing up fully, and appreciated how authenticity was welcomed. The content was thorough, practical, and led by knowledgeable leaders in the field of infant mental health.”

Rikki-Rachelle Hinz, LMHCA

Rikki has worked with young children and their families for 15 years in various capacities. She firmly believes, “None of us are well, until all of us are well,” (Vienna Rye) and this is the driving force of her purpose & passion in this work. A brief summary of experiences & identities that inform how she shows up in this work: she is a white, cis-gendered queer woman, with the lived experience of having a high ACE score. She completed her BA in Early Childhood and Family Studies at the UW and spent many years working as an infant/toddler, and preschool teacher before going back to the UW for graduate school for a Master’s in Applied Child & Adolescent Psychology. She has worked as an IECMH consultant, IMH specialist, and currently works as an IMH therapist for the Early Supports for Infants and Toddlers Program at Kindering.

Her seed project, “Connect, Reflect, Be: In Nature” is about reimagining reflective practice through connection with colleagues on a human level, while engaged in movement through greenspaces.

“The ACT program was an incredibly valuable and worthwhile experience for me. The experience of being held in such unconditional positive regard by instructors and peers led to transformative growth for me. Perhaps the most precious gift I received from the program was an ease in the tension between the personal self and the professional self that had existed within me for so long- my experience in this program taught me that they are one. I feel like I can now bring my whole self into my work with confidence.”

Jennifer Rees, MSW, IMH-E®

Director, Promoting First Relationships®

For twenty years, Jennifer has worked as a provider, trainer, reflective consultant and manager for the Promoting First Relationships (PFR) program. She now directs all aspects of the evidence-based infant and early childhood mental health program. Jennifer graduated from the University of Washington with her Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology, and later obtained her Master of Social Work degree from the UW. She was also a member of the first cohort of the Barnard Center’s Advanced Clinical Training program.

Jennifer spent the early part of her career working with children and families as a Research Coordinator for the NICHD Study of Early Childcare and Youth Development, as well as counseling teens and their families in school settings.
Her special projects with Promoting First Relationships have included contributing to the 4th edition PFR manual, curriculum development for PFR with 3 to 5 year olds and school age children, tribes, mothers diagnosed with depression or anxiety and their newborns, and reunified birth families. She helped develop and grow the distance training model to disseminate PFR across the country and internationally. Jennifer has overseen PFR in a variety of research studies, and has experience mentoring a wide range of service providers across different fields, including child welfare, mental health, early intervention, early childhood education, tribes, public health, social work, and nursing. Jennifer cares deeply about supporting providers and parents in a reflective and strengths-based way to promote nurturing caregiver-child relationships.

“Participating in the ACT program was an amazing experience and I would recommend it to anybody seeking solid, in-depth knowledge in infant and early childhood mental health. At the core of the program is Dr. Nucha Isarowong. Nucha truly embodies the parallel process in this program. He cares deeply about each person and creates a supportive and brave learning environment that helped us all learn and grow. It was invaluable to be a member of the learning cohort and get to discuss and reflect about infant mental health principles with people from a wide variety of backgrounds and disciplines. The program was very thoughtful about putting together comprehensive readings, videos and infant mental health content from experts in the field. The program also brought in leading experts to teach us directly in their area of expertise. I appreciated the focus on the Diversity Informed Tenets and feel this broadened my knowledge and helped me integrate these principles into all aspects of my work. I think about the tenets when revising our program curriculum and training approaches to be more inclusive and accessible, when participating in meetings to raise issues of equity, to explore unexamined biases for myself and with our providers, and countless other times. I feel more confident in my work because of the rich content and meaningful conversations during my time in the ACT program.”