ACT Program Instructors + Facilitators

Clark Baim, PhD

Attachment Theory & Concepts: The Dynamic Maturational Model (DMM)
(Cohorts 2022-2023 & 2023-2024)

Clark Baim, PhD. is a psychotherapist (UKCP, BPA), clinical supervisor, group leader and organisational consultant with more than 25 years of experience working in the UK and internationally. He has had a primary focus on the DMM since 2000 and is on the faculty of the Family Relations Institute.

Clark is a registered psychotherapist and senior trainer with the British Psychodrama Association, Co-Director of Change Point Learning and Development, and Director of the Birmingham Institute for Psychodrama (UK). He has a particular focus on psychotherapy in forensic settings, including prisons, young offender institutions and forensic hospitals. In the 1990s, Clark worked as a group psychotherapist at HM Prison Grendon, near Aylesbury, Bucks. He served as a Lead National Trainer for the Probation Service’s sexual offending intervention programmes in the UK from 2000-2012. From 2017 to 2022, he served as the Honorary President of the British Psychodrama Association and is a recipient of the BPA’s Lifetime Achievement Award (2018). He has had past honorary fellowships at the University of Birmingham, the University of Exeter, and is a current Honorary Associate of Berry Street, Melbourne, Australia.

A native of Chicago, Clark settled in Birmingham, UK in the 1980s. He has worked in 20 countries and has facilitated workshops and clinical and staff training sessions in more than 230 institutions and organisations. He has presented workshops and keynote addresses at more than 100 professional conferences. He has published widely on topics including attachment theory, psychotherapy, offender rehabilitation, co-working and therapeutic uses of theatre. Among these publications, he co-authored with Tony Morrison the best-selling book, Attachment-based Practice with Adults: Understanding Strategies and Promoting Positive Change (Pavilion Publishing, 2011). In 2022, he published the companion volume, Attachment-based Practice with Children, Adolescents and Families, which he co-authored with Lydia Guthrie, Dr. Ezra Loh and Dr. Satbinder Kaur Bhogal.

Clark is a board member and founder member of the IASA – International Association for the Study of Attachment (www.iasa-dmm.org). His current work is focused on participation in research associated with the DMM, on DMM trainings – namely the Adult Attachment Interview and Attachment and Psychopathology (in Australia) – and on applications of the DMM to mental health treatment, child protection and offender rehabilitation.

Rebecca Berg, MA OTR/L

DIR/Floor Time 
(Cohort 2021-2022)

Rebecca’s passion for understanding social, emotional, and cognitive development first emerged in the field of education, with students ranging from preschool and early elementary special education to undergraduate theatre students. Since earning her master’s degree in occupational therapy from New York University in 2008, Rebecca has continued to nurture this passion through training and mentorship in sensory processing and infant mental health, including certification in the DIR-FCD Model through Profectum and Facilitating Attuned Interactions (FAN) model.

Rebecca’s professional home is Cooper House, an infant mental health clinic in Seattle, where occupational therapists and mental health therapists work in close collaboration and transdisciplinary practice to serve children 0-5 and their families. Her clinical work is characterized by a deep understanding of a child’s developmental capacities and close partnership with caregivers to understand the many moving parts of development within the caregiver/child relationship, their family system, and the community in which they live.

In additional to her clinical work, Rebecca is drawn to individual and organization-level advocacy for trauma-informed, developmentally minded, relationship-based practices. She is a writer and has been an active member of several professional groups and committees, including Profectum’s Communication and Engagement Committee and WA State’s TIC Legislative Advisory Board.

Rebecca continues to enjoy teaching; in recent years, she has taught occupational therapy students at Lake Washington Institute of Technology, presented for WOTA state conferences and Profectum’ national conferences and training program, and presents locally on topics related to the development of play and relationship-based, developmentally minded work for parents, early childhood educators, and other professionals.

Jesse Bernal, LMFT (He/They)

Foundations of Trauma, Resiliency, & Healing  – Neurodevelopmental & Relational Impacts of Trauma
(Cohort 2022-2023)

Jess Bernal is an Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultant and Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist who holds a master’s degree in Counseling Psychology and a certification of specialization in Applied Behavior Analysis.  They have spent over 15 years working with the birth to five population, specifically focusing on infant and early childhood mental health, neural and social/emotional development, inclusion of children with diverse learning needs, staff and caregiver wellness, and mitigating the long-term effects of early childhood trauma. In addition, Jess is an adjunct professor at Pacific Oaks College in Pasadena, CA for both the School of Cultural and Family Psychology and the School of Education and has served as a research associate to authors in the field such as Dr. Daniel Seigel and Dr. Barbara Stroud.  He provides consultation and training to multiple Head Start and Early Head Start programs across the country and is a nationwide speaker and presenter. Jess strives to increase the general understanding of social/emotional development and behavior through a trauma-informed lens, while always staying true to the core values of inclusion, diversity, and social justice.

Marian Birch, DMH

Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Introduction
(Cohort 2021-2022)

Marian Birch is a retired clinical psychologist and infant mental health specialist who lives in Port Angeles, WA. She received a Doctorate in Mental Health from the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California San Francisco in 1983. Her teachers included Erik Erikson and Mary Main. Dr. Birch spent several years as a post-graduate trainee at the Infant-Parent Program  founded by Selma Fraiberg at UCSF. Her supervisors there included Jeree Pawl and Alicia Lieberman. Dr. Birch practiced for 12 years in San Francisco, where she taught and supervised in numerous clinical training schemes. Dr. Birch also served as the Clinical Director of the IMH Certificate Program at the UW School of nursing from 2001-2004. From there she has engaged in a variety of projects to support families with young children including developing a dyadic intervention called BabyLink and intensive home-visiting program called the CARE Project. Since her retirement, she has learned to play the harp, studied Chinese, and done lots of kayaking, snowshoeing, gardening, yoga and cooking in the home she and her husband built in the foothills of the Olympic Mountains.

Abigail Bocanegra, MA, LMFT, Mental Health Consultant

Expressive Arts Therapeutic Approach
(Cohorts 2022-2023, 2023-2024, 2025-2026)

Abigail Bocanegra is the Founder and Director of Creative Heart Therapies (2018), where she holds positions as a bilingual/bicultural Expressive Arts Psychotherapist and Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultant.  She has extensive experience in working with diverse young children and their families in a variety of settings (i.e, community-based mental health agencies in Oakland/San Francisco, early learning/childcare in Spokane, and philanthropic private sectors). She is the co-developer and co-author of The Integrative Cultural Healing Model, a treatment approach intersecting Tribal Traditional Knowledge and Western-based practices to treat trauma and foster ancestral healing for Indigenous children (0-5) and their families. She is also the creator and author of the Family Play Group Curriculum, designed to strengthen and support relationships between young children and their parents residing at Rising Strong – a Family-Centered Treatment Center.

She provides Reflective Practice and IECMH Consultation for Spanish-Speaking Bilingual clinicians serving young children and their families. As a consultant, she offers educational workshops and training aligned with core competencies and field expertise in diversity, equity, and inclusive practices as foundational to attachment, trauma, family systems, workforce development, and organizational systems.  She currently practices as an Expressive Arts Psychotherapist, utilizing culturally resonant arts practices serving families impacted by colonial intergenerational trauma, racialized trauma, and discriminatory systemic immigration policies. Along with DEI advocacy, her practice and consultancy are strongly influenced by her lived experience as First Generation Mexican-American/ Chicanx. Her practice is grounded in Nahuatl Philosophy of In Ixtli In Yolotl – a pursuit of a life purpose, living in alignment with wisdom in consciousness and the strength and guidance of the heart.

Gloria Castro, PsyD

Perinatal Psychotherapy
(Cohort 2021-2022, 2022-2023, 2023-2024)

Gloria Castro is a clinical psychologist and Certified Sexual Assault Counselor. Dr. Castro was granted the Fraiberg-Harris Fellowship to complete her postdoctoral training at the Infant-Parent Program, UCSF. Dr. Castro’s clinical work has focused on infant mental health and mental health daycare consultation. She has experience conducting comprehensive psychological assessments and developmental neuropsychological assessments for children ranging in age from infancy to adolescence. Dr. Castro is currently working at Child Trauma Research Program on the implementation of Child-parent Psychotherapy during pregnancy and the perinatal period. Dr. Castro provides psychotherapy to pregnant women with history of traumatic experiences throughout pregnancy, labor, delivery and post-partum at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital (ZSFGH), UCSF. She provides infant mental health services to families and newborns at the NICU and has provided mental health services at the High Risk Pediatric Kempe clinic at ZSFGH. She has worked with children, adolescents, and families in various clinical venues including Rape Trauma Services and North Peninsula Family Alternatives (YMCA), in San Mateo County where she developed and implemented a mental health program for immigrant families. She consults, supervises, and trains mental health providers who work with immigrant families and their children who have experienced significant trauma. Dr. Castro has a strong interest on the impact of immigration on family systems, the intergenerational transmission of trauma, and the impact of trauma on children?s development. Prior to the Infant-Parent Program and Child Trauma Research Program, she worked at the Children’s Hospital, National Medical Center in Mexico City and at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). She has presented on national and international conferences, and forums on the topics of parenting in a different culture and on the impact of immigration on the sense of self and motherhood identity. In addition to her work at UCSF, Dr. Castro has taught at Argosy University, American School of Professional Psychology. She also served on the Advisory Board.

Joy Coculluela, MFA, RSME, Cmt

Embodying Your Creativity; Nourishing Seed Ideas for Your Project
(Cohort 2021-2022)

Joy Cosculluela is a somatic educator, performing artist, and choreographer born in the Philippines and migrated to the SF Bay Area. Joy is artistic director of Wayfinding Performance Group, an ensemble of multicultural artists, and has directed Homing Devices, All that Remains, The Space Between, and Soil. Joy’s works explore themes of home, belonging, and resilience against a backdrop of decolonization and shared humanity. Joy trained and performed with dance pioneer Anna Halprin in Seasons, Spirit of Place, Parades and Changes, and many more. She has presented her practice of weaving embodied creativity, the healing arts, and love for the land in national conferences such as ISMETA and Nature Talks. Joy enjoys collaboration and has worked together with numerous Bay Area artists. She is artistic director of Performance Lab SF and leads classes for adults exploring embodied creativity, nature, and well-being. She has presented “Around the Kitchen Table,” a virtual performance project in response to the Covid pandemic. Joy holds an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts from Goddard College and teaches movement-based expressive arts and the Life/Art Process® at Tamalpa Institute in Kentfield, CA.
www.wayfindingperformance.com. www.tamalpa.org

Christine Jackson Cole, LICSW, IMH-E®

Infant Mental Health Mentor (Clinical)
Infant-Early Childhood Mental Health Program Manager

State IECMH Policy: Centering infants, toddlers, preschoolers and their caregivers’ in understanding social context and systems
(Cohort 2023-2024)

I came into the mental health field excited and eager to work with the youngest members of our communities, kids. I quickly discovered that I wouldn’t get very far without also working with their parents and caregivers. And so began my passion for relationship-based work with children and their families.

I started my career in Denver, Colorado while attending University of Denver’s Graduate School of Social Work focusing on children and families with a specialization in Interpersonal Trauma. From early on in my practice, I have worked with caregivers and their young children from promotion to treatment in a variety of settings. Regardless of the services, I have learned that supporting caregivers in their role is integral to the health and well-being of their children.

Currently, I work at Washington Health Care Authority as the Infant-Early Childhood Mental Health Program Manager. This role has allowed me the opportunity to apply my clinical experiences with families to inform state policy and initiatives. I have the privilege of working alongside those who are providing direct services which has allowed for greater partnership in understanding both the challenges and opportunities for creating more developmentally-appropriate systems and quality care to improve the wellbeing of children and families.

Mindy Davis, LICSW

Child-Parent Psychotherapy
(Cohort 2021-2022, 2022-2023, 2023-2024)

Mindy is a Clinician in Private Practice serving primarily children 0-6 years old.  She also provides Clinical and Reflective Supervision in the community to various professionals serving children 0-6.  Mindy currently is participating in meetings to help launch Clark County’s Safe Baby Court. Mindy also is a trainer for Attachment Vitamins (parenting program) and the ASQ-3 and ASQ-SE2. In the past,  Mindy has worked as a Clinician and Clinical Supervisor in community mental health for 20 years.   She has presented at statewide Conferences and locally in the Vancouver area on Mitigating the Effects of Toxic Stress and Trauma in Children 0-6 years old.

Myisha Driver, PhD., LMFT IFECMH Endorsement – Reflective Practice Facilitator II

DIR Floortime for Mental Health Clinicians
(Cohort 2022-2023, 2023-2024)

Dr. Myisha Driver-Woods is a licensed clinical psychologist and earned her PhD in Clinical Psychology from Fielding Graduate University. She completed her internship and post-doctoral fellowship training at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. Myisha earned her B.S. in Psychology from Howard University and M.A. in Counseling Psychology from National University. She is a California Endorsed Infant Family Early Childhood Mental Health Specialist and Reflective Practice Facilitator II and a graduate of the Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities Training Program. Myisha is a proud native of Compton, California and uses her personal and professional experiences to educate others and advocate for social and racial justice. She is a recipient of the Diane Kipnes Endowed Fund for Social Innovation Award and serves as a co-chair on the CalAIHM Social Justice Committee. She also serves as a board member for PSYCHES of COLOR, a non-profit organization focused on supporting Black and Lainx youth.

Helen Egger, PhD

Early Childhood Mental Health and DC:0-5
(Cohort 2021-2022)

Dr. Helen Egger is a child psychiatrist, early childhood mental health epidemiologist, and digital health innovator. With her daughter, Rebecca Egger, she co-founded Little Otter, an early childhood digital mental health company providing high-quality, family-centered, and accessible mental health care for children ages 0-14 years old and their families.

Founded in the Spring of 2020, Little Otter has raised > $26M in venture-backed funding and is currently available in CA, CO, NC, and FL with plans to be available nationally by early 2023.

Prior to joining Little Otter, Dr. Egger was Chair of the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at NYU Langone Health and Director of the NYU Child Study Center. She also founded the WonderLab, a digital child mental health research lab.

Before NYULH, Dr. Egger was tenured faculty at Duke. She founded the Early Childhood Mental Health Lab in the Center for Developmental Epidemiology. As creator of the gold-standard preschool mental health interview and seminal studies, Dr. Egger has shaped the science and practice of preschool mental health. She also led an engineering/child psychiatry initiative that created the first pediatric ResearchKit study, Autism & Beyond. At Duke, Dr. Egger served as Vice-Chair and Chief of the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Dr. Egger attended Yale College and Yale School of Medicine. She completed her adult, child, and post-doctoral research training at Duke University School of Medicine.

Lydia Guthrie BA (Oxon), MSc, Dip SW, Systemic Psychotherapist

The Relational Foundations of Reflection: Safety, Regulation, and Relationships
(Cohort 2023-2024)

DMM: Attachment Theory & Concepts Part 1
(Cohort 2025-2026)

Following a first degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics, Lydia qualified as a social worker and spent ten years working for the Probation Service, specialising in work with people convicted of sexual and violent offences. She then spent 10 years Co-Director of Change Point Ltd, as a trainer and supervisor across social work, criminal justice, mental health, secure forensic and voluntary sector settings. In 2020, she qualified as a Systemic Psychotherapist / Family Therapist, and has since worked as a family therapist in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (National Health Service) and Children’s Services. She is currently employed 4 days a week in a local government Children’s Services department, where she offers family therapy to families with social workers.

Lydia has a keen interest in Patricia Crittenden’s Dynamic Model of Attachment and Adaptation, and has completed an MSc in Attachment Theory. She is trained in several empirical measures of attachment – the Adult Attachment Interview, the Strange Situation Procedure, and the Care Index.

Lydia has co-authored three books and several book chapters, on themes including Attachment Based Practice, supporting the wellbeing of practitioners, and anti-racist practice.

Lydia is a white cis-gender female, and is married with two adult children. She is very motivated by working with families and individuals who are impacted by oppressive social structures, including poverty, racism, health inequalities and migration. In her spare time, she sings in a band!

Lauren Hipp, MPA

Centering infants, toddlers, preschoolers and their caregivers’ in understanding social context and systems at a state level
(Cohort 2021-2022, 2022-2023)

Lauren brings nearly a decade of experience in the field of early childhood, where she has worked to advance racial equity through large-scale grassroots organizing and mobilization campaigns, policy development, advocacy, and implementation. Working both across Washington State and at the national level, Lauren has aimed to ensure that policy and programmatic solutions are driven by those communities who are furthest from justice — by using collaborative leadership strategies, capacity-building training, transparent and accessible communication approaches, and inclusive strategic planning methodologies. Lauren directed a cross-issue policy and advocacy portfolio to advance early childhood mental health and perinatal mental health at the state and national level, led state and national early learning campaigns for MomsRising and led the Policy and Community Partnership efforts for a state-wide public-private partnership focused on early childhood. She holds a Masters of Public Administration from the Evans School of Public Affairs at the University of Washington. Lauren also serves on the the Board of Directors for the Washington State Budget and Policy Center, and is a founding member of the Womxn of Color in Education Committee.

Lee Johnson III, PhD

Centering infants, toddlers, preschoolers and their caregivers’ in understanding social context and systems at a national level
(Cohort 2021-2022, 2022-2023)

Lee Johnson III, Ph.D., CHES®, IMH-E® is Senior Policy Analyst for Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health at ZERO TO THREE (ZTT). Before joining ZTT, Dr. Johnson served as a director at the Alabama Department of Early Childhood Education, extending leadership to early childhood mental health and federal and state-funded home visiting efforts. Dr. Johnson is a former early childhood educator, health educator by training, and a newly minted public health Ph.D. His dissertation focused on the impact of early adverse experiences on the mental & physical health outcomes of Black boys & men and the power of relationships, solidified his selection for the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) Doctoral Scholars Dissertation Fellowship (2019-2020). In the same year, he became a National Black Child Development Institute (NBCDI) Policy Fellow (2019-2020). Dr. Johnson’s NBCDI Policy Fellowship project, Supporting Resilience in Black Families: Advancing Racial Equity in Early Childhood Mental Health Policy (2021), acknowledges the developmental threat our society poses to the health and mental health of Black children and recognizes the need for racially equitable policies and approaches that empower Black families. Lee holds his B.S. in early childhood education, M.A., and Ph.D. degrees in public health from The University of Alabama.

Keoki Kauanoe 

Diversity-informed practice: Family Structures and Communities in Intersection with Race, Class, & Culture
(Cohort 2021-2022)

Keoki Kauanoe is a native Hawaiian single-father of 4, the Director of Father Engagement at Family Education and Support Services, where he is a Master Trainer for the nationally recognized Nurturing Fathers Program, holds certifications in multiple parenting curricula and is a certified trainer for the QPR Gatekeeper Program. He also sits on the Washington State Interagency Fatherhood Council, The Board of the Equity in Education Coalition and The Thurston Asset Building Coalition.

When not at work or volunteering in his community, Keoki enjoys volunteering at his youngest son’s elementary school, light saber duels and Minecraft and Lego builds with his youngest.

Marva L. Lewis, PhD, IMH-E®

Therapeutic Cultural Routines to Build Family Relationships
(Cohort 2022-2023, 2023-2024)

Dr. Lewis is an Infant Mental Health Mentor-Research/Faculty, a sociocultural psychologist, and Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the Founder and Director of the Place for Natural Connections which provides community-based interventions centered on Blackness to engage parents, build community, and recognize the impact of colorism on infants and young children. Her book, Therapeutic Cultural Routines to Build Family Relationships: Talk, Touch & Listen While Combing Hair© (2021, Springer) is based on a program of research on acceptance or rejection of children and the hair combing task. Since 2011 she served as a national consultant and trainer with the Zero to Three Safe Baby Court Teams on issues of implicit bias, legacies of the historical trauma of slavery, and workforce contributions to racial disparities in the child welfare system. She serves on the Council on Social Work Education Task Force for Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health, and the Anti-racist work group for Infant Mental Health Journal. Her full Curriculum Vitae is available at http://tssw.tulane.edu/.

Connie Lilas, RN, MFT, PhD

NeuroRelational Framework (NRF)
(Cohorts 2021-2022 & 2022-2023)

Connie Lillas is the Director of the NeuroRelational Framework (NRF) Research To Resilience Institute (www.nrfr2r.com) with a background in high-risk maternal-child nursing, family systems, developmental psychoanalysis, early intervention, infant mental health, and is a National Graduate ZERO TO THREE Leadership Fellow. Connie has a private practice, specializing in dual diagnosis across both developmental delays and mental health concerns for infants, children, teens, and their families. In addition, she trains locally, nationally, and internationally on the NeuroRelational Framework (NRF, 2009) based upon her co-authored book —Infant/Child Mental Health, Early Intervention, and Relationship-Based Therapies: A NeuroRelational Framework (NRF) for Interdisciplinary Practice, which is a part of W. W. Norton’s Interpersonal Neurobiology Series (www.the-nrf.com). While there are currently four active NRF communities in the US and one in Canada, her work in Los Angeles County focus’ on the largest child welfare system in the US wherein the NRF’s curriculum on toxic stress is being used to train Dept. of Child and Family Social Workers. She currently specializes in training cross-disciplinary teams in national and international communities, wherein a common language and shared approach using the NRF can be used for holistic health care outcomes.

Monica R. McLemore PhD, MPH, RN

Diversity-Informed Practice: Reproductive Health, Justice, and Equity
(Cohort 2022-2023)

At the University of California, San Francisco, Monica McLemore is a tenured associate professor in the Family Health Care Nursing Department, an affiliated scientist with Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health, and a member of the Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health. She retired from clinical practice as a public health and staff nurse after a 28-year clinical nursing career in 2019, however, continues to provide flu and COVID-19 vaccines. Her program of research is focused on understanding reproductive health and justice. To date, she has 87 peer reviewed articles, OpEds and commentaries and her research has been cited in the Huffington Post, Lavender Health, five amicus briefs to the Supreme Court of the United States, and three National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine reports, and a data visualization project entitled How To Fix Maternal Mortality: The first step is to stop blaming women that was published in the 2019 Future of Medicine edition of Scientific American. Her work has appeared in publications such as Dame Magazine, Politico, ProPublica/NPR and she made a voice appearance in Terrance Nance’s HBO series Random Acts of Flyness. She is the recipient of numerous awards and currently serves as chair for Sexual and Reproductive Health section of the American Public Health Association. She was inducted as a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing in 2019 and was named the Thelma Shobe Endowed Chair in 2021.

Lisa Mennet, PhD, LMHC, IMH-E® (IV)

Assessing Relationship
(Cohort 2021-2022, 2022-2023)

Lisa Mennet is the Cooper House owner and clinical director emeritus. She began her clinical career at Ryther Child Center, then studied at the Center on Infant Mental Health at the UW, and was later a clinical instructor there. She’s taught infant mental health principles at the UW schools of Social Work and Nursing, and for the Washington DSHS. Lisa earned a certificate in child psychoanalytic psychotherapy from SPSI, and a doctorate in Infant Mental Health from UW. Her particular area of interest is the impact of trauma on early relationships. Lisa provides reflective consultation and supervision to professionals and is trainer for the FAN model.

Ayannakai Nalo, LCSW

Diversity-Informed Tenets
Diversity-Informed Practice: Taking a history – social, developmental, trauma, & systems involvement
(Cohorts 2021-2022, 2023-2024, 2025-2026)

Ayannakai Nalo is a CPP rostered licensed clinical social worker and has been working with children and families for 30 years. Ms. Nalo is an early childhood mental health consultant and provides training, technical assistance, and consultation to public health systems, hospitals, and community, state, and national organizations in the areas of infant mental health, early intervention, mental health consultation, reflective supervision and issues of diversity and inclusion.

Additionally, The California Center for Infant-Family and Early Childhood Mental Health has endorsed Ms. Nalo as an Infant-Family and Early Childhood Mental Health Reflective Practice Facilitator Mentor. As a member of the Harris Foundation TENETS Work Group, Ms. Nalo also trains organizations and mentors individuals in the implementation of the TENETS across infant and early-childhood mental health providers and public health fields. She integrates diversity-informed principles from TENETS and other sources into reflective supervision and infant mental health services.

Carmen Rosa Noroña, LICSW, MSW, MS.Ed., IECMH-E®

Critical Reflective Practice, Reflective Supervision, Relational Safety, + Radical Healing
(Cohorts 2021-2022, 2022-2023, 2023-2024, 2025-2026)

Carmen Rosa is the Child Trauma Clinical Services and Training Lead at Child Witness to Violence Project at Boston Medical Center. She is a Child-Parent Psychotherapy National Trainer, an expert faculty of the Diagnostic Classification of Mental Health and Developmental Disorders of Infancy and Early Childhood Training (DC: 0-5) and one of the developers of the Harris Professional Development Network Diversity Informed Tenets for Work with Infants Children and Families Initiative (https://diversityinformedtenets.org) and of the Boston Medical Center Family Preparedness Plan for Immigrant Families. Her practice and research interests are on the impact of trauma on attachment; the intersection of culture, immigration and trauma; diversity-informed reflective supervision and consultation; and on the implementation and sustainability of evidence-based practice in real-world settings. She is a Co-Leader of the Department of Pediatrics Council of Social Justice, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Boston Medical Center. In addition, she serves as core faculty of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network’s (NCTSN) Being Anti-Racist is Central to Trauma-Informed Care Initiative, as a member of the NCTSN Steering Committee, and as a co-chair of the NCTSN Latin American Families Collaborative group. Ms. Noroña has adapted and translated materials for Spanish-speaking families affected by trauma and has also contributed to the literature in infant and early childhood mental health, diversity and immigration

Rhonda G. Norwood, PhD, LCSW-BACS, IMH-E

Therapeutic Cultural Routines to Build Family Relationships
(Cohort 2022-2023)

Dr. Norwood is an Assistant Professor of Professional Practice at the Louisiana State University School of Social Work. She earned her doctorate in social work at Louisiana State University. Dr. Norwood has 20 years of clinical and supervisory experience in a variety of agency settings and private practice. Her area of expertise is infant mental health, which includes working with young children and their families and perinatal mood disorders. Dr. Norwood’s area of research interest includes integrating effective interventions with child welfare services, parental representations of their children, and children’s narratives as representations of their relationships and worlds.

Meghan Schmelzer, MSW, IECMH-E

Centering infants, toddlers, preschoolers and their caregivers’ in understanding social context and systems at a national level
(Cohort 2022-2023, 2023-2024)

Meghan is the Senior Manager of the Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health (IECMH) Policy Team within ZERO TO THREE. Within this role, she supports states and grantees with technical assistance through multiple projects such as the SAMHSA IECMH Technical Assistance Center. With an emphasis on building relationships and imbedding reflective practice, both at the individual and systems levels, Meghan supports state and community leaders to build IECMH into all aspects of the early childhood system. Previous to this role, she was the IECMH Coordinator for the State of Michigan, supporting the state’s IECMH Consultation team. Meghan began her career as an infant mental health home-based clinician and worked mostly with families in the child welfare system in Flint, Michigan. Meghan is a licensed clinical social worker and is endorsed by the Michigan Association of Infant Mental Health as a Mentor in both Clinical and Policy categories.

Arietta Slade, PhD

The Relational Foundations of Reflection: Safety, Regulation, and Relationships
(Cohorts 2021-2022 & 2022-2023)

Arietta Slade is Professor of Clinical Child Psychology at the Yale Child Study Center.  An internationally recognized theoretician, clinician, researcher, and teacher, she has written widely on the development of parental reflective functioning, as well as the implications of attachment and mentalization theory for child and adult psychotherapy, and for relationship-based infant mental health practice. She is a Co-Founder and Director of Training of Minding the Baby®, an evidence-based interdisciplinary reflective home visiting program for high-risk mothers, infants, and their families, at the Yale Child Study Center and School of Nursing.  Dr. Slade is a winner of the Bowlby-Ainsworth Award from the New York Attachment Consortium, and author, with Jeremy Holmes, of Attachment in Therapeutic Practice (Holmes & Slade, SAGE Publications, 2018), and editor of the six volume set, Major Work on Attachment (Slade & Holmes, SAGE Publications, 2014), of Mind to Mind: Infant Research, Neuroscience, and Psychoanalysis (Jurist, Slade, & Bergner, Other Press, 2008), and Children at Play (Slade & Wolf, Oxford University Press, 1994).  Currently, she and her Minding the Baby® colleagues are writing a book on reflective parenting (Forthcoming, Guilford, 2021). She has also been in private practice for nearly 40 years, working with individuals of all ages.

Siemone Smith MA, LPC

Facilitating Attuned iNteractions (FAN) Training for Mental Health Clinicians 
(Cohort 2022-2023, 2023-2024, 2025-2026)

Siemone has worked in the Infant Mental Health field for over 10 years, with a focus on Trauma Informed practices. She has worked in Chicago’s Englewood area providing trauma focused therapy and support services to families throughout the community and families involved with child protective services. She currently works for Erikson Institute’s Fussy Baby Network, providing support services to families who have concerns with their infants/toddlers. Siemone also works as a Child-Parent Psychotherapy clinician.

Anne Stone, MA

Father Engagement
(Cohort 2021-2022)

Anne Stone is the Early Childhood Innovation Director at the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services, Economic Services Administration.  A central part of that role is as the director of the Washington Interagency Fatherhood Council which launched in 2018.

Anne has 30 plus years of experience in the child and family services field as an innovator and change agent in youth and family crisis, child healthcare transformation, early childhood systems, poverty reduction, and fatherhood inclusion, as a funder, non-profit executive director, community consultant, crisis counselor, and state agency innovator.

She has a strong value around affecting root causes of family struggle such as racism, poverty and bias, using human centered design grounded in early brain science to inform system and policy change. She works to reduce burdens of families needing to be “empowered” to survive toward fixing broken systems so that families can access what they need to flourish.

As the Washington State First 1,000 Days Initiative founder she works with a variety of broad based community coalitions to walk with them as they seek ways to find families experiencing high levels of stress as early as possible after the birth of a child, triage their need and resiliency, and seek to create a coordinated community response that reduces that stress we know is so detrimental to developing young brains.

When not working her focus is on her family with a new grandbaby on the way, gardening during COVID 19 to grow food and sooth the soul, paddling and hiking with her partner of 35 years.

Traci Swink, MD

Therapeutic Cultural Routines to Build Family Relationships
(Cohort 2022-2023)

Dr. Swink brings three decades of clinical experience, teaching and research grounded in neurodevelopmental, individual differenced and relationship-based care. Dr Swink started her training in pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco followed by pediatric neurology and epilepsy training at Johns Hopkins Medical Institution. After being introduced to the DIR model in 2003, Dr Swink went on to complete her DIR certificate training in 2009 and a Profectum Academy Certificate in 2014 and joined the senior faculty at Profectum in 2014. Since 2009, Dr Swink has been integrating the DIR model into her clinical practice and teaching. In 2012, Dr. Swink joined the child developmental team at the Marshfield Clinic, providing multidisciplinary identification, understanding and therapeutic supports to parents/caregivers, early interventionists and educators in predominantly rural and under-serviced areas of northern Wisconsin. In 2023, Dr Swink joined the second cohort of Washington state early interventionists training in the NeuroRelational Framework (NRF) and recently joined the NRF faculty. Dr Swink strives to share a neuroscience informed, customized and collaborative approach to care for all individuals and families she serves.

Kandace Thomas, MPP, PhD

Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Systems Change Begins with Me
(Cohort 2021-2022, 2022-2023, 2023-2024, 2025-2026)

Kandace Thomas, MPP, PhD, works to help individuals, programs and systems of care experience transformation by learning, doing and being. Currently, Kandace is the Executive Director of First 8 Memphis, an organization working to build Memphis and Shelby County Tennessee’s early care and education system. As the inaugural Executive Director, Kandace is building a start-up organization partnering with the community to implement its early childhood plan. Prior to joining First 8 Memphis, Kandace was a senior program officer at the Irving Harris Foundation where she worked with organizations integrating early childhood development and child trauma-informed best practices for children from birth to age eight. Kandace led the creation of the Diversity-Informed Tenets for Work With Infants, Children and Families, a framework and approach to help organizations and systems integrate a diversity, equity and inclusion principles into their work. Kandace has research, policy and practice interests in contemplative self-care, intergenerational trauma, building power to influence public policy and diversity-informed practice.

Gil Tippy, PsyD

Functional Emotional Assessment Scale (FEAS)
(Cohort 2021-2022, 2022-2023, 2023-2024, 2025-2026)

Gil Tippy, author of Respecting Autism with Stanley Greenspan, MD, offers Evaluations, Direct Services, and Consulting to private individuals and organizations. He is the Clinical Director Emeritus of  Shrub Oak International School, in Westchester County, NY. He is a Clinical Psychologist, licensed in the State of New York, with his Psychology license in California in process. He is the Chief Clinical Advisor of the Envision Center in Verona, NJ and is an Expert DIR/Floortime Provider and Teacher. He lives and has a private practice, Respectrum Developmental Services, as well as a not-for-profit, Dirty Hands Developmental Alliance, in Sonoma County, California.

Lindsay Usry, MPH

Centering infants, toddlers, preschoolers and their caregivers’ in understanding social context and systems at a national level
(Cohort 2021-2022)

Lindsay Usry is the Director of Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health (IECMH) at ZERO TO THREE. She guides ZERO TO THREE’s policy agenda on infant and early childhood mental health (IECMH) and leads related technical assistance projects and collaborations, working at the state and federal levels to increase access to and utilization of high-quality mental health services for young children and their caregivers. She formerly served as Director of Special Projects for the Institute of IECMH at Tulane University School of Medicine, where she is on faculty. She also served as the Louisiana Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems Coordinator for the LA Department of Health and Hospitals, Office of Public Health. Her work has focused primarily on the translation and dissemination of research on IECMH and development to inform policy and programming decisions.

Ms. Usry received her BS in Neuroscience from the College of William and Mary and her Master of Public Health from Tulane University. She is a member of the board of the Maryland-DC Association of Infant Mental Health, and formerly sat on the Louisiana Governor’s Children’s Cabinet Advisory Board. She has previously worked with the U.S. Government Secretariat for Children in Adversity at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) as well as The World Bank. She has worked on international and domestic public health initiatives and also taught elementary special education.

Haruko Watanabe, MA, LMHC, IMH-E®

Child-Parent Psychotherapy
(Cohort 2021-2022, 2022-2023, 2023-2024)

Collateral Contacts in a Clinical Context
(Cohort 2023-2024)

Haruko Watanabe is a Washington Association for Infant Mental Health endorsed Infant Mental Health Mentor and Program Manager at Navos Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Program in King County, WA. Haruko began studying parent-child interactions in 1998 under the mentorship of Dr. Kathryn Barnard, and has worked with families with young children within various systems (e.g. child-welfare, early intervention, childcare/early learning, mental health) since 2003. In addition to her Child-Parent Psychotherapy work with Medicaid eligible families, she provides reflective supervision/consultation and early childhood mental health consultation to providers serving young children and their families in King County. Haruko is committed to engaging in shared learning with colleagues and communities to explore how impacts of trauma and racism show up in everyday practices and systems functioning, and ways to promote relationship-based healing in communities and organizations. Her clinical perspective and consultation/mentoring practices have been informed by her personal experiences as an immigrant and having lived in three different countries. She is a former Board Member for the Washington Association for Infant Mental Health and is a member of the World Association for Infant Mental Health.

Martina Whelshula, PhD

Indigenous Worldview and Intergenerational Trauma Impacting Native Americans
(Cohort 2021-2022, 2022-2023, 2023-2024)

Martina Whelshula is a member of the Arrow Lakes Nation of the Colville Indian Reservation. Her educational and experiential background is diverse and focuses primarily in the fields of education and behavioral health. She possesses a doctoral degree in Traditional Knowledge, a Master of Arts degree in Counseling Psychology, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication Studies, with an additional certification for Chemical Dependency Professional. Dr. Whelshula has worked extensively with Native American communities nation-wide in the areas of local and national policy development, education, and behavioral health. Dr. Whelshula’s professional experience has ranged from Research Director for national Indian health policy development for Congressional review, P-12 tribal language instructor in the public-school system, Head Start Director for the Colville Tribe to Tribal College President. She is an educator, trainer, and consultant specializing in education and intergenerational trauma impacting indigenous communities. Dr. Whelshula’s most recent work is the development of integrative cultural therapeutic model addressing trauma, mental health and substance use disorders for tribes. Dr. Whelshula served for nearly seven years as the Executive Director of a Native American inpatient treatment program for drug and alcohol addicted youth. Her successes during her tenure include: National iAward for revolutionary behavioral health care (honorable mention), Washington State Co-Occurring Disorders and Treatment Conference’s Innovative Program of the Year, Potlatch Foundation’s Educational Leadership Award, Washington State Public Health’s 2013 Health Champion for Empowering Healthy Communities, Harvard University Medical School’s online BASIS Editorial Board, and the Spokane Regional 2014 AGORA Business Award for the Large Nonprofit Category. In addition to her work experience, Dr. Whelshula served on Gonzaga University’s Indian Education Advisory Board, as Chair of Spokane’s NAACP Education Committee, the Chair pro-tem for the Washington State Native American Education Advisory Committee with the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, a member of the Washington State Native American Think Tank, member of the Washington State Multi-Ethnic Think Tank, and formerly with the Washington State Board of Education’s Equity Committee.

Kristin Wiggins

Centering infants, toddlers, preschoolers and their caregivers’ in understanding social context and systems at a state level
(Cohort 2021-2022, 2022-2023)

Kristin has more than 20 years experience in government affairs, strategic advising, and policy analysis. Her lobbying work focuses predominantly on early learning, children’s behavioral health, and issues that impact children, youth, and families. Due to her multi-dimensional experience as legislative staff, non-profit leadership, a teacher (including working with special needs populations) and education advisor, and a mental health peer support worker she has a strong comprehension of the levers of change at the community, budget, and policy levels. Kristin is a volunteer in her children’s public schools and enjoys outdoor adventures with her family, fitness, and gardening.

Dawn A. Yazzie, MA, NCC

Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation
(Cohort 2023-2024)

Dawn’s maternal clan is Ye’ii Dine’e Tachii’nii, born for Kiiya’aanii (paternal clan), and she is the baby of Asdzaa Naadleehi (Changing Woman). She comes from a lineage of resilient survivors of western colonization and the Navajo Long Walk of HwéeldÍ. Dawn is working to reclaim Navajo cultural practices alongside her family to carry forward for future generations. This healing work is in parallel and intertwines with her western perspective work. Dawn worked as an Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultant (IECMHC) on the Navajo Nation for 8 years/ and provided national technical assistance to federal grantees around IECMH/IECMHC through the CoE for IECMHC for 6 years. She brings this experience and the cultural perspective to the work and trainings she provides about Infant Mental Health, and Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation. Dawn currently focuses full-time on her business, Dził Nitsaa Consulting and Services, LLC, to support agencies/programs in states and Tribal communities to provide IECMH practices and IECMHC services to equitably support young children and families in their communities. She also does training for IECMH/IECMHC professionals to bring an equity focus by leaning into spirituality and multigenerational healing as a beginning step to healing justice work.