ACT Program Staff + Advisors

Nucha Isarowong, PhD, LICSW, IMH-E®

Nucha Isarowong is the Director of the Advanced Clinical Training Program at the Barnard Center for Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health on the campus of the University of Washington. His  clinical experience includes work with and on behalf of infants, children, and families in home and school settings. Most recently, he served as faculty at Erikson Institute in Chicago, IL, where he instructed classes in the Master of Social Work Program and the Infant Mental Health Certificate Program. His clinical and scholarship experience and interests address sociocultural, relational, and structural factors that influence social-relational dynamics and facilitate access to and utilization of resources and services by families caring for infants and children from the broad range of diverse communities. His current efforts focus on multi-level systems integration of diversity, equity, and inclusion principles in the context of father engagement practices and policies, integration of trauma-informed practice, generally, and in Part C Early Intervention, specifically, shifting understanding of disabilities and developmental differences, and affecting systems change. Nucha is a ZERO TO THREE Fellow (2012-2013), and currently serves on the coordinating council of the Academy of ZERO TO THREE Fellows. He also serves as a national workshop facilitator and member of the Curriculum Committee of the Diversity-Informed Tenets for Work with Infants, Children and Families.

Maria St. John, PhD, MFT

ACT Program Advisor + Instructor

Dr. Maria Seymour St. John is an Associate Clinical Professor with the UCSF Department of Psychiatry and Co-Director of Training for the Infant-Parent Program. Endorsed by the California Center for Infant-Family and Early Childhood Mental Health as an Infant-Family and Early Childhood Mental Health Specialist, a Reflective Facilitator II and a Mentor, Dr. St. John’s areas of expertise include infant-parent psychotherapy, diversity and inclusion, and reflective supervision. Dr. St. John is licensed as a marriage and family therapist and completed her doctoral training in the UC Berkeley Department of Rhetoric, an interdisciplinary critical studies program. She has published on subjects related to race, class, gender and sexuality in infant mental health work in numerous books and journals including Infant Mental Health Journal, Zero to Three, Feminist Studies, Studies in Gender and Sexuality, Attachment and Sexuality, and the World Association of Infant Mental Health Handbook of Infant Mental Health. She is a core member of a collaborative group that publishes and trains on the Diversity-Informed Infant Mental Health Tenets, which are being disseminated via the Irving B Harris Foundation, Zero to Three: the National Center for Infants, Toddlers and Families, and the World Association of Infant Mental Health. Her book, Focusing on Relationships: An Effort That Pays was published by Zero to Three in 2019.

Kadija Johnston, LCSW

ACT Program Advisor

Kadija Johnston is an independent consultant with extensive experience working with and on behalf of infants, children, and families. As the former Director of the Infant-Parent Program at the UCSF Department of Psychiatry at ZSFG, Ms. Johnston developed the program’s approach to early childhood mental health (ECMH) consultation which now serves as a model for other organizations, both locally and around the world. She has provided training in ECMH consultation to clinicians in 22 states and is consulting on the development of services in Taiwan.

Ms. Johnston writes and lectures nationally on ECMH consultation including publications in Zero to Three, Infant Mental Health Journal and the 3rd edition of the Handbook of Infant Mental Health. Her co-authored book, Mental Health Consultation in Child Care: Transforming Relationships With Directors, Staff, and Families, was awarded the Irving B. Harris Book Award for contributions to early childhood scholarship. Ms. Johnston is active in local and national organizations involving infancy and early childhood mental health, including West Ed’s Program for Infant-Toddler Caregivers Home Visiting Training, The Infant Mental Health Task Force, the Early Head Start National Resource Center at Zero to Three; and the Irving B. Harris Foundation Professional Development Network for Training and Diversity in Leadership in the Early Childhood Mental Health Field. She is also an expert advisor for the SAMHSA-supported Center of Excellence in ECMH Consultation.

Monica Oxford, MSW, PhD

Dr. Monica Oxford is a Research Professor in Child, Family, and Population Health Nursing at the University of Washington and the Executive Director of the Barnard Center for Infant Mental Health and Development. Her research focuses on early parenting and child developmental outcomes for vulnerable families living in challenging environments. Dr. Oxford’s interest is in how context, parenting, and child characteristics combine to inform particular patterns of child outcomes and how intervention services promote both caregiver and child well-being. Dr. Oxford is also involved in training social service providers throughout Washington on infant mental health, strengths-based practice, and how providers can support caregiver-child dyadic interaction from an attachment-based perspective.

Dr. Oxford is principal investigator of four NIH grants; the first three are aimed at examining the impact of Promoting First Relationships® (PFR: Kelly et al, 2008). PFR is a brief 10-week home visiting program that is strengths and relationship-based video feedback program. These three studies are randomized control trials in three populations: one RCT for parents involved with child protective services, one RCT for reunified birth families, and one RCT for American Indian families in a rural setting. The fourth NIH grant is aimed at addressing the interaction between family, school, child, and contextual risk such as poverty and early child developmental outcomes Dr. Oxford is also co-principal investigator on three NIH funded RCT testing the effectiveness of PFR in three additional populations (foster care, perinatal mental health setting, and American Indian rural setting).

Haruko Watanabe, MA, LMHC, IMH-E®

Infant Observation Facilitator

Haruko Watanabe, MA, LMHC, IMH-E® identifies as a cisgendered woman and an immigrant from Japan, who is committed to promoting healing-centered work in communities and organizations through building relationships. Haruko began studying parent-child interactions in 1998 under the mentorship of the late Dr. Kathryn Barnard. Over the last 20+ years, Haruko has worked with Early Supports for Infants and Toddlers (ESIT), early care and learning, child-welfare, and community mental health systems in King County, seeking to understand the impact of adversity and individual differences on early relationships and child development. She has partnered with other champions in the community to advocate for system-level transformation on behalf of young children families. Her clinical work and workforce development efforts have been influenced by her lived experiences and teaching from the communities she has served, many of whom are low-income and families of color, as well as her ongoing learning from her ancestors, mentors, and colleagues. In addition to her primary work as the Clinical Director at Cooper House, Haruko trains Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health clinicians across Washington State and is a Washington State trainer on Child-Parent Psychotherapy. She is a former Board Member for the Center on Early Relational Health (formerly known as Washington Association for Infant Mental Health).

Cree Whelshula

ACT Program Advisor

Cree Whelshula has been involved in Salish language revitalization since the age of seven, as both her parents were second language learners and teachers.  For the past year, Cree has been an independent consultant and the Founder and Executive Director of kʷu cnxiʔ nonprofit corporation.  Through this work and supportive partners, Cree has established a council of First Language Okanagan Speakers to guide recreating education in a culture first approach aimed at improving mental health of youth through culture and language revitalization.  As an independent consultant she has worked with Outma Language and Culture School, WA State Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, Muckleshoot Language Program, Salish Kootenai College Salish Language Educator Program, and more, to provide language and native education consultation.  Previously, Cree has served as the Training and Technical Assistance Director for the national Native Language Community Coordination Center.  In this role, Cree provided national training and support to a cohort of five language grantees.  In addition, Cree facilitates national workshops for language programs across the United States and Canada in various areas such as language transfer, curriculum, resource development, strategic planning, assessment, community outreach, how culture impacts neurobiology of mental health, neurobiology of culture and language, early childhood brain development, team building and communication, and more. Other experience includes Language Program Manager, Head Start Teacher, Curriculum Developer, Tribal language Immersion School Teacher, College Instructor, and Teacher Trainee.  Lastly, Cree advocates on a state and national level in mental health of indigenous children and is a committee member of FPLC.

Martina Whelshula, PhD

ACT Program Advisor + Instructor

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 Award 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.

Joyce Yang, MSW

Joyce is the Program Manager responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Advanced Clinical Training (ACT) Program. She graduated from Seattle University with a Bachelor of Administration degree in Management. She later received her Master of Social Work degree from the University of Chicago. She spent the early part of her career working at a social service and immigrant rights non-profit that serves community members from 15 months to end-of-life as a Development & Outcomes Manager.