CTI Trainers

CTI Trainers bring groundbreaking international research into practice through professional trainings. Led by world-class experts in mental health and child development, CTI trainings bring knowledge and new approaches to clinicians and the entire mental health community, raising the bar for family support services across socioeconomic lines.

Elizabeth Allured, PsyD

Elizabeth Allured is a clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst, and is co-founder and co-president of the Climate Psychology Alliance—North America. She is on teaching faculty at the Derner Institute’s Postgraduate Programs at Adelphi University in the Adult Clinical and School Psychology programs. She has presented papers internationally and nationally on the topic of mental health and environmental issues since 2007, and has written papers on this topic and its relevance for work with children and adolescents. She had provided training in institutes and university settings on the area of the integration of environmental distress with clinical work, and has taught workshops to organizations involved in environmental education. She has run groups to process climate distress, and has provided training in this area. She is in private practice in Manhasset, NY.

Nina Anderson, LCSW

Nina Anderson specializes in adoption and family formation, providing an array of services including counseling, consultation, and education to adopting parents, birth/first parents, and adoptees as young as teenagers. Nina’s practice, Adoption Collective, also provides pre and post-adoption services, and Post-Adoption Contact Agreement development, support, and mediation. Nina is a registered Adoption Service Provider with the state of California and is the Clinical Advisor at Adoption Connection. While Nina is located in San Francisco, she can meet with clients statewide via telehealth. Nina is also the founder and co-director of Weaving Threads, a nonprofit working to provide free or low-fee therapy for birth parents, as well as educate therapists to be birth parent competent.

Joel Baum, MS

Joel Baum is the Senior Director of Professional Development and Family Services at Gender Spectrum and is responsible for all programming. He facilitates trainings, conducts workshops, develops curriculum, consults with parents and professionals, and provides resources in service of a more compassionate understanding of gender. He is a founding member and Director of Education and Advocacy with the Child and Adolescent Gender Center at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Working throughout the United States and beyond, he is frequently called upon to help institutions think more expansively about the gender diversity of all children and teens, and ways to create more inclusive conditions accordingly. Mr. Baum is also a professor at California State University, East Bay, in the Department of Educational Leadership.

Anne Brodzinsky, PhD

Anne Brodzinsky is a clinical psychologist who primarily works with children and families. She specializes in studying and providing therapeutic care to adopted children and their birth and adoptive families. Dr. Brodzinsky has published multiple research papers, clinical experience reports, and models for improving adoption policies. Her dissertation research focused on the adjustment of women following the placement of a child for adoption, and she has dedicated a significant part of her career to addressing the unique needs of these women. With over 30 years of experience in the field, Dr. Brodzinsky has also authored three children’s books, namely, The Mulberry Bird: Story of an Adoption (Jessica Kingsley Press), Can I Tell You About Adoption (JKP), and The Falling Down Time: One Child’s Story about Divorce (Book Baby). She currently runs a private practice in the Los Angeles Area. She is also the founder and Co-Director of Weaving Threads, a nonprofit working to provide free or low-fee therapy for birth parents, as well as educate therapists to be birth parent competent.

Tina Payne Bryson, PhD

Tina Payne Bryson, PhD is the co-author (with Dan Siegel) of two New York Times Best Sellers, The Whole-Brain Child and No-Drama Discipline as well as a pediatric and adolescent psychotherapist and parenting consultant. Dr. Bryson is the Executive Director of The Center for Connection, an interdisciplinary clinical practice, the Director of Parenting Education for the Mindsight Institute, and the Child Development Specialist at Saint Mark’s School in Altadena, California. She keynotes conferences and conducts workshops for parents, educators, and clinicians all over the world. Earning her Ph.D. from the University of Southern California, Dr. Bryson’s research explored attachment science, childrearing theory, and the emerging field of interpersonal neurobiology.

Linda Chapman, MA, ATR-BC

Linda Chapman, MA, ATR-BC, is a registered and board-certified art therapist and play therapist who directs the Art Therapy Institute of the Redwoods in Northern California, a center for learning and therapy. Linda was affiliated with the University of California San Francisco, School of Medicine for 25 years, where she held clinical faculty and research appointments. Linda was a creator and for 10 years directed the UCSF/San Francisco General Hospital Pediatric Play Therapy Program, and has conducted federally funded art therapy outcome research with the UCSF/SFGH Injury Center and Children’s Hospital & Research Center Oakland.

Linda is a nationally recognized expert in art therapy and play therapy with children who are victims of violence, child abuse, and medical trauma. She is the author of Neurobiologically Informed Trauma Therapy with Children and Adolescents: Understanding Mechanisms of Change published by WW Norton. She is a member of the review board of Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association. Additionally, she is the author of several peer-review papers and has authored and co-authored chapters in Effective Treatments for PTSD: Practice Guidelines from the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, California Art Therapy Trends and Group Play Therapy.

Guy Diamond, Ph.D.

Guy Diamond, Ph.D., is Professor Emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and formerly was Associate Professor at Drexel University in the College of Nursing and Health Professions. His primary work has been in the area of youth suicide prevention and treatment research. On the prevention side, he has created a program focused on training, screening and triage to be implemented in non-behavioral health settings. On the treatment side, he has focused on the development and testing of attachment-based family therapy (ABFT), especially for teens struggling with depression and suicide. ABFT has now been applied to children and young adults, LGBTQ youth and adults, and adopted in clinics all over the world where it is used as a transdiagnostic approach to patient mental health and ruptures in family attachment.

Kristin Dempsey, EdD, LMFT, LPCC

Kristin Dempsey is a licensed marriage and family therapist (LMFT) and professional clinical counselor (LPCC) with an EdD in Organizational Change and Leadership. She has provided psychotherapy in the Bay Area for almost 25 years in public non-profits and county mental health settings, schools, and medical clinics. Her current psychotherapy practice is located in San Francisco and Burlingame.

Dr. Dempsey’s areas of clinical interest include treatments for co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders, complex trauma in childhood and adolescence, eating disorders, panic/anxiety, and many behavioral challenges such as anger management and impulse control disorders. She has worked with adults, senior adults, transitional age youth, adolescents, and children in individual, family, and group modalities.

In addition to clinical work, Dr. Dempsey trains providers in a number of evidence-based and promising practices. She is a member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers and has experience teaching and training cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), cognitive behavior therapy for psychosis (CBTp), and dialectical behavior therapy (DBT). She is a master trainer for Applied Suicide Intervention Skills (ASIST) and has been trained in the Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics (NMT) to assess trauma impacts in youth and adults. Dr. Dempsey also provides additional programmatic consultation regarding behavioral health system redesign and implementation of evidence-based practices.

Shannon Dorsey, PhD

Shannon Dorsey is Associate Professor and Licensed Clinical Psychologist in the Department of Psychology at the University of Washington. She is a Master Trainer in TF-CBT, a conjoint child and parent psychotherapy approach for children and adolescents who are experiencing significant emotional and behavioral difficulties related to traumatic life events. It is a components-based treatment model that incorporates trauma-sensitive interventions with cognitive behavioral, family, and humanistic principles and techniques.

Dr. Dorsey’s research is on evidence-based treatments (EBT) for children and adolescents, with a particular focus on dissemination and implementation of EBT domestically and internationally. Her work has often focused on Trauma-focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), with hybrid research designs that include both effectiveness and implementation questions. Research has focused on adaptation for unique populations (e.g., foster care) and on training and supervision strategies to deliver TF-CBT and other EBT. Dr. Dorsey is a Principal Investigator on two NIH-funded randomized controlled trials (RCT) involving TF-CBT, both of which include implementation and clinical outcome research questions. The first, in Washington State, studies the role of supervisors in public mental health settings in supporting EBT with clinicians under their supervision. It includes both a descriptive study of common supervision practices and an RCT of supervision strategies. The second, in Tanzania and Kenya, is a RCT of TF-CBT using a task-shifting/task-sharing model in which lay counselors, with little to no prior mental health training, deliver group-based TF-CBT to children and adolescents who have experienced the death of one or both parents, under close supervision by local supervisors, themselves supervised by TF-CBT experts. Dr. Dorsey is also involved in common elements EBT training initiatives and research both in Washington State and internationally, in low and middle-income countries. With colleagues at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, she is involved in RCT and feasibility studies in Southern Iraq, the Thailand-Burma border, Colombia, Zambia, and Ethiopia.

Karen Fried, PsyD, MFT

Karen Fried, PsyD, MFT is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and an Educational Therapist in Santa Monica, California. She has a private practice in Psychotherapy and is Co-Director of the K&M Center. Inc., a learning center providing educational and remedial services to students. Karen uses the Oaklander Model of Child Therapy in her practice and is the President of the Violet Solomon Oaklander Foundation. She trains child and adolescent therapists in this model in the US and internationally.

In response to COVID-19, Karen presented an article series to an international audience of child and adolescent therapists: Just for Now, Using the Oaklander Model in a Time of Crisis on a zoom call. Therapists and counselors from over 30 countries participate on this monthly call. Since March of 2020, Karen has presented to global audiences, trainings, presentations, and consultation on the use of Gestalt Therapy with children. Her in-person 3-part training program for therapists and counselors is now virtual and has expanded to participants worldwide.

Diane Ehrensaft, PhD

Diane Ehrensaft is an associate professor of Pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and a developmental and clinical psychologist with a private practice in Oakland, California. She is Director of Mental Health of the Child and Adolescent Gender Center and attending psychologist at the CAGC Gender Clinic at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital. Dr. Ehrensaft specializes in research, clinical work, and consultation related to gender nonconforming children and assisted reproductive technology families, lecturing, publishing, and serving as an expert witness on both topics nationally and internationally. She is the author of Gender Born, Gender Made; Mommies, Daddies Donors, Surrogates; Building a Home Within (co-edited with Toni Heineman); Spoiling Childhood; Parenting Together; and The Gender Creative Child.

Igor Galynker, MD

Igor Galynker, MD is the Director for Research in the Department of Psychiatry at Mount Sinai Beth Israel. He is also the Founder and Director of the Family Center for Bipolar, as well as the Mount Sinai Suicide Research Laboratory based at Mount Sinai Beth Israel. His current clinical and research focus is on bipolar disorder, suicide prevention, and the role of family in psychiatric illness. Most recently, his work has been devoted to describing a suicide-specific clinical state, a phenotype of the Suicide Crisis Syndrome, and to developing innovative multi-informant methods of risk assessment.

Ross W. Greene, PhD developed the innovative model of intervention called Collaborative & Proactive Solutions (CPS) as described in his influential books The Explosive Child, Lost at School, Lost & Found, and Raising Human Beings. He also produced the 2018 documentary film, The Kids We Lose. Dr. Greene served on the faculty at Harvard Medical School for over 20 years, and is now Founding Director of the nonprofit Lives in the Balance (www.livesinthebalance.org). He is currently adjunct Professor in the Department of Psychology at Virginia Tech and adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Science at University of Technology Sydney in Australia. Dr. Greene’s research has been funded by the Stanley Research Institute, the National Institutes of Mental Health, the U.S. Department of Education, and the Maine Juvenile Justice Advisory Group.  He lectures and consults extensively to families, general and special education schools, inpatient psychiatry units, and residential and juvenile detention facilities throughout the world.

Wendy Greenspun, PhD

Wendy Greenspun is a clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst and serves on the Board of Directors and steering committee of the Climate Psychology Alliance – North America. She is on faculty at the Manhattan Institute for Psychoanalysis, at the Adelphi University Postgraduate Program in Marriage and Couples Therapy and the William Alanson White Couple Therapy Training and Education Program. She has presented papers and workshops nationally and internationally on climate psychology and provides workshops and courses for mental health professionals on ways to work with climate distress and grief. She also provides workshops on building emotional resilience for climate activists and for high school and university students and has run group forums for processing climate distress. She is in private practice in New York City, specializing in climate distress and couples therapy.  

Ken Ginsburg, MD, MS Ed

Dr. Ken Ginsburg is a pediatrician specializing in Adolescent Medicine at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Serves as Director of Health Services at Covenant House Pennsylvania, an agency that serves Philadelphia’s homeless and marginalized youth. Dr. Ginsburg practices social adolescent medicine with special attention to prevention and the recognition that social context and stressors affect both physical and emotional health. His research over the last 25 years has focused on facilitating youth to develop their own solutions to social problems and to teach clinicians how to better serve them. He is the author of multiple books and toolkits including Building Resilience in Building Resilience in Children and Teens: Giving Kids Roots and Wings (4th Edition) and Reaching Teens: Strength Based Communication Strategies to Build Resilience and Support Healthy Adolescent Development. Dr. Ginsburg has received over 50 awards recognizing his research, clinical skills, or advocacy efforts. He has been named one of Philadelphia magazine’s “Top Docs” ten times and has appeared on CNN, NPR, The Today Show, Good Morning America, The CBS morning show, ABC, NBC, and CBS Nightly News programs.

Mita M. Johnson, EdD, LMFT, LAC

Mita M. Johnson has been practicing in the world of mental health, marriage and family, and addictions counseling for 33 years. She earned her Doctorate in Counselor Education and Supervision and is a core faculty member in the School of Counseling program at Walden University. In addition, she has a thriving private practice where she provides clinical supervision, counseling services, consultations, and addiction-specific training and education. She has been an active member of NAADAC for over 17 years, serves on the Ethics Committee, and began her two-year term as NAADAC’s Immediate Past-President in October 2022. Mita is a scientist (biologist) who is passionate about the quality of services delivered to clients.

Ashley Labistour, LMFT

Ashley Labistour, LMFT, is a nationally approved trainer for Trauma-Focused CBT, and a UC Davis-approved PCIT trainer. She formerly served as a treatment coordinator specializing in child sexual abuse for 11 years at Children’s Institute, Inc., in Los Angeles. She currently provides TF-CBT training and consultation for various agencies throughout California.

Eli R. Lebowitz, PhD

Professor Lebowitz studies and treats childhood and adolescent anxiety at the Yale Child Study Center. His research focuses on the development, neurobiology, and treatment of anxiety and related disorders, with special emphasis on family dynamics and the role of parents in these problems. Dr. Lebowitz is the lead investigator on multiple funded research projects and is the author of research papers, chapters on childhood and adolescent anxiety, and books including Breaking Free of Child Anxiety and OCD: A Scientifically Proven Program for Parent. He is also the father of three great boys.

Dr. Suzanne Levy, PSY

Dr. Suzanne Levy, PSY., is a internationally renowned licensed clinical psychologist and co-developer of Attachment Based Family Therapy (ABFT). She is the CEO and Co-Founder of ABFT International Training Institute, LLC. ABFT is a manualized, empirically informed and supported, family therapy model specifically designed to target family and individual processes associated with adolescent suicide and/or depression. Since 2007, Dr. Levy has been conducting ABFT training workshops and supervision for therapists nationally and internationally. Along with her colleagues, Drs. Guy and Gary Diamond, Dr. Levy has written the first book on ABFT, Attachment-Based Family Therapy for Depressed Adolescents published by the American Psychological Association.

Alicia Lieberman, PhD

Alicia Lieberman, PhD, is the Irving B. Harris Endowed Chair in Infant Mental Health; Professor and Vice Chair for Academic Affairs at the University of California, San Francisco, Department of Psychiatry; Director of the Child Trauma Research Program at San Francisco General Hospital; and a former Board Member and President of ZERO TO THREE. Dr. Lieberman is the developer of Child-Parent Psychotherapy, an evidence-based treatment for traumatized children from birth to 5 years old. She is an author and has made major contributions to the field’s understanding of attachment, toddler development, and cross-cultural perspectives on early development.

David Oppenheim, PhD

David Oppenheim, PhD, is Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Haifa, Israel, and Associate Editor of Infant Mental Health Journal. He has been involved in attachment research for more than 20 years, focusing on the importance of secure, emotionally open parent-child relations for children’s development and mental health. Dr. Oppenheim has also studied how secure attachments are fostered by parental insightfulness into the child’s inner world, and has applied attachment concepts and methods in research on clinical populations. He is actively involved in lecturing and writing on the clinical applications of attachment and author of the book, Attachment Theory in Clinical Work with Children.

Michelle Perrin, LICSW

Michelle Perrin, LICSW has a deep passion for In-home therapy, where she has worked for the past 5 years. After completing her MSW and Trauma Certificate with Boston University in 2015, she began work with trauma impacted adults, youth, and families within a multitude of settings including inpatient hospital units, outpatient therapy clinics, and community-based services. During her time as an IHT, Michelle began utilizing SMART within her work with families. She has co-facilitated SMART trainings alongside Dr. Elizabeth Warner and continues to provide consultation to clinicians, Therapeutic Mentors and staff at Justice Resource Institute.

Bruce D. Perry, MD, PhD

Bruce D. Perry, MD, PhD is Principal of The Neurosequential Model Network, LLC and Senior Fellow of The ChildTrauma Academy, a Community of Practice based in Houston, TX. He is also Professor (Adjunct) in the Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago and the School of Allied Health, College of Science, Health and Engineering, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Dr. Perry is the author of over 500 journal articles, book chapters, and scientific proceedings. His clinical research over the last ten years has been focused on integrating emerging principles of developmental neuroscience into clinical practice. This work has resulted in the development of innovative clinical practices and programs working with maltreated and traumatized children, most prominently the Neurosequential Model©, a developmentally sensitive, neurobiology-informed approach to clinical work (NMT), education (NME), and caregiving (NMC).

Barry M. Prizant, PhD, CCC-SLP

Barry M. Prizant, PhD, CCC-SLP is among the world’s leading authorities on autism, and is recognized as an innovator of respectful, person- and family-centered approaches for individuals with autism and neurodevelopmental conditions. With fifty years of experience as a scholar, researcher, and international consultant, he is a visiting scholar at Brown University, a certified speech-language pathologist and Director of Childhood Communication Services, a private practice. Barry is coauthor of The SCERTS Model: A Comprehensive Educational Approach, now being implemented in more than a dozen countries. His recent book, Uniquely Human: A Different Way of Seeing Autism, is the best-selling book on autism since 2015. Barry also co-hosts a podcast, Uniquely Human: The Podcast (www.uniquelyhuman.com).

Jennifer Silverstein, LCSW

Jennifer Silverstein is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and California endorsed Infant Family Mental Health Specialist and Reflective Practice Facilitator. She has over 2 decades of experience in fostering early childhood mental health. She specializes in work with young children with complex developmental trauma, and works extensively with children in the foster care system. Jennifer is a frequent lecturer on Trauma Informed Care, and is actively involved in community efforts to promote early childhood mental health through public education and the strengthening of service systems. She is a Climate Aware Therapist, and is dedicated to supporting young children and their families in building resilience and taking effective action in the face of climate change. Jennifer is in private practice in Santa Rosa CA, where she provides nature-based, outdoor therapy to young children and their caregivers.

Alicia Smart, PsyD

Alicia Smart, PsyD has been the owner and clinical director of the DBT Center of Marin for over 10 years. Dr. Smart is a Linehan board-certified clinician in DBT. She is also the co-founder of therahive and therapylayer, two technology companies aimed at increasing access to mental health care. Dr. Smart has received extensive training in Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), Radically Open Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (RO-DBT), Prolonged Exposure for PTSD, Emotion-Focused Psychotherapy, and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.

Jessica Stone, PhD, RPT-S

Jessica Stone, PhD, RPT-S, is a licensed psychologist practitioner, professor, presenter, mentor, and author who has worked in the field for more than 25 years. Dr. Stone’s interest in therapeutic digital tools, specifically using virtual reality, tablets, and consoles, has culminated in clinical mental health use and research for mental health, medical, and crisis settings.  She is the co-creator of the Virtual Sandtray App for iPad (VSA) and the Virtual Sandtray for Virtual Reality (VSA-VR).  Dr. Stone has numerous publications including Play Therapy Theory and Perspectives, Integrating Technology into Modern Therapies, Play Therapy and Telemental Health, and Digital Play Therapy in addition to numerous chapters in a variety of books. She has served as the president of the California Association for Play Therapy, the APT Leadership Academy Chair, is a member of the Digital Play Therapy Advisory Board, and serves as an affiliate of the East Carolina University College of Education Neurocognition Science Laboratory.

Vilma Reyes, PsyD

Dr. Vilma Reyes is an Assistant Clinical Professor at UCSF, Department of Psychiatry in the Child Trauma Research Program. She is a licensed Psychologist who provides treatment, training, clinical supervision, consultation, and coordinates community-based mental health outreach services and evaluation. She has over 13 years of clinical experience providing relationship-focused, culturally-informed interventions for trauma-exposed children and their families such as Child-Parent Psychotherapy (CPP). She has over 11 years of training experience in Spanish and English and is a nationally endorsed trainer in CPP.

Lisette Rivas-Hermina, LMFT

Lisette Rivas-Hermina, LMFT, was trained by Dr. Anthony Mannarino, Dr. Esther Deblinger, and Dr. Judy Cohen””the developers of Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, to provide training and supervision to therapists in TF-CBT as a “Trainer of Trainers”. She has been working with traumatized children and their families for 13 years and has been training clinicians for the last five. Her expertise in the areas of domestic violence, sexual abuse, physical abuse and neglect inform the depth of her capacity to understand the complexities of childhood trauma. Born in Los Angeles, California, of immigrant parents from El Salvador, she is bilingual and bicultural. Lisette is a professional affiliate member of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) and is actively involved in the network to promote their mission to provide the highest level of care to traumatized children and their families.

Lani Rosen-Gallagher, MEd, RYT 200, RCYT

Recognizing that children need balance and focus in their lives, Lani began incorporating mindfulness and yoga into her classroom while teaching first grade nearly 20 years ago. Seeing the benefits, she has taught thousands from coast to coast. Collaborating with Jennifer Byer (RYT 200, RCYT) the pair have created Mindful Yoga Breaks ® as a way to help children self-regulate, and create calm and focus. They have combined their efforts to bring this new mindful yoga program to schools, teachers, clinicians, parents, and students worldwide.

Daniel Siegel, MD

Daniel Siegel, MD, is a clinical professor of psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine and the founding co-director of the Mindful Awareness Research Center at UCLA. He is also the Executive Director of the Mindsight Institute and organization that focuses on the development of mindsight, which teaches insight, empathy, and integration in individuals, families and communities. Dr. Siegel has published extensively for both the professional and lay audiences and his books include Mind: A Journey to the Heart of Being Human, Brainstorm: The Power and Purpose of the Teenage Brain, The Whole-Brain Child, with Tina Payne Bryson, Ph.D., No-Drama Discipline, with Tina Payne Bryson, Ph.D., and The Yes Brain.

Elizabeth Warner, MEd, PsyD

Elizabeth Warner, MEd, PsyD is a licensed psychologist with 40 years of experience working with children and families in psychiatric inpatient and outpatient settings, schools, mental health clinics and residential treatment, as well as in her private practice. For over a decade, her focus has been on the development of innovative treatment for children ages 1.5 – 22 years whose lives have been impacted by chronic stress or complex trauma and their caregivers. As project director at the Trauma Center at JRI, a center of excellence in trauma treatment, training and research, she oversaw training and consultation in Sensory Motor Arousal Regulation Treatment (SMART) for outpatient, in-home, therapeutic day school, and residential treatment settings in the U.S., Canada, and Hong Kong. As a partner in SMARTMoves LLC, she continues to train and consult to therapists worldwide. Dr. Warner maintains a private practice for adult psychotherapy and parent consultation in Brookline, MA.

Paris Goodyear-Brown, LCSW, RPT-S

Paris Goodyear-Brown, LCSW, RPT-S, has spent the past 25 years specializing in treating trauma, attachment disturbances, and anxiety disorders, as well as providing help for angry, dysregulated, and depressed children and teens. With trainings all over the world, she is best known for developing clinically sound, played-based interventions that integrate the neurobiology of trauma, the neurobiology of play, and the power of one to heal the other. She has received the APT award for Play Therapy Promotion and Education, serves on the Board of the Tennessee Association for Play Therapy, and served as the Executive Director of the Lipscomb Play Therapy and Expressive Arts Center. Some of her most recent books include Big Behaviors in Small Containers, Parents as Partners in Child Therapy: A Clinician’s Guide, Trauma and Play Therapy. Paris is the creator of the TraumaPlay™️ model, the founder and Clinical Director of Nurture House, and the Executive Director of the TraumaPlay®️ Institute.

Patricia Zurita Ona, PsyD

Patricia Zurita Ona, PsyD, or “Dr. Z,” has been working with children, adolescents, and adults struggling with anxiety, perfectionism, procrastination, and emotion regulation problems, particularly Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and related conditions for over seventeen years. Dr. Z is a graduate of the International OCD Foundation Behavior Therapy Training Institute (BTTI) for the treatment of pediatric and adult OCD. Her clinical work is primarily based on Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), the recognized front-line treatment for OCD. She is trained in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and has been learning, practicing, and teaching Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). Some of her books include Acceptance and Commitment Skills for Perfectionism and High-Achieving Behaviors, The ACT Workbook for Teens with OCD: Unhook Yourself and Live Life to the Full, and Parenting a Troubled Teen: Using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. She is also the co-author of the book Mind and Emotions: A Universal Protocol for Emotional Disorders receiving a “Self-help Seal of Merit” from the Association for Behavior and Cognitive Therapists (ABCT).

Glenn Marks, PhD, MBA

Glenn Marks, PhD, MBA, obtained his PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Iowa with a dual emphasis in neuro and health psychology. Dr. Marks spent much of his early career in both private practice and working as a staff psychologist in the Carondelet Health system in the departments of physical medicine and rehabilitation. Throughout his clinical work, Dr. Marks completed treatment and evaluations through his work in both public and for-profit hospitals, the Veterans Administration, Department of Defense, the State of Arizona and the University of Arizona. He oversaw the TBI treatment center at Ft Huachuca, AZ, where he and his team developed protocols for evaluation and treatment of mTBI for active-duty military returning from the Iraqi and Afghani wars. In his current work as director of the Zur Institute, he blends his passion for working with people from multiple backgrounds and cultures with his extensive clinical and professional experience.

Tracie Bush, MA, CKPMT

Tracie Bush, MA, CKPMT has the distinct honor of being one of four Certified Specialists in Kazdin Method® Parent Management Training. She worked at the prestigious Yale University Parenting Center and Child Conduct Clinic from 2006-2013. While there she worked directly with Dr. Alan Kazdin, the Child Psychologist who developed the Kazdin Method® Parent Management Training program. Tracie holds a Master’s degree in Psychology with a focus on evidence-based treatments. For eight years she served as a Research Coordinator for the Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center with Russell Barkley, Ph.D., also in Worcester, MA. There she published several articles on the functional deficits of young adults with ADHD. Tracie has extensive experience working with children who have a variety of psychiatric diagnoses including: Autism Spectrum Disorders, ADHD, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Intermittent Explosive Disorder, Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder, Conduct Disorder, and Anxiety Disorders.

Ana M. Gómez, MC, LPC

Ana M. Gómez, MC, LPC is the founder and director of the AGATE Institute in Phoenix, AZ. She is a psychotherapist, author, and an international speaker on the use of EMDR therapy with children and adolescents with complex and developmental trauma as well as generational wounds and dissociation. She has led workshops and keynote presentations around the world to thousands of clinicians. Ana is a fellow of the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (ISSTD). Ana is the author of EMDR Therapy and Adjunct Approaches with Children: Complex Trauma, Attachment and Dissociation and several book chapters and articles on the use of EMDR therapy with children and adolescents. Ana was the recipient of the 2023 “Francine Shapiro Award” from EMDRIA, the 2011 “Distinguished Service Award” from the Arizona Play Therapy Association, and the 2012 Sierra Tucson “Hope Award.”

Lisa Spiegel, MA, LMHC

Lisa Spiegel, MA, LMHC received her BA from Vassar College, and has a Master’s degree in Developmental Psychology from Columbia University. From her four decades of working with adults and children she has developed an approach that draws from an eclectic array of disciplines – talk therapy, trauma work, yoga, mindfulness, and parent coaching. Her post-graduate education includes certification in Internal Family Systems Therapy, LifeForce Yoga®, and couples counseling from the Relational Life Institute. Lisa is a Level III trained EMDR practitioner and has used this modality since 2000. She is also a certified Safe and Sound Protocol practitioner. She is the author of Internal Family Systems Therapy with Children, published in 2017, and is the co-author with Jean Kunhardt and Sandra K. Basile of A Mother’s Circle.

For more information about trainings, call 415-359-2484 or email [email protected].