Past Events

California’s Child Forensic Interview Training (CFIT- Parts 1 and 2) is the foundational forty-hour course for child interviewing for professionals who interview children in multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) and Children’s Advocacy Centers (CACs) in California. But, as any CFIT attendee knows, it can be challenging to integrate all of that information into practice back at your desk and into your interview rooms. This webinar will provide information and resources to CFIT “alumni” about how to transfer the knowledge and skills acquired at CFIT into their settings and jurisdictions. This training is for those who have already attended CFIT. Please note: The course does not give an explanation of any forensic interviewing protocols and is not intended as an introduction or basic level course on forensic interviewing. Therefore we are sharing the webinar with only practicing child forensic interviewers at this time.

Miriam Wolf, LCSW has over twenty years of experience in the field of child abuse. She works as a forensic interviewer, program consultant, trainer and curriculum developer in areas such as forensic interviewing, sexual abuse and domestic violence. Among many writing projects, Miriam authored California’s Child Forensic Interview Training curriculum, National Children’s Alliance Standards for Accreditation Manual (1st ed.) and NCTSN’s Child Welfare Trauma Training Toolkit. Currently the Director of the Forensic Interviewing Program at the Keller Center in San Mateo County, Miriam has conducted forensic interviews and provided program consultation there since 2003.

Join us for an Ask the Expert session on the topic of LGBTQ youth.  This session is designed for participants to ask expert Al Killen-Harvey questions to help you understand the risk factors of LGBTQ youth and how to improve your practices in working with this underserved population.  Questions can be sent prior to the session or asked live during the event.  

Al Killen-Harvey is the co-founder of The Harvey Institute, a training and consultation company whose mission is improving health care outcomes through integrating sexual health. For the past 25 years he has worked at the Chadwick Center where he has served in a variety of clinical and training positions. He has worked for several decades in the field of trauma treatment and is a past recipient of the San Diego County Child Abuse Coordinating Council’s “Unsung Hero” Award for his work with children who have been abused and/or neglected. He is a faculty member of the San Diego Public Child Welfare Training Academy.

What happens when our systems of support become systems of oppression? In this ask the expert we will explore the risk factors that system involved youth face and how we can create better support to prevent and/or intervene.

As the Training and Prevention Manager at MISSSEY, Inc., Andrea Diaz advocates and supports youth through education. She loves being in the community and working towards creating safer spaces for youth to navigate by offering outreach, information, and collaboration. Andrea is a certified domestic violence counselor and has served as a case manager, SFPD liaison, and education manager in that field. She is passionate about working with women and youth and learning how to best build support for and around them.

The Ask the Expert session has two-parts. Part one is a pre-recorded mini session and will provide key points around working with male victims of abuse. Part two is a virtual Ask the Expert.

This conversation addresses the gendered experience of male survivors of trauma by drawing upon clinical experience with male survivors of sexual abuse. We will consider them not only as victims but as boys and men whose trauma primes them to reconnect with their own, typically-abandoned vulnerability and therefore with their inherent capacity for empathy.  Embracing vulnerability, not as weakness but as an act of emotional courage, increases men’s chances for success and fulfillment in important relationships and improves their overall health and well-being.   

We will first review the relational damage caused by abuse as it interacts with external and internalized norms of male in-vulnerability.  Then we will attend to how male survivors in therapy discover and develop a capacity for emotional daring, depth, authenticity, and intimacy.  As they work to repair trauma-burdened relationships, especially with each other in group therapy, spontaneity, humor, affection, and hope balance and help build tolerance for the pain of past trauma, in place of fighting, fleeing, and numbing it.

Bill Burmester, M.A., M.F.T. has been a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in private practice in Berkeley, California since 1994, with training and experience in the treatment of sexual abuse and other relational and developmental trauma. He has worked with child, adolescent, and adult survivors of sexual abuse -especially men-, adolescent and adult perpetrators, and abusive family systems.

Conventional wisdom tells us what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. But the science tells us that, far more often, the opposite is true. This presentation will include groundbreaking information on how childhood adversity can lead to health problems later in life.

This event is structured as a live Q&A session. Prior to the session, attendees will receive a link to a recorded presentation by Donna on topics such as:
• The Adverse Childhood Experiences study (ACEs) background
• Do certain ACEs have more effect on the brain and body?
• Gender differences in the impact of adverse childhood experiences
• Along with information on Epigenetics, trauma and schools, social media and more!

Building on ACEs research, Donna Jackson Nakazawa shows us that chronic stress can affect our brains, behavior – and even our immune systems. She'll provide practical tips on what parents, mentors and caregivers can do to help build healthy children.

The Ask the Expert session has two-parts. Part one is a 20-minute recorded mini lecture by Françoise Mathieu. This required pre-requisite session will provide a baseline understanding of vicarious trauma as well as exercises to help intervene.  Part two is the online session where participants receive specific answers to their toughest questions about preventing and mitigating vicarious trauma.

Vicarious trauma (VT) and Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS) are frequently used interchangeably to refer to the indirect trauma that can occur when we are exposed to difficult or disturbing images and stories second-hand. This can occur by viewing graphic news reports, gruesome or frightening television shows and various other media, hearing a detailed traumatic story from another person, viewing crime scene evidence, working in a court room, attending a debriefing or a conference where disturbing images are described or shown, and many other ways in which we can be indirectly affected by the content or visuals of some other living creature's suffering. Over time, repeated exposure to difficult content can have a negative impact on our functioning and overall mental health, and it is important to develop a sense of our individual warning signs and develop tools to mitigate these negative effects.

Françoise Mathieu is a Registered Psychotherapist and a compassion fatigue specialist. Her experience stems from over 20+ years as a mental health professional, working as a crisis counselor and trauma specialist in university counseling, military, law enforcement and other community mental health environments. Françoise is co- executive director of TEND, whose aim is to offer consulting and training to helping professionals on topics related to secondary trauma, compassion fatigue, burnout, self-care, wellness and organizational health.

This course will provide a foundation on recognizing and responding to the scene with a victim with a developmental disability related to the Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). We will discuss common indicators to identify individuals with ASD, actions that can trigger a negative response, best practices, tools for your “toolbox” and governmental and non-profit organization resources. 

Guillermo Auyon is a retired Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of the California Department of Justice (CA DOJ). He spent 13 years with the CA DOJ, retiring in December 2019.  SAC Auyon has an extensive background working with various domestic and international law enforcement agencies, central authorities, district attorney offices, social services and non-profit organizations. For the past 4 years, SAC Auyon has taken a profound personal and professional interest in the recognition and response practices with our special needs community.

Knowledge of how children talk about events can help forensic interviewers select effective questions. This knowledge is also crucial for distinguishing between true contradictions and inconsistencies that might have stemmed from language immaturity or other issues. Drawing on numerous examples from laboratory transcripts, this question/answer session is a tour of how children’s minds work during interviews and how interviewers can respond to increase the amount of accurate information reported during conversations. Dr. Dickinson will present a summary of his research and then answer any specific questions you may have.

Jason J. Dickinson, Ph.D., is a Professor of Psychology, Acting Chair of the Department of Social Work and Child Advocacy, and the Director of the Robert D. McCormick Center for Child Advocacy and Policy at Montclair State University in Montclair, New Jersey. His research on children’s eyewitness testimony (understanding how children remember, misremember, forget, and tell about events they’ve experienced) is designed to identify strategies for questioning children in forensic contexts and increase the accuracy of legal decision-making in cases involving children. He frequently consults with defense attorneys, prosecutors, law enforcement, and the child protection community to help translate research findings into public policy, inform investigative practices, and evaluate the reliability of children's testimony.

Dr. Quas presents her latest research on the extent to which findings concerning forensic interviewing of children are applicable to adolescent (including suspected trafficking) victim populations, and answers other questions related to suggestibility and memory.

Dr. Jodi Quas is a Professor of Psychology, Social Behavior and Nursing Science at UC Irvine. She obtained her M.A. and Ph.D. in Psychology from UC Davis. She has been conducting research for over 15 years and is recognized as a leading researcher and significant contributor to the field of child development. Her research interests include memory development in early childhood, effects of stress and trauma on children’s development, and children’s involvement in the legal system. Specific interests include strategies to improve children’s narrative productivity and accuracy; the effects of stress on children’s memory; emotional regulation and physiological reactivity as predictors of children’s coping with and memory for stressful events; jurors’ perceptions of child witnesses; and consequences of legal involvement on child witnesses and victims.

Through funding from the Mental Health Services Act and in partnership with the Department of Developmental Services, North Bay Regional Center has developed an education program that is designed to teach people with developmental disabilities how to build healthy and meaningful relationships while also giving them information about sexual abuse and coercion. This course will detail how the program uses evidence-based teaching practices with the overall objective to reduce risk factors associated with sexual abuse and increase protective factors associated with prosocial behavior. The program will be free and accessible to interested providers beginning in July of 2020. 

Dr. Katie Pedgrift is the creator of Relationships Decoded. She is a licensed clinical psychologist at North Bay Regional Center. She earned a Special Education Teaching Credential from San Diego State University, her Master’s Degree in Special Education from San Francisco State University, and her Doctorate in Clinical Psychology at Alliant International University. She has worked with people who have autism and other developmental disabilities in a variety of contexts including forensic settings, in-patient and out-patient settings, schools, and diagnostic clinics. Dr. Pedgrift has authored numerous curricula designed to increase knowledge and self-protection behaviors in people with disabilities including the Array of Color’s curricula, Abuse Awareness and Prevention, Sexuality, and How to be Fire Safe.

Participants will develop a more nuanced understanding of the culturally-specific tactics of power and control used in abusive relationships in LGBTQIA+ communities and the dynamics in these communities that create a foundation for abuse. Participants will gain greater awareness to spot and respond to partner abuse when it happens to queer and trans clients.

Liat Wexler has been a trainer and workshop facilitator for more than 15 years. As Training Specialist at Center for Community Solutions, they work to prevent sexual assault and domestic violence and have been in this field since 2001 answering hotlines, facilitating support groups, and serving on the board of sexual assault and partner abuse organizations. In their role at CCS they provide professional development and crisis intervention training for all staff and volunteers, workshops to professionals at other agencies, and presentations at Shifting The Lens and the National Sexual Assault Conference. Liat specializes in teaching how to assess LGBTQIA+ partner abuse, the neurobiology of trauma, resilience skills, trauma-informed care, motivational interviewing, and violence within violence within the LGBTQIA+, polyamorous, and BDSM communities. Liat collaborates on the GBTQ Survivor Task Force and co-founded Genderqueer San Diego and San Diego’s Trans Pride.

This workshop will present a Family Justice Center perspective on serving the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Asexual, and Intersex Community. The session will examine barriers to accessing services and how Strength United has met the community’s emerging needs over the past two years. Overall, this presentation will benefit law enforcement officers, forensic nurses, and victim advocates by providing safe, affirming, and culturally competent practices for LGBTQIA+ youth. There will be time for a question and answer session at the end of the presentation.

Lunx Girgado is a 24-year-old, non-binary, queer transgender person of color. They work at Strength United: Family Justice Center, a California State University, Northridge (CSUN) community agency, as the Advocacy Coordinator. They have worked with survivors of interpersonal violence at the agency for three years. In addition, they are interning with Planned Parenthood Los Angeles as a Sexual Health Educator. With PPLA, they teach comprehensive sexual health to middle and high school students in the classroom. They graduated with a Bachelor’s of Arts Degree in Journalism with an emphasis in Broadcast and a minor in Gender and Women’s Studies in 2018 from CSUN.

Join us for an Ask the Expert session on the topic of Mental Health Disorders and Trauma Amongst People with Intellectual Disabilities​. This session is designed for participants to ask expert Dr. Matt Mason questions to help you understand the risk factors of people with intellectual disabilities and how to improve your practices in working with this underserved population.  

About 1% of the general US population is estimated to have Intellectual Disability. Identifying an Intellectual Disability requires both a clinical assessment and standardized testing. The presence of an Intellectual Disability increases the likelihood of other disorders and challenging experiences compared to non-disabled peers, including mental health disorders, other developmental disorders, traumatic experiences, and disparities in education, employment, community living, relationships, and health.

Dr. Mason is the Project Director for the Developmental Disabilities Administration Health Initiative (DDAHI) at Georgetown University’s Center for Child and Human Development in Washington, DC as part of the University’s Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities. He has been providing services and supports to individuals with developmental disabilities and related needs for over twenty-five years. Dr. Mason is a graduate of Western Michigan University, where he was awarded the prestigious Creative Scholar Award. He is a licensed psychologist and a Board certified Behavior Analyst. His expertise expands special education, mental and behavioral health services, trauma-informed care, forensic services and treatment foster care. Dr. Mason has held a variety of leadership positions in the public and private sectors, including residential schools, child welfare, community-based care and mental health facilities. His national and international consultation efforts have focused on standards of institutional care, transitional care and human rights protections. DDAHI provides evidence-based technical assistance, advocacy, and capacity building for people with developmental disabilities in the District of Columbia. This project includes efforts to improve hospital care, increase the capacity to service persons with complex needs, improve the expertise of professional caregivers, and develop best practices in health care, behavioral services, trauma informed care, and supporting parents with intellectual disabilities.

Join us for an Ask the Expert session on the topic of Transitional Age Youth (TAY) and the Foster Care System.  This session is designed for participants to ask expert Michele Bartlett questions to help you understand the risk factors of transitional age foster youth and how to improve your practices in working with this underserved population.  

Transition Age Youth (TAY) are young people between the ages of 16-24 years who are in transition from state custody or foster care and are considered “at-risk”. Once they turn 18 they no longer receive assistance from the systems of care that previously provided for many of their needs.

Michele Bartlett, LCSW is the Associate Clinical Director of Child & Adolescent Programs at OUR HOUSE Grief Support Center. Michele is a licensed clinical social worker specializing in the field of trauma, grief and loss with children and adolescents in community settings. Michele facilitates grief support groups, trains and supervises OUR HOUSE group leaders as well as MSW and MFT students and serves as a member of the clinical team for Camp Erin. She is an adjunct professor for the Graduate Social Work Department at California State University Northridge and a trained field instructor for social work interns. Michele has been presenting for the past 8 years for community agencies on grief and loss, child and adolescent development, public child welfare and transitional age youth (TAY.) 

Immigration policies and administrative decisions affecting immigrants are happening at an almost breakneck speed. Because so many service providers have immigrant clients, individuals in many sectors can benefit from even a surface understanding of these policies and decisions.

Rachel Ray is a Managing Attorney at the University of California Immigrant Legal Services Center (“UC Center”). At the UC Center, Rachel handles an immigration caseload and oversees immigration legal services provision to students and their family members at UCSF, UC Davis, UC Merced, and UC Santa Cruz. Her immigration legal experience includes removal defense, family and humanitarian based immigration, and business immigration work at private firms.

This session is designed for participants to ask expert Roger Canaff questions to help you understand the dynamics of male victimization and how to improve your practices in working with this underserved population.  "

Roger Canaff was born in New York City in 1967 and raised in Northern Virginia. He attended the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and then the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law. After a brief period in private practice, he took a job with the Alexandria, Virginia Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney in 1997. During his time there he prosecuted many different types of crimes, with a specialty in child abuse, child sexual assault, and juvenile crime. In 2003 he joined the staff of the National Center for the Prosecution of Child Abuse at the American Prosecutors Research Institute in Alexandria, Virginia as a Senior Attorney. In 2005 he returned to active prosecution in Bronx County, New York in that office’s Child Abuse and Sex Unit prosecuting both adult and child sexual assault crimes. In June 2007, he was hired by the New York State Office of the Attorney General as the Deputy Chief of the newly formed Sex Offender Management Unit. After serving for two years in this position, he was hired by the United States Army in June of 2009 as a Highly Qualified Expert with the Trial Counsel Assistance Program, US Army Legal Services Agency. As an Army civilian, he trained and consulted with military prosecutors specializing in Special Victims issues worldwide. He left federal service in February, 2012. He re-joined the National District Attorney’s Association as a Fellow in October of 2012 within the National Center for Prosecution of Child Abuse where he served until early 2015.

This Ask the Expert Session will review the following 10 key considerations for supporting teen mothers in the foster care system: Understanding the foster system for a teen mom; Understanding the impact of threats of separation as a trauma specific to teen mothers; How fear inhibits healthy parenting; How to create a sanctuary for a teen mom; Guidance on the initial transition and adjustment phase; Clarifying foster parent and teen parent roles; Healthy modeling; Attachment and Bonding; Good enough parenting; The power of expectation. This course will increase participants ability to assess for specific traumas unique to teen mothers in the foster care system; prepare and design placements that facilitate healing and foster a teen mother’s development as a young adult and parent; and develop and demonstrate secure attachment, which is foundational for healthy child development.

Sayida Peprah earned a BA in Psychology from Spelman College and a Psy.D in Clinical Psychology with a Multicultural Specialization, from the California School of Professional Psychology- Alliant International University.  Dr. Peprah has a multi-faced career as a clinician, educator and consultant.   She is a Deputy Chief Psychologist for the U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons providing and supervising mental health services for incarcerated men and women, at the federal prison complex in Victorville, CA. She is also an Associate Professor of Psychology for the University of Phoenix, for the past 8 years, facilitating courses in Cultural and Correctional Psychology. As a consultant, Dr. Peprah regularly offers cultural competency, mental health and maternal mental health trainings and workshops for non-profit, government and community agencies. In 2014, she was a featured speaker at the United Nations 65th NGO conference, on the topic of Mental Health in the US. Dr. Peprah is dedicated to contributing her expertise, both in the field, as a clinician, and as an educator and consultant in academic, non-profit, government and corporate sectors. 

Studies have long established that individuals with disabilities are disproportionately criminally victimized. In 2015, the average annual rate of violent victimization for individuals with disabilities was more than twice the rate among individuals without disabilities. Serious violent victimization for individuals with disabilities was more than three times than that for individuals without disabilities (Harrell, 2017). The risk of being a victim of crime, especially a victim of sexual assault, is 4 to 10 times higher for an individual with a disability. There are a number of factors related to individuals with disabilities susceptibility to victimization. Understanding and communicating effectively with adults and older adults with disabilities including intellectual disabilities, autism and other developmental disabilities who are victims of abuse are necessary skills for adult protective services, law enforcement, district attorneys, clinicians, and other social service personnel who may work with these individuals who have been victimized. Furthermore, assumptions made regarding these populations can inhibit effective communication, creating safe environments and conducting thorough investigations. This presentation will focus on the susceptibility of victimization for persons with disabilities as well as typical biases and assumptions that impact investigation and service delivery to individuals with disabilities.

Scott J. Modell received his Ph.D. from the College of Education at Florida State University in 1997. Dr. Modell is President of MCG Consulting and Co- Founder of Collaborative Safety. From 2013 to 2016, he served as the Deputy Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services. He has also served as the Deputy Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. Prior to moving to Tennessee, Dr. Modell spent fifteen years as a Professor at California State University, Sacramento. Over his last five years at the university, he additionally served as Director of the university’s Autism Center for Excellence. He is an expert in child abuse, crime victims with disabilities, disability etiology, and interview techniques. He has authored nine books and has over 300 published articles and abstracts. Dr. Modell is frequently invited to lecture at national and international conferences regarding child abuse and crime victims with disabilities. He has received international recognition for his work in the area of crime victims and interview techniques for individuals with disabilities.

What types of placements and associated services have a positive impact on stabilizing CSEC youth? Los Angeles County has engaged in research to answer this pressing question and provide guidance for other jurisdictions. The training will discuss the current array of placement options being utilized for CSEC, including foster care facilities, group homes, mental health facilities and specialized out of state placements. Discussion around specialized services that have been developed, including specialized courts in the delinquency and dependency systems, dedicated units of probation officers and social workers, and specialized community based advocates. Findings from the research will be presented, including an assessment of AWOL rates in various placement types, and valuable feedback that has been shared by youth through focus groups. This webinar is intended for those who serve individuals in mental health, foster care, probation, and child welfare settings.

Amber McDonald, LCSW is a doctoral candidate at the University of Denver and currently finishing up her dissertation, Fact vs. Fiction: Uncovering the experiences of homeless/street youths’ involvement in survival sex. She has conducted research in the areas of youth involvement in trading/selling sex, vicarious trauma, and childhood sexual abuse. Amber has an extensive practice background in forensic social work and child welfare. Specifically, Amber has expertise in forensic interviewing, expert testimony in both criminal and civil cases, trauma interventions/assessments (children and families), coordination and implementation of trauma-informed care initiatives, and program development. She also provides child sex trafficking prevention-related consultation for the United States Department of Health and Human Services, as well as other key private sector organizations (e.g., Facebook).

"The best predictor of the effects of trauma is not trauma history; the best predictor of the effect of trauma is whether you can seek comfort in the arms of another.”  Bessel van der Kolk

This webinar will cover various attachment classifications and how they impact both adults and children. Individuals learn very early in life, through their early experience with caretakers, whether the world is a safe or unsafe place. This early “lens” of the world has far reaching implications. This workshop will discuss the formation of attachment patterns, their resulting “internal working models” and the intersection between attachment and victimization or trauma.

Karen Doyle Buckwalter, LCSW, is Director of Program Strategy at Chaddock, a multi-service agency providing a range of residential, educational, and community-based services for youth, birth through age 21, and their families.  While at Chaddock, she has been instrumental in the development of an innovative residential program for adolescents, ages 8 – 16, with Attachment Disorders and Complex Trauma. One of the only programs of its kind serving older adolescents, Chaddock’s Developmental Trauma and Attachment Program® (DTAP®) has served youth from 33 different states in the U.S. originating from 18 different countries.

“Autism Movement Therapy” is a method that works with individuals across the spectrum to help them understand directions to music with movement.  The structure and repetition help to wake up the brain and provide meaning.  This method has also been developed into a subsequent group entitled “Autism Works Now!” where individuals who have been successful are now working on pre-employment skills and working with the support needed to be successful in getting and keeping jobs.  Each of these practices will be discussed and reviewed.

Join us for an online webinar on the topic of “Autism Movement Therapy”, a method that works with individuals across the spectrum to help them understand directions to music with movement. The structure and repetition help to wake up the brain and provide meaning. This method has also been developed into a subsequent group entitled “Autism Works Now!” where individuals who have been successful are now working on pre-employment skills and working with the support needed to be successful in getting and keeping jobs. Each of these practices will be discussed and reviewed.

KayDee Caywood, Ph.D., has worked in Special Education for over 40 years, first in the classroom as a teacher, an administrator, a researcher, and then as a professor at National University.   Her primary interest is working with difficult students that need structure to help them be successful.  Her primary area of research included working across differing cultural backgrounds and then issues surrounding Autism.

The primary goal of this workshop is to explore the high degree of risk of abuse faced by gay and lesbian adolescents.  Due to a lack of information and visibility this group of adolescents faces physical, sexual and emotional abuse at home, school and in society at large.  The discussion will include an overview of the stages of sexual identity development and identification of the physical and emotional stressors experienced by this population.  There will also be an exploration of the cultural and institutional dynamics that reinforce this abuse.

Al Killen-Harvey is the co-founder of The Harvey Institute, a training and consultation company whose mission is improving health care outcomes through integrating sexual health. For the past 25 years he has worked at the Chadwick Center where he has served in a variety of clinical and training positions. He has worked for several decades in the field of trauma treatment and is a past recipient of the San Diego County Child Abuse Coordinating Council’s “Unsung Hero” Award for his work with children who have been abused and/or neglected. He is a faculty member of the San Diego Public Child Welfare Training Academy.

This training was livestreamed on October 24, 2017 and is about 5 hours and 30 minutes long.

This webinar will discuss the challenges we currently face in assisting children and families during the COVID-19 pandemic, and how to support families in developing routines and habits that build coping skills. This year's disruptions in the lives of our children and families can lead to stress, lack of social support, increased family violence, depression and even suicide. This webinar will examine the challenges of tele-health and how we can successfully use this tool. It will also discuss specific steps we must take so we, as care takers, can maximize our abilities to serve children and their families.

David Love, MFT is the founder and Executive Director of Valley Community Counseling Services located in San Joaquin County. He is an international trainer specializing in childhood trauma. Valley Community Counseling Services is currently providing tele-health therapy for 8 school districts and child abuse and mental health services for the community.

Research on multicultural populations has found the presence and degree of shame to be a key predictor of children’s recovery from sexual abuse. Shame often hinders clinical efforts to help victims achieve a healthy recovery. Latino families report that their single most sought-after goal for recovery is to overcome their feeling of shame. The literature on shame has developed rapidly in recent years. It is important to understand how the definitions of shame vary, but they share the notion that the “shamed person” has been damaged. This free, 1 hour webinar training is designed to increase the cultural sensitivity of professionals working with Latino youth and families. This training is intended for professions who work with child victims of sexual abuse. The main topic to be covered in this training will address the Stigma of Sexual Abuse in Latino Culture and how it creates a barrier for services in Latino families.

Jaime Molina, LCSW works for the Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services for Santa Cruz County, and has worked for the past 17 years with adolescents who use drugs and/or alcohol, have mental health issues, and possible gang affiliation issues. He is a graduate of the University of California, Santa Cruz, and the School of Social Work, at California State University, San Jose. Mr. Molina works as the Workforce Education and Training Coordinator, as the Prevention and Early Intervention Coordinator and as the Cultural Competence Coordinator. Jaime Molina is a consultant with the PVUSD School District in the County of Santa Cruz. Mr. Molina is a parent educator in family strengthening curricula, and volunteers his time working with youth and families in spiritual retreats.

People with developmental disabilities are overrepresented in our criminal justice system, both as victims of crimes and suspects of crimes. Law enforcement and other first responders often have little training regarding the nature of these disabilities and how to effectively engage with such individuals. The training is offered to first responders who may serve children with developmental disabilities who have been victims of sexual abuse and will: include a brief overview of developmental disabilities with special attention to intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorder; discuss common characteristics of disabilities; highlight facts and statistics, and the frequency in which people with disabilities interface with first responders; include some case examples, discuss common misunderstandings, review strategies to use when interacting with people with disabilities, and educate people regarding available resources.

Kathryn Pedgrift, Psy.D. is a licensed clinical psychologist at North Bay Regional Center. She has a Master’s Degree in Special Education and a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology. She specializes in addressing social-­‐sexual behavior problems in adolescents and adults, as well as empowering those at-­‐risk of sexual exploitation. She has participated in numerous research projects related to the practice of self-­‐protection skills and the acquisition of knowledge related to physical boundaries and sexual abuse. Ron Harrison is 24 year veteran of the Daly City Police Department. Ron has been assigned to the Detective Bureau for the past 13 years and has exclusively investigated child sex crimes, adult sex crimes, child abuse and domestic violence. Ron is also the lone law enforcement representative for the San Mateo County Keller Center M.D.l.C and has participated in training new Detectives, Advocates and C.P.S. for San Mateo County regarding sexual assault investigation.

This 60 minute course focuses on the role of service providers in partnering with survivors of sex trafficking on the road to healing. The discussion spotlights the importance of survivor centered program models and their impact on our work to support survivors."

Holly Joshi is the Executive Director at MISSSEY, a youth serving non-profit dedicated to providing direct services and advocacy for survivors of commercial sexual exploitation. Holly has 16 years of committed public service experience and over a decade of leadership and advocacy work in the movement to end commercial sexual exploitation. She led the Oakland Police Department’s Child Exploitation Unit and served as the Training Manager at MISSSEY before being promoted into her current role as E.D.

The objectives of the webinar are to engage & educate community members about the commercial exploitation of youth. The webinar will provide an overview of the scope of the issue as well as a deep dive into exploiter types and tactics. Participants will come away with an increased understanding of what youth are experiencing, pathways to entry, and best practices on how to engage with youth.

As the Training and Prevention Manager at MISSSEY, Inc., Andrea Diaz advocates and supports youth through education. She loves being in the community and working towards creating safer spaces for youth to navigate by offering outreach, information, and collaboration. Andrea is a certified domestic violence counselor and has served as a case manager, SFPD liaison, and education manager in that field. She is passionate about working with women and youth and learning how to best build support for and around them.

In the US today, men are significantly more likely than women to perpetrate and experience abuse. Men commit 85% of murders and sexual offenses, while 161 men under the age of 45 die violent deaths every day and 1 out of 6 boys surveyed report sexual abuse. Compounding these problems, the shame, fear, and trauma that make men more vulnerable to abuse also keep male abusers and victims from obtaining effective treatment and healing.

This webinar outlines a new paradigm for understanding how typical male socialization gives rise to various forms of toxic masculinity that lock men into violent lifepaths, ways this toxic masculinity (Mascupathy) presents, and some clinical techniques that have allowed men in treatment to recover their innately more balanced and healthy humanity.

Randy Flood, MA, LLP is the co-founder and director of the Institute for the Prevention and Treatment of Mascupathy (IPTM), specializing in creating and developing clinical services that address men's issues, including domestic violence, fathering, and emotional and relational intelligences.  He is also the co-founder and director of the Men's Resource Center of West Michigan in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  With Charlie Donaldson, Flood wrote Mascupathy: Understanding and Healing the Malaise of American Manhood (IPTM, 2014) and Stop Hurting the Woman You Love: Breaking the Cycle of Abusive Behavior (Hazelden, 2006). 

Muchos padres se preguntan cómo hablar con sus niños sobre sus cuerpos, pero no saben cómo hacerlo o cuando es adecuado. Muchas veces los padres se sienten muy incomodos hablando con los niños sobre sus cuerpos, acerca de la sexualidad, y el abuso sexual que puede resultar cuando no se habla del tema. Es importante que los padres se sienten cómodos con el tema antes de tener una conversación con sus niños. En este seminario de web, usted
aprenderá algunas formas de educar a sus niños sobre sus cuerpos, el espacio personal, y de cómo prevenir el abuso sexual infantil.

Monica Borunda es una Terapeuta Matrimonial y Familiar Licenciada, profesora adjunta de California State University en Los Angeles, una Especialista en Entrevistas Forenses para Niños, y una Educadora de Padres. Ha sido una oradora invitada en conferencias y jornadas de trabajo. Adicionalmente, Monica habla con niños, adultos, y familias en su práctica privada en la ciudad de Pasadena. Actualmente Monica está sirviendo en la junta directiva de la Sociedad Profesional de California Contra el Abuso de Niños.

Victim response to violence very often is counter to expectations of others. Despite society’s greater understanding of sexual assault and domestic violence, there continues to be little understanding of and tolerance for individual victim’s unique response(s) to trauma. Research demonstrates that victim response(s), when not appropriately explained during the legal process for the perpetrator, is used as a focus of defense arguments and successfully results in acquittals in cases of sexual assault and domestic violence.

Dr. Valliere is a licensed psychologist and has her doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology of Rutgers University. She has over 25 years experience in the field and has worked in individual and group treatment with violent offenders and their victims, including domestic violence offenders, sexual offenders, violent offenders, and substance abusers. She is currently the owner and director of two outpatient treatment centers – Valliere & Counseling Associates, an outpatient treatment center for mental health, domestic violence, and victim issues and Forensic Treatment Services, an outpatient violent offender treatment program. Her program treats Federal, State, and County Offenders as well as those incarcerated at the County Prison.

Although LGBTQ youth face the same developmental challenges as other adolescents, they also experience stigmatization and discrimination as members of an oppressed group. This introductory workshop will provide an overview of the unique developmental challenges LGBTQ youth face, the factors that place these youth at risk of abuse, and their vulnerability to engage in risk-taking behaviors. This workshop will also delineate ways to promote safe, affirming and non-abusive agency environments for participants.

Mark Abelsson, MSW is a human relations consultant with over twenty-five years in social service planning, administration and training, over twenty years in human relations education, and twelve years in public education. The primary focus of his consulting practice is the design, implementation and evaluation of programs on a wide variety of human relations issues, particularly those related to sexual orientation and gender identity. Abelsson has worked with dozens of companies in the public, private and nonprofit sectors, personally delivering over 750 seminars on human relations issues to more than 15,000 employees. He is also currently an adjunct professor in the Social Work Departments at CSUN and CSULA.

This course will provide an overview of intimate partner violence, adolescent intimate partner violence, toxic masculinity, and healthy relationships. This course is designed to provide psychoeducation on foundational constructs to intimate partner violence and the similarities and differences between adolescents and adults. In addition, it will explore male victims and how toxic masculinity impacts male victims. It will conclude with discussion of healthy relationships.

Gimel Rogers, Psy.D. is a licensed psychologist with over 10 years of professional speaking and training experience. She currently is the Training Director of the Professional Clinical and Forensic Services Department at the Institute on Violence, Abuse, and Trauma (IVAT). She earned her doctorate from Pepperdine University and has provided trauma focused care with clients from the Children of the Night Program, the Ventura Youth Correctional Facility, FCI Terminal Island, and community programs serving survivors of intimate partner violence. She utilizes an array of therapeutic interventions with an emphasis on cognitive behavioral therapy. Dr. Rogers presently works with survivors who are recovering from emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. Additionally, she assists clients who are involved in criminal, family, and civil cases involving a broad range of forensic issues. Having published in the areas of culture, coping, spirituality, and trauma, she is an adjunct professor at Pepperdine University and Point Loma Nazarene University. Her inaugural book is the "21-Day Relationship Healing and Devotional Journal," a poetry-based devotional that promotes restoration through reflection. Dr. Rogers dedicates time and energy to individuals across the world through her organization Fearless Individuals Resistants to Entrapment (F.I.R.E) and its brand One Temple Fitness.

This course will provide an overview of key concepts, strategies, tools, and perspectives that can maximize effectiveness in working with, understanding, and communicating with transitional age youth. Topics covered will include developmental theories, basic brain and neurobiological processes, communication strategies, the shifting of roles, and practical tools to increase resilience, learning, and decision making skills. This presentation will be virtually facilitated, however, there will be the opportunity for brief discussion and questions, experiential activities, and sharing of practical applications of concepts.

Rex Sheridan is the Clinical Director at San Pasqual Academy, a program in north county San Diego serving adolescents and transitional age youth in a residential education program. He has 17 years of experience working with various youth and T.A.Y. populations and 13 years in a management role which includes providing professional development training to parents, educators, staff, volunteers, and mental health providers. He holds an M.A. in Marriage and Family Therapy from Fuller School of Psychology, and is a licensed marriage and family therapist.

One of his strongest passions is helping parents, caregivers, and professionals of all kinds to more deeply understand young people at this critical point in their development and working to develop strategies and perspectives that enhance the quality of their relationships and services. Furthermore, he recognizes the significance of developmental processes, attachment experiences, and trauma and the critical impact that these issues have across all domains of a young person’s life. Through this, he combines the knowledge obtained from available research, best practices, and practical experiences to provide informed, compassionate, and trauma sensitive support for those working with young people in our communities. His workshop and training style typically blends together presentation of concepts, experiential activities, practical application, and real illustrations and examples to increase knowledge and engagement of participants.

Although the stay-at-home order prevents the spread of COVID-19, it is creating more potential safety risks for survivors of domestic violence and their children. Due to these unforeseen circumstances, service providers must gain an understanding of domestic violence and the specific safety risks that survivors are facing during the current health crisis. This presentation will provide some of the necessary tools to help service providers safety plan with survivors of domestic violence in consideration of the unique safety concerns during COVID-19.

Mae Bennett is a Licensed Independent Social Worker (LISW-S) with a social work bachelor’s degree from Ursuline College and a master’s degree in Applied Social Sciences (MSSA) from Case Western Reserve University. She has over fifteen years of experience in victim advocacy, including working at a domestic violence shelter and a police department providing justice system advocacy to all victims of crime. Ms. Bennett is Manager of Domestic Violence Services at Jewish Family Service Association of Cleveland where she supervises direct service staff in addition to Know Abuse, a teen dating abuse prevention program. She is EMDR trained and provides trauma specific therapy to clients. Ms. Bennett also conducts trainings and presentations to the community.

Grace Miller currently serves as a Victim Advocate with Jewish Family Service Association’s Domestic Violence Services. She currently attends Case Western Reserve University to obtain her Master’s in Applied Social Sciences. She works closely with JFSA’s Know Abuse Prevention Program through her Master’s Field Placement.

At the age of three, Anthony Trucks was placed into the foster care system. It's a well-known fact that up to 50% of kids placed in the system will end up homeless upon emancipation, and up to 75% of prison inmates in the U.S. are former foster kids- needless to say, the odds were against him from the beginning. This looming reality was never lost on Anthony and he spent a good bulk of his childhood feeling adrift, unworthy, and listless. For years, he spent everyday in survival mode, just trying to make it to the next day, week, and year in one piece.

Join us as Anthony explains how he made the shift into his ideal identity and how he overcame his hardships.

With the prevalence of traumatic events and the constant exposure to traumatic stories across the world, addressing the impact of trauma can feel daunting, but it can be done. Join Elizabeth G. Vermilyea, Ph.D., a revolutionary leader of trauma-informed program development, as she explains how we can help everyone every time by implementing a trauma-informed approach to all aspects of care. Dr. Vermilyea will discuss how to help people recover from traumatic experiences through RICH relationships: Respect, Information, Collection, & Hope.

presented by Elizabeth G. Vermilyea, PhD

This video is intended to increase the understanding of the effects of historical and intergenerational trauma in Native communities. It will also increase awareness of effects of settler colonialism on communities of color.

presented by Julie Andrews

Commercially sexually exploited children (CSEC) are victims and survivors of multiple human rights abuses who need and deserve specialized treatment, as well as non-judgmental, trauma-informed, and healing-centered services provided by professionals who possess cultural humility, compassion, and relevant life experience. With content informed by survivors, this web-based training is designed to equip practitioners with the tools necessary to address the chronic, complex, and continuous trauma impacting CSEC victims and survivors, as well discuss appropriate and strength-based techniques necessary in supporting young people who are navigating trauma.

As the Training Institute Manager at MISSSEY, Inc., Andrea Diaz advocates and supports youth through education. She loves being in the community and working towards creating safer spaces for youth to navigate by offering outreach, information, and collaboration. Andrea is a certified domestic violence counselor and has served as a case manager, SFPD liaison, and education manager in that field. She is passionate about working with women and youth and learning how to best build support for and around them.

This training will focus on working across disciplines to provide support to victims with disabilities.  The presenter will discuss working with law enforcement, finding appropriate levels of counseling, and identifying appropriate referrals. Persons with developmental disabilities are abused at a higher rate than the general population, and are often re-victimized by systems which do not recognize their need for counseling or ability to benefit from intervention.  Persons attending the training will learn some of the specific issues leading to the higher rates of abuse for persons with epilepsy and cerebral palsy, as well as developing appropriate treatment plans.  The importance of coordinating with mental health organizations and regional centers will be discussed.  Specific issues with supporting this group of persons when they need to testify in court will be addressed as well.

Dr. Steven Graff received his Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from the University of Southern California in 1988. Prior to graduation, he served two years with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department as a Psychologist in their APA approved internship program. He was accepted into a postgraduate Fellowship in Professional Psychology with the Institute of Clinical Training and Research of the Devereux Foundation in 1988, working with children and adults who were severely mentally ill co-morbidly with having a developmental disability. Dr. Graff worked with the Devereux Foundation as the Chief Psychologist at the Santa Barbara Center until 1995. He had a private practice consulting with group homes for the developmentally disabled, and in 1996 took a position as a staff psychology with Tri-Counties Regional Center (TCRC). In 2009 he became the Director of Clinical Services at TCRC.

This training was livestreamed on November 16, 2017 and is about 5 hours long.

This webinar is intended for professionals working with multidisciplinary teams on issues related to juvenile sex offenders. Mr. Powers will review types of juvenile sex offenders and suggest a consistent approach in dealing with them — from investigation through ongoing treatment. He will emphasize the multidisciplinary approach as a solution to solving the unique problems these cases bring to the system. Dynamics of juvenile sex offenders will be presented, including the myths commonly accepted by professionals. Mr. Powers will discuss theories of etiology, examine the roles of professionals, and suggest how a standardized approach can benefit professionals, offenders and affected families.

Dan Powers, LCSW is a clinical social worker and currently serves as Senior Vice President and Clinical Director for Children’s Advocacy Center of Collin County in Plano, Texas. Dan has made numerous presentations at major national and regional conferences on the sexual victimization of children, sex offenders, and the multidisciplinary response to child abuse. He is best known for his spirited presentations on wellness and survival for child abuse professionals. He is a member of the Texas Children’s Justice Act Task Force.

This trauma-informed webinar will discuss the significance of haircare for Black youth in out-of-home placement, and will take into consideration the abuse and neglect foster children are exposed to both prior to entering systems of care, and upon entering a new home and family system. Because foster youth are susceptible to experiencing higher rates of depression and PTSD, the psychological impact of low self-esteem can be particularly detrimental and contribute to on-going personal trauma.

The goals of this training are to understand how and why haircare can impact the behaviors, emotions, and self-esteem of black foster youth and to learn trauma-informed methods for addressing this issue with foster youth, biological parents and relatives, caregivers, social workers, probation officers, and congregate care staff.

Tanisha C. Fulcher has nearly 12 years of experience working with foster children and families involved with the system of care. She values cultural differences and believes that many life issues should be viewed through a cultural lens. Tanisha is passionate about empowering, educating, and advocating for the underserved and disenfranchised. She has strengths in the areas of restoration and connectedness; therefore, she is passionate about problem-solving and developing solutions that can affect comprehensive change and impact many. Tanisha received a BS in Biochemistry from Spelman College in Atlanta, GA and an MS in Marriage & Family Therapy from Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. She is currently working on a Doctorate of Psychology (PsyD.) with a concentration in Clinical Psychology from the Behavioral Sciences Department of Southern California Seminary in El Cajon, CA.

Part 1: How It Happens - Understanding Dynamics of Child Sexual Abuse was recorded on March 7, 2008.

This session is intended for professionals who work with child victims of sexual abuse. After this workshop, participants will: know the physical, behavioral and emotional indicators of sexual abuse; understand how developmental and cultural differences affect disclosures of and responses to sexual abuse; understand the offending cycle; understand the range of victim responses to CSA; understand the range of non-offending responses to CSA; know the roles and responsibilities of the multiple professionals who become involved in CSA cases; know which sexual behaviors with and between minors must be reported under California’s child abuse laws.

Part 2: Is it Normal? Typical and Atypical Sexual Development in Childhood and Adolescence was recorded June 2012.

This session is intended for professionals who work with children. After this workshop, participants will: be able to identify typical childhood sexual behaviors in different developmental stages; recognize the role that culture plays in shaping sexual behavior; be able to distinguish normal childhood curiosity from sexually concerning behaviors; be able to articulate facts and myths about connections between sexual abuse and sexual behaviors in childhood; become aware of “red flags” for atypical sexual behavior in childhood and adolescence; be able to describe developmental changes in adolescence which impact decision making related to sexual behavior.

Miriam Wolf, LCSW has over twenty years of experience in the field of child abuse. She works as a forensic interviewer, program consultant, trainer and curriculum developer in areas such as forensic interviewing, sexual abuse and domestic violence. Among many writing projects, Miriam authored California’s Child Forensic Interview Training curriculum, National Children’s Alliance Standards for Accreditation Manual (1st ed.) and NCTSN’s Child Welfare Trauma Training Toolkit. Currently the Director of the Forensic Interviewing Program at the Keller Center in San Mateo County, Miriam has conducted forensic interviews and provided program consultation there since 2003.

The trauma field has always acknowledged heightened rates of abuse within the special needs community — however, despite the frequency of occurrence, this is one of the least served populations. Limited abuse reporting, atypical disclosure styles, and lack of education for providers has contributed to this community remaining left out of services. 



The process of providing more support to these families begins with understanding how the abuse experience differs from what is commonly seen in this field. This webinar will focus on highlighting those differences in the following areas: grooming behavior, conditioning the victim and family, investigation considerations, and treatment approaches.

Dr. McDonald’s research and professional practice is entirely rooted in understanding and providing effective prevention and intervention strategies for youth who've experienced trauma. She has extensive experience in trauma informed systems of care, forensic interviewing, complex trauma, and program and curriculum development. She has spent the last 15 years honing her skills in mental and behavioral health and has had the opportunity to share her skills across the United States and internationally. Dr. McDonald is committed to integrating the most current empirical literature in to her practice and frequently provides training to others where she is tasked with translating data and evaluative results to others in a comprehensive and digestible fashion.

Courtney Palm is a licensed Marriage and Family therapist specializing in child development and trauma as it relates to victims with special needs. She graduated from Pepperdine University with a Master’s Degree in Clinical Psychology and completed a three year internship with the Child Development Institute in assessment and treatment of children with neurocognitive disorders. During her time at the Child Development Institute she completed training in evaluations using the Bayley, Mullen, and other developmental assessments to determine cognitive, language, motor, and social-emotional skill levels. After relocating to Denver, Colorado she worked with the University of Denver’s Fisher Early Learning Center, Children’s Hospital Colorado, and Early Intervention Colorado. Her professional work with these agencies included evaluation, treatment, and professional education around intervention with children with special needs. Courtney also worked with the Denver Children’s Advocacy Center and Blue Sky Bridge conducting trauma counseling and forensic interviews for victims of crime. Courtney co-authored an article with Dr. Amber McDonald for the APSCAC journal’s best practices issue on conducting forensic interviews with children with special needs.

This webinar invites and engages professionals in critical reflection and dialogue about American history that centers Japanese American experiences of war, profiling, surveillance, forced removal, incarceration, and state-sponsored trauma, which continues to impact generations of Nikkei (people of Japanese descent) and their families in the United States. Participants will explore topics of intergenerational trauma, cultural values, and various socio-political realities which may influence a Nikkei survivor’s experience as a victim of crime, as well as what professionals should be prepared to know when working with people of Japanese descent.

The presenter, traci ishigo, will share about their experiences as mixed-generation Japanese American, Buddhist, queer clinical social worker, therapist, community organizer in Little Tokyo, and Co-Director of the grassroots solidarity organization, Vigilant Love.

Since its inception, the MDIT/CAC (Multidisciplinary Investigation Team/Children’s Advocacy Center) movement has been described as having a two-fold mission: Justice and Healing. Recent efforts across many professions and disciplines to create “Trauma Informed Systems” complements this mission. This workshop – intended for non-mental health professionals who work on MDTs – will provide an overview about the impact of trauma on children who report maltreatment, how MDT members can collaborate with mental health professionals, how trauma issues intersect with MDT members roles and responsibilities, what a trauma-informed MDT system might look like, and what MDT members can do – individually and collectively – to mitigate the effects of trauma, during the investigation and beyond. Participants will be able to: define the terms ”trauma” and ”trauma informed systems”; list components of a trauma informed system; learn about efforts to create trauma informed responses within specific professions (e.g. NCTSN’s trauma-informed child welfare project) and how these can be adapted for teams; articulate at least three strategies that MDT members can implement to mitigate effects of trauma; learn how MDT members can collaborate with mental health professionals and systems to mitigate the effects of trauma; appreciate that a trauma informed system includes awareness of and attention to the impact of secondary traumatic stress/compassion fatigue on MDT members.

Miriam Wolf, LCSW has over twenty years of experience in the field of child abuse. She works as a forensic interviewer, program consultant, trainer and curriculum developer in areas such as forensic interviewing, sexual abuse and domestic violence. Among many writing projects, Miriam authored California’s Child Forensic Interview Training curriculum, National Children’s Alliance Standards for Accreditation Manual (1st ed.) and NCTSN’s Child Welfare Trauma Training Toolkit. Currently the Director of the Forensic Interviewing Program at the Keller Center in San Mateo County, Miriam has conducted forensic interviews and provided program consultation there since 2003.

Join us for the first Karen J. Saywitz Legacy Award Lecture and CAPSAC Awards Ceremony. CAPSAC announced that one of Dr. Saywitz’s earliest and longest collaborators, Gail Goodman, Ph.D., at UC Davis, was the recipient of CAPSAC’s Karen J. Saywitz Legacy Award and discussed her latest research in her presentation titled, "Interviewing Children and Adults about Childhood Traumatic Touch". Congratulations to graduate student Lindsey Palmer of the University of Southern California, recipient of CAPSAC’s Paul Crissey Award for Outstanding Graduate Student Research- she presented a summary of her research, “A Population-Based Examination of Adolescent Suicide and Child Protective Service Involvement”. CAPSAC also announced that Sean Dugan, M.D. would present with the Neal Snyder Outstanding Service Award.

Gail S. Goodman is Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Davis. Her research concerns such topics as children’s and adults’ memory for childhood trauma, especially child abuse; developmental psychopathology; attachment and memory; forensic interviewing; and effects of legal involvement and foster care. She served as President of several divisions of the American Psychological Association (e.g., Developmental Psychology, American Psychology-Law Society) and consultant to the Children’s Advocacy Center, Sacramento’s Child Protective Services. She is internationally known for her research on victims and witnesses, which has been cited multiple times by the U.S. Supreme Court. Dr. Goodman has published widely and received national and international awards, and numerous federal and
private grants for her research.

Communication Technology is more important than ever before. Playing games online had already all but replaced families playing cards or board games, but now that online education and tele-commuting are the new normal, it is critical that families be proactive about ensuring everyone understands and practices safe behaviors online. In this presentation, you will learn the truth about online predators and specific strategies to engage children in creating a plan for online safety that they will follow even when they are not being directly supervised. You will also be introduced to The Joyful Child Foundation's Be Brave - Be Safe programs designed to empower young people with realistic knowledge and skills to recognize, avoid, and effectively respond to potential dangers.

Erin Runnion is the mother of Samantha Runnion and the Founding Director of The Joyful Child Foundation. Erin is dedicated to ensuring that Samantha’s tragic death will continue to be a catalyst to engage adults in our collective responsibility to protect our nation’s children. Honors include A Certificate of Valor from The Department of Justice, People Magazine’s 2004 Heroes Among Us Award, and commendations from the California State Assembly.

In this talk, Azim Khamisa calls for a new kind of leader — a satyagrahi leader — to follow in the footsteps of some of the world’s most inspiring role models. Building on Mahatma Gandhi’s practice of satyagraha, a method of using passive resistance to spark political and social change, satyagrahi leaders balance their ambition with their spirit and use their skills to benefit the larger community. To address society’s most daunting challenges, today’s leaders need competency in three areas: 1) to be brilliant in their professions 2) to work to create effective, viable, and affordable solutions to societal ills 3) have strong moral, ethical, and spiritual values.

This triad of competencies is critical to tackling the current degradation and divisiveness of society. It is Khamisa’s hope that the emerging and existing leaders will be inspired to emulate these competencies and help move us to a world that is inclusive, compassionate, and one that works for everyone.

During this webinar, nationally-recognized survivor-activist Amita Swadhin will share their journey of breaking silence, healing, and using survivors’ stories as a tool for collective healing and organizing to end rape culture. They will present their latest project, Mirror Memoirs, an oral history and leadership development pipeline for LGBTQI people of color who survived child sexual abuse, as an example of intersectional praxis, and will discuss how centering the most marginalized survivors can liberate everyone. They will also discuss the work to end rape culture as an intergenerational task, and what we can learn from the latest public dialogues about sexual violence and celebrities.

Presented by: Amita Swadhin, MPA

Most people that enter into the helping profession are called to do this work from a deep place of wanting to improve the lives of others. This type of work is often times undervalued in society and can come at a cost to oneself. This is particularly true during times of great inequality and trauma. Now more than ever, it is crucial that society’s helpers find ways to take care of themselves so that their inner light can shine even brighter for those in need. This webinar will take participants on a journey of reconnecting with their own needs so that they can strategize self-care practices that will lead away from burnout and toward a more sustained way of being a helping professional. Participants will leave the webinar feeling empowered and inspired.

Taquelia Washington is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and holds her Pupil Personal Services Credential. She is the founder of EmpowerMe! Services. Through this business, along with a team of subcontractors, she provides supervision to aspiring mental health professionals, teaches workshops designed to help those in helping professions provide more culturally inclusive and trauma informed services, facilitates courageous conversations as requested by a variety of organizations, and provides leadership coaching. Additionally, she offers consultation to help support the development of culturally inclusive services and systems of care. You can learn more about her work at: www.empowermeservices.com

Males who have experienced trauma have distinct areas of their lives that are impacted. This training will explore what trauma looks like for males and how systems can unintentionally impact the perpetuation of trauma. The effects of trauma on children will be outlined paying particular attention to multicultural considerations of abuse. Participants will discuss identifying appropriate assessment techniques and the implementation self-care strategies. This course is designed for service providers working with male survivors or trauma particularly mental health professionals working with incarcerated youth and men, advocates, and correctional officers.

Gimel Rogers, Psy.D. is a licensed psychologist with over 10 years of professional speaking and training experience. She currently is the Training Director of the Professional Clinical and Forensic Services department at the Institute on Violence, Abuse, and Trauma (IVAT). She earned her doctorate from Pepperdine University and has provided trauma focused care with clients from the Children of the Night Program, the Ventura Youth Correctional Facility, FCI Terminal Island, and community programs serving survivors of intimate partner violence. She utilizes an array of therapeutic interventions with an emphasis on cognitive behavioral therapy. Dr. Rogers presently works with survivors who are recovering from emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. Additionally, she assists clients who are involved in criminal, family, and civil cases involving a broad range of forensic issues. Having published in the areas of culture, coping, spirituality, and trauma, she is an adjunct professor at Pepperdine University and Point Loma Nazarene University. Her inaugural book is the “21-Day Relationship Healing Devotional and Journal” a poetry-based devotional that promotes restoration through reflection. Dr. Rogers dedicates time and energy to individuals across the world through her organization Fearless Individuals Resistant to Entrapment (F.I.R.E.) and its brand One Temple Fitness.

This training was livestreamed on April 4, 2018 and is about 5 hours long.

This four-part webinar series “Managing the Complexities of a Child Sex Abuse Case: From Arrest To Prosecution” focuses on how Detectives and Prosecutors can work together to manage the unique challenges this type of case presents.

Eligibility: Law Enforcement and members of a multi-disciplinary interview team.

Part 1: Initial Investigation and Prosecution - This webinar was recorded on November 13, 2015.

This session focused on the initial stages of investigation and prosecution. It includes information on first responders and special considerations for investigators, interviewing juvenile victims, and general CPS. considerations. It also addresses updated information on charging options and challenges, statute of limitations, and using the evidence code/case law in investigation.

Part 2: Preparation for Preliminary Hearing - This webinar was recorded on December 9, 2015.

This session will focus on Detective follow up and District Attorney preparation for the preliminary hearing. It will also focus on Detective investigation techniques including pretext phone calls, suspect interviews and use of ruses during an interview. Probable case arrest, arrest warrants and search warrants will also be covered. We will also review District Attorney charging decisions.

Part 3: Trial Prep and Sentencing - This webinar was recorded on March 20, 2016.

This session will focus exclusively on trial preparation and sentencing. We will focus on victim preparation and well as the need for cooperation and preparation between the District Attorney and the Detective. We will also look at sentencing guidelines and what to expect from the Sentencing phase.

Part 4: In-Depth Case Review - This webinar was recorded on April 28, 2016.

This session will bring the previous sessions together by focusing exclusively on in-depth case reviews. It will include successes, failures, and lessons learned.

Jennifer Ow is the Deputy District Attorney in Placer County and Ron Harrison is a Sergeant for the Daly City Police Department

This interactive webinar examines Munchausen by Proxy, known by many names including Medical Child Abuse. This disorder has come under scrutiny in recent years, but it is important that service providers recognize the warning signs. Beatrice Yorker is a nationally known expert on MBP/MCA, and she will review the national practice and management guidelines. She will answer all your questions and provide guidance for handling confusing or difficult cases.

Beatrice Yorker, JD, RN, MS, FAAN is a Professor of Nursing, Criminal Justice, and Criminalistics at California State University, Los Angeles. She is a child psychiatric nurse and an attorney who has published on Munchausen by Proxy child abuse.

Strength-based practice is an emerging approach to guiding at-risk children, youth, and families that is exceptionally positive and inspiring. Its focus is on strength-building rather than flaw-fixing. It begins with the belief that every young person has or can develop strengths and utilize past successes to mitigate problem behavior and enhance functioning. This 1.5 hour webinar will highlight some of the key principles and techniques of this transforming modality. Areas covered include: what is strength-based practice & the power of a positive attitude & culture; the effects of trauma and positive emotions on the brain; mindset bolstering, strength-based communication principles and techniques - including re-framing, positive-predicting and inspirational metaphors; self-esteem building & activities for at-risk children and youth; and a host of creative cognitive behavioral strategies.

Charlie Appelstein, M.S.W. is a nationally prominent youth care specialist and author whose primary focus is on teaching positive, strength-based theories and techniques to professionals who guide at-risk children and youth. President of Appelstein Training Resources, LLC, Charlie trains and consults throughout the United States as well as internationally, with treatment facilities, foster care and adoption agencies, parent groups, schools, and juvenile justice programs. He has authored three youth care books that are widely used within the field, including No Such Thing as a Bad Kid: Understanding and Responding to Kids with Emotional & Behavioral Challenges Using a Positive, Strength-Based Approach. Charlie lives in southern New Hampshire with his wife and daughter. Charlie's strength-based approach delivers a message of hope and possibility to our most vulnerable youth and those who shape and influence their lives.

Many parents wonder what to teach their children about their bodies, but don’t know how and when it is appropriate. Often, parents are so uncomfortable speaking to children about their bodies, sexuality, and sexual abuse, they end up not talking to them about it at all. It is important that parents feel comfortable with the topic before having a conversation with their kids. During this webinar you will learn some of the ways to help educate your children about their bodies, boundaries, and how to keep them safe from child sexual abuse.

Monica Borunda is a bilingual Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, adjunct faculty at California State University Los Angeles, and a Child Forensic Interview Specialist and Trainer, and Parent Educator. She has been an invited speaker at conferences and workshops. In addition, Monica sees children, adults, and families in private practice in the city of Pasadena. Monica is currently serving on the Board of the California Professional Society on the Abuse of Children.

Presented by the Greater Bay Area Child Abuse Prevention Council Coalition and Child Parent Institute.

During times of inordinate stress, it is challenging, but extremely beneficial, for parents to remain positive and respond to their kids with respect and compassion. Parenting Under Pressure, presented by Charlie Appelstein, highlights the benefits of using a positive, strength-based parenting approach.
This free webinar outlines proven strategies for helping parents deal with the difficult feelings they are experiencing and teaches parents how to respond instead of reacting when tensions are high.

Youth care specialist Charlie Appelstein, M.S.W., President of Appelstein Training Resources, LLC (ATR) provides expert strength-based training, consultation, publications, CDs, and DVDs for individuals and groups who work with children and youth experiencing emotional and behavioral challenges. Described as “the best youth care trainer in America” by Robert Lieberman, former president of the American Association of Children’s Residential Centers, Charlie has devoted his entire adult career to helping children and youth struggling with emotional and behavioral challenges and those who guide them. An engaging, informative, and humorous speaker, Charlie is the author of three critically acclaimed books on youth care and the creator of two innovative CDs that helps kids and parents make better choices and lead happier lives. Charlie’s strength-based approach delivers a message of hope and possibility to our most vulnerable youth and those who shape and influence their lives.

Presenterd by Charlie Appelstein

Youth care specialist Charlie Appelstein, M.S.W., President of Appelstein Training Resources, LLC (ATR) provides expert strength-based training, consultation, publications, CDs, and DVDs for individuals and groups who work with children and youth experiencing emotional and behavioral challenges. Described as “the best youth care trainer in America” by Robert Lieberman, former president of the American Association of Children’s Residential Centers, Charlie has devoted his entire adult career to helping children and youth struggling with emotional and behavioral challenges and those who guide them. An engaging, informative, and humorous speaker, Charlie is the author of three critically acclaimed books on youth care and the creator of two innovative CDs that helps kids and parents make better choices and lead happier lives. Charlie’s strength-based approach delivers a message of hope and possibility to our most vulnerable youth and those who shape and influence their lives.

Forensic interviewers, mental health professionals and other multi-disciplinary team members provide a number of valuable services, and the focus is often on determining the facts of the case or improving a client’s well-being. Sometimes professionals will be asked to serve as expert witnesses in court, and playa quite different role. Focusing on child sexual abuse accommodation testimony as a model, this training will give attendees an understanding of the legal issues, the relevant research, and the practical challenges of testifying as an expert. Although this training is not intended to ensure that a team member will be qualified as an expert witness, it will help them navigate the legal process as a witness and prepare them for situations when expert witness testimony is requested.

Thomas D. Lyon, J.D., Ph.D. is the Judge Edward J. and Ruey L. Guirado Chair in Law and Psychology at the University of Southern California. His work has focused on maximizing children’s productivity as witnesses while minimizing error. He is the Past-President of the American Psychological Association’s Section on Child Maltreatment and a former member of the Board of Directors of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children. His work has been supported by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the United States Department of Justice.

Blake D. Carmichael, Ph.D. is a Clinical Psychologist, Evaluation Program Manager, and Voluntary Clinical Faculty in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of California Davis Children’s Hospital, CAARE Center. For the past 20 years, he has provided expert witness testimony and consultation regarding child sexual abuse disclosure, the effects of trauma on children, and related topics. He has provided direct mental health and evaluation services to several hundred maltreated children and their families. He is nationally certified as a Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy therapist. He also supervises and trains clinical staff, doctoral interns, and post-doctoral fellows in the CAARE Center’s APA accredited training program.

Join the Greater Bay Area Child Abuse Prevention Council Coalition for an online training event with Dr. Kristen Slack on the importance of providing concrete support for families to address child maltreatment. Drawing on her research in Wisconsin and across the country, she will review the role of the U.S. Social Welfare Safety Net in preventing abuse and neglect, and strategies for promoting protective factors using a strength-based and ecologically-focused lens.

Dr. Kristen S Slack conducts research in Wisconsin and nationally on the roles of poverty and economic hardship in the etiology of child maltreatment. She also studies the role of the U.S. social welfare safety net in preventing child maltreatment, and strategies to improve the identification of risk and protective factors related to child neglect. Her research has been funded by the National Institute of Health, the Administration for Children and Families, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dr. Slack is a long-time consultant to the Wisconsin Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Board and the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families. She has served as the P.I. for the State of Wisconsin’s Child Welfare Professional Development System, the Director of the School of Social Work, an expert consultant on the National Study of Child and Adolescent Well-being, and as the Founder of Prof2Prof. Professor Slack earned her A.M. in Social Work and her Ph.D. in Social Welfare from the University of Chicago.

Join us for an inspiring presentation given by Erin Runnion, about what we can do to better protect children during and beyond the challenges posed by COVID-19.

Erin Runnion is a national advocate for children and the Director of The Joyful Child Foundation, in memory of her daughter, Samantha Runnion, who was abducted and murdered days before her sixth birthday in July 2002.  Although inspired by a tragedy, Erin shares her unique perspective about the power of hope, resiliency, and joy to address the spectrum  and impact of childhood trauma.

The most recent murders of Black and Brown people across the United States continues to highlight the various ways in which racism creates trauma responses for people living in this country. While racism is not a new construct, what is new is conceptualizing the impact of racism as a form of trauma. It is important that providers committed to working with victims of crime understand not only what racial trauma means but also learn the ways in which its symptomology may show up both within themselves and those they serve. Depending on the skin that one lives in, the ways in which one is impacted by racism is vastly different. As a result, this training will also provide perspective of how different racial groups are impacted. Special focus will be given to how one may be able to guide their own healing and promote resiliency both within themselves and those they serve. The week following this webinar, there will be limited space available for those interested in going deeper in their learning to participate in racial affinity-based exploration.

Taquelia Washington, LCSW holds a pupil services credential and has extensive experience working in community mental health, specializing in providing services in the school systems. She has close to 20 years of experience working in the field, with over 10 of those years spent working at a continuation school, provoding mental health related services to "at risk" and "hard to engage" youth while also developing systems of care to help best support them. In addition, she has direct experience providing intensive therapeutic services to youth and their families in outpatient clinic settings. She utilizes an integrative approach in her clinical practice and strongly believes in the importance of building relationships and utilizing a culturally inclusive and trauma-informed lens.

Jo Brownson is a racial justice educator and facilitator based in the Bay Area. She has worked in the field of education and racial justice for over a decade teaching in K-12 classrooms and providing transformational coaching and facilitation in the nonprofit sector. As a white, queer, cisgender woman, her area of practice is in supporting individuals and organizations to understand how whiteness is operating inside their context, how it intersects with other systems of oppression, and what they can do to mitigate and transform its impacts.

Amelia Ortega, LCSW, currently works as a somatic psychotherapist, organizational consultant and professor of Social Work practice. As a mixed Chicanx identified clinician, Amelia’s work focuses on healing from racial trauma and gender based violence. Amelia specializes in trauma focused therapies and trauma informed classroom pedagogies through their role as Faculty at the Columbia University School of Social Work and as an organizational consultant. Specifically Amelia supports and leads space for other mixed/multi-racial identified individuals and families to address the impacts of racism on selfhood and connection to un-doing systems of oppression. Amelia’s clinical and teaching practice engages healing through use of somatic experiencing, EMDR and their training in the Trauma Conscious Yoga Method. In 2019, Amelia was named by Negocios Now as one of “NYC’s 40 Latinos under 40” for their trauma therapy work with LGBTQ Latinx community.

One of the main elements of a trauma-informed system is that system has strategies and procedures in place to recognize a child’s trauma history, including child sexual abuse and any effects of that trauma, refer children who screen positive for trauma responses for a more thorough trauma assessment, have mental health partners available and trained to conduct a trauma-informed assessment, and that assessment information is used to direct the child to the most appropriate treatment. The presenter will offer a broad overview of screening, assessment, and treatment practices for children who have experienced traumatic events, including sexual abuse. The presenter will then provide the audience members with detailed descriptions of trauma screening, assessment and treatment practices, highlight tools that currently exist to facilitate effective trauma screening and assessment in cases of sexual abuse, and provide strategies that child welfare and mental health agencies can use to improve their screening and assessment practices for sexual abuse. Participants will be able to: identify tools that exist to help screen children for trauma; describe the components of a trauma-informed mental health assessment; and identify treatment practices that are effective in treating children with trauma symptoms.

Lisa Conradi, PsyD. is a Psychologist and Project Manager with the Chadwick Center for Children and Families at Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego.

“Rediscovering the Beauty Within” is an autobiographical story about Sasha Joseph Neulingerʼs journey surviving multigenerational child sexual abuse. In this presentation, Sasha utilizes photos, childhood drawings, home video and archival news footage as immersive aids to invite the audience on his journey from child victim to adult survivor. Covering the abuse, family dynamics, childhood therapy, the prosecution process, and how he got to where he currently is today, “Rediscovering the Beauty Within” is as educational as it is inspirational.

Sasha Joseph Neulinger is the Founder and President of Voice For The Kids, and Co-founder and Head of Production at Step 1 Films. Sasha travels nationally as a public speaker, advocating for reforms in child advocacy and child abuse prevention. In 2015, Sasha presented at TEDxBozeman - his TED Talk, "Trauma Is Irreversible. How It Shapes Us Is Our Choice," has been viewed over a quarter of a million times to date, reaching survivors internationally. Sasha was Keynote Speaker at the 28th Annual Crimes Against Children Conference where he spoke to over 4,200 participants, representing all 50 states and 28 other nations in the fight against child abuse. In June 2018, Sasha had the honor of being the opening Plenary Speaker at the 2018 National Children’s Alliance Leadership Conference in Washington, DC. In April 2019, his autobiographical, feature length documentary, “REWIND,” had its world premiere at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival where it received a special Jury Mention. REWIND had its US Television Premiere on May 11, as part of PBS’ independent Lens Lineup, where the film reached 280 million households nationwide. REWIND was nominated for a 2020 Critics Choice Award for Best First Feature Documentary and is now streaming on Amazon Prime.

Dr. Vilma Reyes will explore ways to apply trauma-informed, relationship-based interventions, and tap into resilience to promote healing and relational repair in families.  

Strengthening resilience affects every domain in children's development, family relationships, and health outcomes.  Dr. Reyes will present real tools to help families recover from trauma, forced family separation, institutional racism, and toxic fear in support of the well-being of young children and their families.

Dr. Vilma Reyes is an Assistant Clinical Professor at the University of California, San Francisco in the Child Trauma Research Program. Since 2009, she has been providing Child-Parent Psychotherapy (CPP) services, training, clinical supervision, consultation and coordinating community-based mental health outreach services and evaluation. She is a national trainer in CPP and has co-authored articles and chapters on CPP theory and application.

Dr. Reyes developed a CPP-based group intervention, Building Bridges, which has been applied and researched in several community settings including 7 family shelters across 3 counties in the Bay Area, CA. This intervention was adapted to the displaced community in Bogota, Colombia and the Afro-Colombian community in Tumaco, Colombia. This adaptation, Semillas de Apego, is being researched in two randomized controlled studies with a sample size of over 1,200 families. Dr. Reyes has presented this research at national and international conferences, including the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies.

In addition to her Doctorate degree in Clinical Psychology, Dr. Reyes has also earned a Master of Arts in Education and has experience offering consultation, supervision and training in trauma informed systems in school-based settings. Dr. Reyes is an immigrant from Peru and is devoted to increasing access to trauma informed services for Latinx immigrant families. She has done several lectures in national conferences on the intersection of immigration and trauma; with a focus on asylum seekers and refugees exposed to armed conflict, systemic oppression and racism.

The session will include discussion of strategies for effective response to victims with a wide range of disabilities.  There will be 30 minutes of content followed by 30 minutes for participants to ask questions directly to the trainer on topics including: cases that presented unique dynamics, overcoming barriers experienced by people with disabilities, getting your team educated on the nuances specific to this population, communication tips for working with crime victims with disabilities, and any obstacles you encounter in your work with clients with disabilities. 

Leanne Mull, MHA is a national speaker and has been working to prevent abuse and neglect of people with disabilities for eighteen years. As an agency investigator in Illinois, she taught staff members working with people with disabilities how to recognize, report, and prevent abuse and neglect. Additionally, Leanne served as a Team Coordinator for the Illinois Imagines Project coordinating response to victims with disabilities between rape crisis centers, agencies serving people with disabilities, and law enforcement. Currently she serves as the Chair of the Responding with Victims with Disabilities Committee for the Illinois Family Violence Coordinating Council, a project of the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority the entity responsible for the creation and revision of protocols for Law Enforcement and Prosecutors for Responding to victims with disabilities and older adults.

Join us for a conversation with national expert Nancy V. Gifford on the topic of “sexting” and our youth. “Sexting” is commonly defined as youth taking sexually explicit photos or videos of themselves or others in their peer group and sending those photos or messages via cell phones or computers to their peers. We’ll discuss prevalence, cases, response, and national trends. It is 1hour 3minutes long. We apologize for all of the phone beeps as participants came in and out of the webinar room.

Nancy V. Gifford is a consultant with the Family Online Safety Institute, an international, non-profit membership organization committed to developing a safer Internet. In addition, Ms. Gifford is special counsel to the Internet Keep Safe Coalition, a broad partnership of governors and/or first spouses, attorneys general, public health and educational professionals, law enforcement and industry leaders working together for the health and safety of youth online.

Children, youth, and adults rarely encounter mental health professionals who proactively assess and integrate client sexual health within all stages of trauma treatment. Prioritization of sexual safety, while essential to current best practices for trauma treatment, too often fails to address client sexual health. Unfortunately, few trauma treatment professionals possess the comfort, willingness, and ability necessary for a sexual health assessment and clinical case formulation. This workshop will prepare attendees for initiating and responding to sexual health conversations with children, youth, parents, and colleagues.

Al Killen-Harvey has worked at the Chadwick Center for Children and Families at Rady Children’s Hospital for over 26 years. He served as a practicing clinician and then a Clinical Improvement Coordinator of mental health services and now serves as a trainer and technical advisor under several grants designed to improve Trauma Informed Care in Child Welfare and Mental Health systems across the state of California. A Licensed Clinical Social Worker, he has worked for many decades in the field of trauma treatment.

Douglas Braun-Harvey is a sexual health author, trainer, and psychotherapist who bridges sexual and mental health and facilitates organizational change. In 2013 Doug Braun-Harvey and Al Killen-Harvey co-founded The Harvey Institute, an international education, training, consulting, and supervision service whose mission is to improve health care through integration of sexual health. He teaches and trains nationally and internationally linking sexual health principles within drug and alcohol treatment, group psychotherapy, HIV prevention and treatment, and child maltreatment.

This is an introductory training for professionals employed by governmental agencies or nonprofit agencies in the fields of social work, children's advocacy, therapy or otherwise who work directly with male victims in California.

Society is still in denial that males can be victims of sexual assault. Ignorance and minimization of the problem impede victims’ opportunities for rescue and for recovery. This training will provide participants with a comprehensive overview of the male victim including their reluctance to disclose, the perpetrators who victimize them, the challenges they face in seeking help and how to support them in their recovery. 

Julie Brand holds a Master’s degree in Counseling and enjoyed a distinguished 25-year career as a school counselor. She uses her unique perspective as both counselor and survivor, to speak and to write about females who sexually abuse children. Since founding CAPER Consulting (Child Abuse Prevention, Education and Recovery) in 2006, she has educated and empowered audiences across the United States with her dynamic programs on mother-daughter sexual abuse, female offenders in positions of trust, male survivors and the opportunities for recovery from childhood trauma. She authored A Mother’s Touch: Surviving Mother-Daughter Sexual Abuse(2007), participated in a Canadian documentary on maternal incest (2013) and has testified as an expert witness on mother-daughter sexual abuse in district court (2017).

SEEDS Educational Services, Inc., will present a workshop exploring the facts regarding the prevalence of disabilities regarding social-sexual education, abuse and common myths associated with disabilities including how professionals can combat these practices with simple tools and understanding. We will also explore the lack of social-sexual education resources to an undeserved population of people with developmental disabilities and easy social-sexual materials that can help combat the ever-growing statistics. Resources will be made available to preview and discuss. This workshop is intended for professionals, psychologists, social workers, agencies that serve people with developmental disabilities.

Stacy Everson, R.N., BSN, is a registered nurse and is nationally certified in Family Life Education (CFLE) and Developmental Disabilities (DDNA).  She has been working in the San Diego area since 1987 teaching social-sexual education, assertiveness, abuse awareness/prevention, and developmental disability syndromes to people with developmental disabilities and a variety of service providing agencies, such as Adult and Child Protective Services.  Stacy serves as an expert witness in court cases, and is an international speaker on the topics of sexuality and abuse of people with developmental disabilities.

This training was livestreamed on August 7, 2018 and is about 4 hours long.

This video is to strengthen one's understanding of their own biases as individuals and professionals when working with victims of crime.

Sayida Peprah earned a BA in Psychology from Spelman College and a Psy.D in Clinical Psychology with a Multicultural Specialization, from the California School of Professional Psychology- Alliant International University.  Dr. Peprah has a multi-faced career as a clinician, educator and consultant.   She is a Deputy Chief Psychologist for the U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons providing and supervising mental health services for incarcerated men and women, at the federal prison complex in Victorville, CA. She is also an Associate Professor of Psychology for the University of Phoenix, for the past 8 years, facilitating courses in Cultural and Correctional Psychology. As a consultant, Dr. Peprah regularly offers cultural competency, mental health and maternal mental health trainings and workshops for non-profit, government and community agencies. In 2014, she was a featured speaker at the United Nations 65th NGO conference, on the topic of Mental Health in the US. Dr. Peprah is dedicated to contributing her expertise, both in the field, as a clinician, and as an educator and consultant in academic, non-profit, government and corporate sectors. 

This webinar recording is intended for professionals working with multidisciplinary teams. It provides an overview of current issues in Cyber Crime and will focus on answering questions submitted by attendees in advance. It includes a discussion of the unique dynamics of online victimization of children, information on internet predators, and technology dangers such as sexting, malware, sextortion, and human trafficking. Case study examples will be provided. It is intended for professionals working with multi-disciplinary teams on issues related to child abuse.

Tracy Webb is the Counsel for Child Abuse Policy and Cyber Crime Prosecution in the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office. She is a career prosecutor who has spent the majority of her career prosecuting family violence and child abuse cases. Tracy is currently an active member of the Federal Internet Crimes against Children (ICAC) Task Force and co-chair of the Los Angeles County Cyber Crime Task Force. She is a frequent speaker locally and nationally in the area of technology facilitated crimes, child abuse and exploitation.

This webinar as best suited for professionals who are working with youth who are either sexually active, looking to become sexually active and also are either LGBTQ or sharing that they are unsure of their sexual orientation and or experiences they are having with different partners. This webinar will go over the LGBTQIAA terms, meanings and also the fluidity of ones sexual identity and self-identity. Finally, participants will leave the webinar with some statistics, information and tips on how they can have these uncomfortable talks in a way that isn't so bad.

Jenny Aguilar, MSW was born and raised in New York. During High School she obtained a job at Planned Parenthood and found a passion in talking with youth about Sexual Health, Education and Prevention. While in New York she had the opportunity to do research with commercial sex workers; looking at the rehabilitation and recidivism of sex workers, and the hierarchy within sex workers. Once she moved to California she began volunteering at a Needle Exchange in Salinas, CA; where she learned the crucial importance of Harm Reduction and the ways to address safer drug use and safer sex with her local community. After obtaining her Bachelors and Masters Degree at California State University Monterey Bay (Go Otters!!) she relocated to Sacramento and obtained a job with Sacramento County Child Protective Services in their Permanency Department. Jenny worked as a permanency social worker; in the CSEC unit for about 2 ½ years; a Forensic Interview Specialist for one year and is now the ILP Social Worker for the County. Jenny remains passionate and active in harm reduction and believing in meeting all parties “where they are at.”

There are many benefits of working in a multidisciplinary team. However, ethical challenges can result from conflicting roles and values. This workshop will examine these specific ethical issues as they relate to members of multidisciplinary teams. This webinar will examine how every decision made reflects not only the ethical principles of each team member individually, but also each team member’s sensitivity and commitment to the team concept. It will provide information on: recognizing the essential steps for ethical problem solving in a team setting; how to identify and analyze ethical issues, client rights and confidentiality related to family violence issues; considering privacy in a multidisciplinary setting; how to problem solve when team members are not “on the same page”; how clients’ rights are uniquely related to the multidisciplinary team approach. Mr. Powers presents a decision making model outlining useful steps for team members to follow, allowing a consistent approach for teams facing ethical dilemmas.

Dan Powers, LCSW is a clinical social worker and currently serves as Senior Vice President and Clinical Director for Children’s Advocacy Center of Collin County in Plano, Texas. Dan has made numerous presentations at major national and regional conferences on the sexual victimization of children, sex offenders, and the multidisciplinary response to child abuse. He is best known for his spirited presentations on wellness and survival for child abuse professionals. He is a member of the Texas Children’s Justice Act Task Force.

Question and Answer Session with Child and Family Services of Contra Costa County

Cristina Hickey - Community Education Coordinator and Volunteer Coordinator, Child Abuse Prevention Council of Contra Costa County
Cristina has been the Community Education Coordinator for the Council since 2006. She has conducted in-person Mandated Reporter Trainings throughout Contra Costa County reaching school district employees, social workers, mental health professionals, law enforcement, child care facilities among others. She also conducts multi-cultural trainings for parents and caretakers concerning “what is and what is not,“ considered child abuse and strategies for prevention.

Tiffany Miller, MSW - Social Work Supervisor II, Screening Unit and After Hours Emergency Response Program, Children and Family Services, Contra Costa County
Tiffany has been with Contra Costa County for 30 years and has had the pleasure of working as a Social Worker and a Social Work Supervisor within Children and Family services for the last 15 years. Prior to working for Children and Family Services, she had worked as a social worker in the Welfare to Work Bureau, Aging and Adult Services Bureau and the General Assistance Program, all of which provided the opportunity to work with these various populations throughout the county. For Children and Family Services, Tiffany has had experience working in Continuing Services, and the After Hours Emergency Response Program. In 2014, she began supervising the Child Abuse Reporting Hotline, also known as the Screening Unit, as well as the After Hours Emergency Response Program. The After Hours Program is a blend of the child abuse reporting hotline and emergency response investigation units and operates during the week from 5pm-8am and 24 hours on weekends and holidays.

Ariel Richards, MSW PPSC - Social Worker III, Screening Unit and After Hours Emergency Response Program, Children and Family Services, Contra Costa County
Since the start of her career, 3 years ago, Ariel has been working in the Screening Unit receiving reports of suspected child abuse. She is also an After Hours worker; a 24-hour hotline, and after-hours program, which receives and investigates reports of suspected child abuse after 5pm-8am on weekdays and on the weekends. She has interned and shadowed with multiple units in Children and Family Services such as Emergency Response and Continuing Services. Ariel interned wit Mt. Diablo Unified School District and understands the practice and purpose of SST’s IEP, 504 plan and the McKinney Vento Act.

The trauma field has always acknowledged heightened rates of abuse within the special needs community — however, despite the frequency of occurrence, this is one of the least served populations. Limited abuse reporting, atypical disclosure styles, and lack of education for providers has contributed to this community remaining left out of services.

The process of providing more support to these families begins with understanding how the abuse experience differs from what is commonly seen in this field. This webinar will focus on highlighting those differences in the following areas: grooming behavior, conditioning the victim and family, investigation considerations, and treatment approaches.

Dr. McDonald’s research and professional practice is entirely rooted in understanding and providing effective prevention and intervention strategies for youth who've experienced trauma. She has spent the last 15 years honing her skills in mental and behavioral health and has had the opportunity to share her skills across the United States and internationally.

Courtney Palm is a licensed Marriage and Family therapist specializing in child development and trauma as it relates to victims with special needs. Her professional work with the University of Denver’s Fisher Early Learning Center, Children’s Hospital Colorado, and Early Intervention Colorado included evaluation, treatment, and professional education around intervention with children with special needs. Courtney also worked with the Denver Children’s Advocacy Center and Blue Sky Bridge conducting trauma counseling and forensic interviews for victims of crime. Courtney co-authored an article with Dr. Amber McDonald for the APSCAC journal’s best practices issue on conducting forensic interviews with children with special needs.

This course will provide treatment considerations when working with high risk populations both on parole and in correctional facilities. It will amplify the unique challenges correctional settings place on transgender individuals seeking clinical support. Participants will be given examples of group curriculum that is designed to provide transgender inmates with a therapeutic place to explore gender identity concerns and achieve long-term comfort in gender identity expression, while maximizing overall well- being. The training will begin with a review of gender identity in a culture that lacks acceptance. It will then provide an introduction to prison culture. Discussion will focus on treatment considerations when working with transgender inmates who are victimized, specifically trans- women inmates housed in a male institution.

Sonia Bahro, Ph.D. is the Chief Psychologist at Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility (RJDCF), an institution within the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR).  Previously, Dr. Bahro was the Senior Psychologist and Supervisor for the Enhanced Outpatient Treatment Center at RJDCF, which houses level IV inmate-patients with sensitive needs (i.e., history of sexual offenses, inmate-patients who identify as transgender, those who have dropped out of gangs, etc.).  She has worked at RJDCF for over 10 years, and prior to that she worked with incarcerated youth for the Juvenile Forensics Department for the County of San Diego.  Dr. Bahro has a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology with an emphasis in forensics.  She is passionate about working with marginalized communities to ensure equality, especially inmate patients who are transgender.

This webinar was recorded on June 4, 2018 and is about 5 hours and 30 minutes long.

This is an introductory training for professionals employed by governmental agencies or nonprofit agencies in the fields of social work, children's advocacy, therapy or otherwise who work directly with foster youth victims in California.

Foster youth have unique mental and behavioral health needs.  From their various placements, transitions between families and homes, and “aging out” of the foster care system, the needs of these youth require professionals to have a wide knowledge base.  This basic training is designed to share information on how to understand and better serve this population and will include practical and effective strategies that can be used immediately.

Teresa DeCrescenzo, LCSW is a much sought after keynote and plenary speaker in the domains of social policy, especially policy as regards LGBTQ mental health issues, LGBTQ issues, substance misuse and addiction, and foster care. She has conducted hundreds of staff and administrative staff trainings across the country and locally to a variety of disciplines including trained clinicians, MFTs, psychologists, social workers, probation and sworn personnel. For at least a decade, DeCrescenzo has trained all foster parents in Los Angeles County and at most statewide foster parent conferences on working with LGBTQ children and youth. She has been acknowledged for her impact on national mental health policy by the National Association of Social Workers in 2012.

This session will offer participants a window into the trauma impacts of having an incarcerated parent, as well as explore recommended strategies for those working with foster children to mitigate these impacts. After reviewing the framework of trauma types, specific traumas experienced by foster youth, with an incarcerated parent(s), will be reviewed. Participants will be given strategies for working with foster children and how to support the adults who are caring for them. A part of the training will focus on vicarious trauma to help service providers and foster parents identify self-care techniques. This workshop is intended for professionals and paraprofessionals from the following disciplines: mental health, social services, non-profit, and those who provide services to foster youth and families.

Sayida Peprah earned a BA in Psychology from Spelman College and a Psy.D in Clinical Psychology with a Multicultural Specialization, from the California School of Professional Psychology- Alliant International University.  Dr. Peprah has a multi-faced career as a clinician, educator and consultant.   She is a Deputy Chief Psychologist for the U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons providing and supervising mental health services for incarcerated men and women, at the federal prison complex in Victorville, CA. She is also an Associate Professor of Psychology for the University of Phoenix, for the past 8 years, facilitating courses in Cultural and Correctional Psychology. As a consultant, Dr. Peprah regularly offers cultural competency, mental health and maternal mental health trainings and workshops for non-profit, government and community agencies. In 2014, she was a featured speaker at the United Nations 65th NGO conference, on the topic of Mental Health in the US. Dr. Peprah is dedicated to contributing her expertise, both in the field, as a clinician, and as an educator and consultant in academic, non-profit, government and corporate sectors. 

This training was livestreamed on July 12, 2018 and is about 3 hours long.

Raising kids with emotional and behavioral challenges often elicits difficult feelings that can compromise a caregiver's performance. This motivational presentation examines the major triggers and provides strategies for self-management that keeps enthusiasm alive. Focal points include: how to respond instead of react after personalizing difficult encounters/situations (i.e., how to manage self-esteem injuries), the need to check personal baggage at the door, the pivotal role of support and how to manage when its lacking, and a new, uplifting definition for success in guiding kids at risk.

Youth care specialist Charlie Appelstein, M.S.W., President of Appelstein Training Resources, LLC (ATR) provides expert strength-based training, consultation, publications, CDs, and DVDs for individuals and groups who work with children and youth experiencing emotional and behavioral challenges. Described as “the best youth care trainer in America” by Robert Lieberman, former president of the American Association of Children’s Residential Centers, Charlie has devoted his entire adult career to helping children and youth struggling with emotional and behavioral challenges and those who guide them. An engaging, informative, and humorous speaker, Charlie is the author of three critically acclaimed books on youth care and the creator of two innovative CDs that helps kids and parents make better choices and lead happier lives. Charlie’s strength-based approach delivers a message of hope and possibility to our most vulnerable youth and those who shape and influence their lives.

In Part 3 of CATTA’s Statewide Learning Series on Historical Trauma, we will build on the knowledge gained in the previous parts of the series to identify specific strengths-based interventions to utilize while supporting racially-marginalized individuals who are experiencing trauma-related activation. This webinar will address provider focused strategies to reduce activation and is intended for service providers who may come in contact with those who have experienced trauma."

"Denise Graciela Copeland is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Wellness Provider at Indigenous Circle of Wellness. Denise has over 10 years of clinical experience utilizing strengths-based approaches in community mental health and community clinic settings. She has specific training in supporting and treating trauma in young children. Denise believes in the importance of relationships, skill building, and mindfulness to promote healing.

Part 1: The term complex trauma describes both children's exposure to multiple traumatic events, often of an invasive, interpersonal nature, and the wide-ranging, long-term impact of this exposure. These events are severe and pervasive and can include abuse or profound neglect. They usually begin early in life and can disrupt many aspects of the child's development and the very formation of a self. Since they often occur in the context of the child's relationship with a caregiver they interfere with the child's ability to form a secure attachment bond. Many aspects of a child's healthy physical and mental development rely on this primary source of safety and stability. This webinar will provide an overview of complex trauma, its dynamics and how they might manifest during a child's interactions with the child welfare system, and how to create a trauma-informed system to better serve children and families.

Part 2 provides additional information about complex trauma, including content on cultural competency and more on how complex trauma might manifest during a child's interactions with the child welfare system.

Lisa Conradi, PsyD. is a Psychologist and Project Manager with the Chadwick Center for Children and Families at Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego.

This one-hour webinar will include information regarding working with individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities with a focus on risk factors, protective factors, family dynamics and barriers to services.  Following this webinar, professionals will have a better understanding of issues impacting individuals with disabilities and tools to overcome barriers that exist when communicating with and serving individuals with disabilities.  This webinar is intended for those who serve individuals in mental health, social work, law enforcement, non-profit organizations and school settings.

Staci Whitney, LMSW is the Senior Director for Modell Consulting Group, LLC. Since 2017, Ms. Whitney has been responsible for teaching and co-authoring multiple trainings on interviewing children and adults with disabilities. This included leading a project with national experts to develop an advanced Forensic Interviewing Protocol for interviewing individuals with disabilities (Project FIND). Ms. Whitney also conducts interviews for individuals with disabilities when referrals are made to Modell Consulting Group. Prior to her work with Modell Consulting Group, Ms. Whitney was the Senior Forensic Interviewer at Bivona Child Advocacy Center in Rochester, NY and was responsible for developing Bivona’s Forensic Interviewing Program. During that time, Ms. Whitney had extensive training and experience in the field of Forensic Interviewing including interviewing children and individuals with disabilities who are victims or witnesses of crime. She has developed and delivered numerous trainings to Multidisciplinary Team Members and other professionals on recognizing and responding to suspicions and reports of child abuse.

While many of the dynamics of child sexual abuse are shared between boys and girls, there are circumstances and aspects of sexual abuse experienced and endured by boys that tend to be gender specific. The reason for these differences is rooted largely in cultural and societal models of masculinity. While these models are continually evolving, they are still present in most cultures around the world. This webinar will address the unique circumstances encountered when boys are sexually victimized, either by males or females. The topics that will be covered in this webinar include addressing the specific issue of sexual abuse perpetrated by older females on younger boys and the mixed messages those boys often receive, and understanding how binary views of sexual orientation and a largely ""straight-dominated"" masculine culture impacts male survivors both in childhood and later in life.

Roger Canaff was born in New York City in 1967 and raised in Northern Virginia. He attended the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and then the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law. After a brief period in private practice, he took a job with the Alexandria, Virginia Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney in 1997. During his time there he prosecuted many different types of crimes, with a specialty in child abuse, child sexual assault, and juvenile crime. In 2003 he joined the staff of the National Center for the Prosecution of Child Abuse at the American Prosecutors Research Institute in Alexandria, Virginia as a Senior Attorney. In 2005 he returned to active prosecution in Bronx County, New York in that office’s Child Abuse and Sex Unit prosecuting both adult and child sexual assault crimes. In June 2007, he was hired by the New York State Office of the Attorney General as the Deputy Chief of the newly formed Sex Offender Management Unit. After serving for two years in this position, he was hired by the United States Army in June of 2009 as a Highly Qualified Expert with the Trial Counsel Assistance Program, US Army Legal Services Agency. As an Army civilian, he trained and consulted with military prosecutors specializing in Special Victims issues worldwide. He left federal service in February, 2012. He re-joined the National District Attorney’s Association as a Fellow in October of 2012 within the National Center for Prosecution of Child Abuse where he served until early 2015.

This course will provide an overview of current Federal and State laws pertaining to Missing College Student investigations.Overview of resources to include the California Dept.of Justice Missing & Unidentified Persons Section,the National Missing & Unidentified Persons System,and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.Case studies will be used to explain the need for laws and resources.

Megan Eschleman earned her M.S. in Forensic Science from the University of New Haven in 1999. She started with the California Department of Justice as a crime analyst in 2002, working as the lead analyst in the Sex Offender Assessment Unit until 2009 when she became the lead analyst in the Missing and Unidentified Persons Section (MUPS). In 2013, Megan received the Attorney General’s Award for Sustained Superior accomplishment. Megan took over the Supervisor roll in MUPS in 2014 and in 2017, she became the Manager over both MUPS and the Violent Crime Investigative Services Section. She now also oversees the Investigative Services and Systems Support Program. In 2019, she and the entire MUPS received the Attorney General’s Team Award for their work assisting in the identification of many of the Camp Fire victims.

Megan has instructed at multiple P.O.S.T. certified courses on Missing Persons Investigations, Unidentified Persons Investigations, Missing College Students, and Child Abductions. She is also a certified National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) instructor. Megan has been a member of the California Child Abduction Task Force since 2015, where she now serves as the Chair.