The National Adoption Competency Mental Health Training Initiative (NTI) provides an understanding of the impact of abuse and neglect, separation, and multiple moves on attachment as well as knowledge and skills to support healing from loss and grief, the importance of accurate diagnosis, tools for assessment, and common goals for reparative work in clinical practice. Experts from across the country will share therapeutic strategies and evidence-informed modalities embedded in NTI that have been helpful to them in their work with families to support grieving children, help to mitigate losses, and rebuild and strengthen attachments.

Presenters: 

Lisa Maynard, LMSW, is an adoptive mother and a Licensed Social Worker with expertise in trauma, attachment, and adoption. She is an Implementation & Training Specialist with C.A.S.E. and maintains a private therapy practice in Upstate New York, integrating yoga philosophy, meditation and mindfulness in her work with clients.

Edna Davis-Brown, MPH, currently serves as an Implementation Specialist with NTI. Edna has more than 20 years of experience in program development, management and implementation, program monitoring and evaluation, group facilitation, and training/technical assistance development and delivery. She has supported and managed numerous federal and non-federal projects for healthcare management firms and national organizations in areas such as health equity and disparities, substance abuse prevention and treatment, HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention, and emergency mental health disaster response and coordination.

Staci Thomas, TBRI Practitioner, is dedicated to strengthening attachments between hurting children and the people caring for them. As Chief Program Officer, she oversees the services Chosen provides so that children with hard histories can heal. Staci has been a member of Chosen’s staff since 2013 and has over 22 years of child welfare experience. As a licensed civil engineer, her career began with treatment plant design. However, her passion for bringing healing to fostered and adopted children led to a career change after “accidentally” reading an academic journal article on how the brain is impacted by trauma. Her subsequent research, combined with lived experience as an adoptive parent, grew her desire to help design family environments that promote restoration. Her critical thinking and project management skills have enabled her to grow Chosen’s programs with innovation and evidence-informed modalities. Staci is committed to integrating best-in-class therapies and resources that impact the well-being of children. Staci has been married to her husband since 1994 and together they have raised four daughters adopted from four different countries. In her free time, she enjoys reading, running, and serving at her church.