Dawn Wilson, MSW, Director, National Training Institute, has more than 30 years of experience in the child welfare, mental health and prevention fields, with expertise in program development and implementation. As Director of the federally funded National Adoption Competency Mental Health Training Initiative, Ms. Wilson oversees the development, pilot implementation, evaluation and national launch of two state-of-the-art web-based trainings for child welfare professionals and mental health clinicians to effectively address the mental health and complex challenges of children, adolescents and their families moving to permanency through adoption or guardianship.

Previously Ms. Wilson served as a Child Welfare Program Manager with Catawba County Social Services in North Carolina overseeing prevention, family reunification, independent living, and post-permanency services. She worked collaboratively with The Duke Endowment on the Child Well-Being Project to develop, implement and evaluate an evidence-informed post-permanency service, Success Coach, to provide case management and in-home therapeutic services to improve outcomes for adoptive, guardianship and reunified families following foster care. The Success Coach Service garnered national attention as a promising practice and was the recipient of the 2013 Youth Thrive Award from The Center for the Study of Social Policy; the Transforming Local Government 2014 Alliance for Innovation Award; and the Harvard Kennedy School Ashe Center 2015 Innovations in American Government Award. Prior to her work in child welfare, Ms. Wilson worked in the prevention and intervention fields focusing on domestic violence, sexual abuse, and teen pregnancy.

Ms. Wilson received her B.A. Degree in Psychology from Appalachian State University in North Carolina and her Master of Social Work degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.