Presenter |
Biographical Sketch |
| Swati Adarkar,
The Children's Institute
|
Swati Adarkar has a wealth of experience in research, communications, child advocacy and public policy. As Vice President of Research and Communications and then Executive Director for the Children's Institute, she helped shape its agenda and authored its first publication on early childhood development. Previously, she was the Policy Director for Children First and the Director of Community Affairs for Children Now. She has a master's degree in public administration from Harvard University. |
| Jan Aho, Pearl Buck Center Incorporated |
Jan Aho has 13 years of experience as Program Director at Pearl Buck Center's Families with Special Needs program. During that time she developed sensitivity to, and insight into, some of the challenges faced by families living with cognitive limitations. |
| Coleen Alexander, Parenting Now! / Birth To Three |
Coleen Alexander is a Parent Educator at Birth To Three and has facilitated
Incredible Infants, Wonderful Ones, and Parent/Child Adventures groups for 7
years. She is also a Lactation Educator and has taught Breastfeeding classes
for the WIC Program, Legacy Health System, and as an independent contractor
for 9 years. |
| Csilla Andor, Postpartum Support International, Oregon |
Csilla Andor, MSW, LCSW, is an Oregon state coordinator for Postpartum Support International (PSI), coordinator of WellMama Pregnancy & Postpartum Stress Support in Lane County, OR, and co-chair of the Lane County Perinatal Mood Disorders Consortium. She has a psychotherapy practice in Eugene and Corvallis with a specialty in perinatal mood disorders and perinatal losses. |
| Joanna Byford, Family Development Center |
Joanna Byford has worked for 10+ years with high-risk families as a direct service provider and trainer of other front line staff. She has a Bachelor's Degree in Family and Community Services and a Master's Degree in Early Intervention/Early Childhood Special Education. Her work with families includes agency and community based parent education classes, home visiting, and therapeutic early childhood education classes. |
Penny Church,
Parenting Now!/Birth To Three |
Penny Church, M.S. is a parent educator at Birth To Three and she facilitates groups in the First Three Years, Make Parenting A Pleasure and Young Parent Programs. Her graduate work was in Early Intervention through the University of Oregon where she continues to work as an Instructor and Educational Consultant. Penny is the mother of a fabulous eight year old, Zachary. |
| Amy Conroy, Community Services Council, Parenting Coordinator |
Amy, a native of Siskiyou County, has been the Siskiyou Parenting project coordinator since its conception. For the past two years Amy has played a key role in the success of the project. Amy utilizes her background as a Social Worker, Basketball Coach and community member when coordinating and facilitating the various parenting classes Siskiyou County offers. |
| Claire Davis, Parenting Now! / Birth To Three |
Claire Davis, M.S., has been supporting parents experiencing multiple challenges in Eugene, Oregon since 1990. She has worked with parents with cognitive limitations, led an interagency collaboration supporting teen pregnancy prevention strategies and services to teen parents, coordinated a program delivering health and social services to families in rural communities, and used multiple curricula in leading parenting groups. Currently, Claire is a parent educator at Birth To Three, where she teaches Incredible Infants and Make Parenting A Pleasure, answers the Parent HelpLine, and supports first-time parents through the Healthy Start program. |
| Pam Deardorff, The Teaching Research Institute |
Pam Deardorff, is an Assistant Fellow at the Teaching Research Institute of Western Oregon University and holds a Master's degree in Education. She has worked in the area of early childhood for nineteen years. Ms. Deardorff has been involved in staff development and training, local and national presentations and facilitating of diverse groups of people. She is currently the director of the Early Childhood and Training Department at TRI and is also directing two parenting education projects. |
Karen Derry,
Happy Camp Family Resource Center Executive Director |
Karen is a native of Siskiyou County has been teaching parenting classes for the project for nearly two years. As the Executive Director of the Happy Camp FRC, she has played a key role in bridging connection between the community organizations, service providers and families. In this small community of nearly 600 people Karen has been able to engage parents to attend the parenting classes and ask for more. Karen’s skills as a leader have helped this rural county get recognition at the state level through her involvement with the CA Family Resource Association. |
| Ana Maria Dudley, Parenting Now!/Birth To Three |
Ana Maria was born in Santa Ana, El Salvador. Her education was in business administration. In 1980 she moved to the United States and obtained citizenship in 1995. Before moving to Oregon she worked for Nordstrom in Customer Service and organized the Working Parents Support Group for staff. For the past 15 years Ana Maria has worked in the Healthy Start program and as a parent educator for the Family Resource Center. She also leads Crecer classes using Haga de la Paternidad un Placer curriculum. Parents describe her as passionate, charismatic, and sensitive. |
| Kay Endres-Reavis, LCSW, Good Parenting...Great Kids |
Kay Endres-Reavis, LCSW, has her focus in the areas of family and children for 20 years. Her experience began in Chicago area as an early childhood education teacher and program specialist in pre-schools. She was a director in early learning centers for total of 7 years. She completed my Masters in Social Work and presently is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. In the LCSW role she has had positions as a therapist and supervisor on adult and adolescent psychiatric facilities. She was part of a private practice team working with children and parents. Currently she has a private practice offering parenting workshops and counseling to young families. She feels this is a strong area of focus that blends her education and experience. |
Debi Farr,
McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center |
Debi Farr is Director of Marketing and Community Relations at McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center in Springfield Oregon. She is a former State Legislator, serving in the 2005 regular session and the 2006 special session. In addition, she was a Legislative appointee to the Oregon Commission on Childcare.
Currently Farr serves on the Lane County Commission on Children and Families, and is the 2008 Chair of the United Way Success by Six Leadership Team. She is married to Pat Farr, her sweetheart of 32 years; she has three grown children and one grandchild. |
| Carol Freitas, Birth To Three |
Carol Freitas joined Birth To Three in 2003 as a Family Support Worker for the Healthy Start Program. In 2005, Carol became Program Manager/Supervisor for the Healthy Start program at Birth To Three. She has been trained to use Birth To Three's Make Parenting A Pleasure and Parenting: The First Three Years group based curricula. Carol has a B.A. in Family and Human Services and Educational Studies. |
| Gary Glasenapp, The Teaching Research Institute |
Gary Glasenapp is an Assistant Fellow at the Early Childhood and Training Department at the Teaching Research Institute (TRI), Western Oregon University. He holds a M.S. in Education and has been involved in adult education and training at TRI for more than 20 years. He has made numerous presentations at the national, regional and state level and is a published author. Mr. Glasenapp is currently facilitating parenting education sessions for diverse audiences. |
| Donald Gordon, Family Works Inc. |
Dr. Gordon is an Emeritus Professor of Psychology at Ohio University, and a child and family clinical psychologist. He has treated families privately, and consults with organizations serving children and families. Dr. Gordon has developed or modified three parent interventions: Functional Family Therapy, the Children In The Middle program for divorcing families, and the Parenting Wisely CD-ROM program. He has published over 50 research articles in scientific journals, and has received numerous state, federal, international, and private foundation grants. |
| Mary Gossart, Planned Parenthood of Southwestern Oregon |
Mary Gossart has worked in the field of sex education since 1975, 27 of those years with Planned Parenthood, where she is currently the Vice President of Education & Training. Mary's experience includes providing sex education for youth and adults; she routinely offers programs for parents and professionals, designed to support them in communicating with children about sex. She is the author of "There's No Place Like Home... for Sex Education", and holds a Masters Degree in Health Education from University of Oregon. |
| Linda Harrington, Families First of Grant County, Inc. |
Linda Harrington has been the Executive Director of Families First since 2002. She is also a Parent Educator/Supervisor, Parents as Teachers, and a Healthy Start Family Support, Intake and Supervisor/Program Manager. She has her BS from the University of Oregon, and is a candidate for Masters in Public Administration at Portland State University. |
Rebecca Heckman,
The Appreciative Family Consortium |
Rebecca Heckman, B.A., MBA created curriculum and taught early childhood learning classes, "Please Teach Me" under the guidance and mentorship of Virginia Satir, Family Counselor, and well-known author,George Leonard. She studied, trained and worked at The Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential in Philadelphia for four years where she received certification as a Neurological Practitioner,and taught parents of brain-injured children skills and programs for home-based learning and enhanced development so that children could reach their highest potential. As a full-time professor, she taught adults returning to college at Northwest Christian College.She used Appreciative Inquiry in curriculum development and as a teaching model. She wrote article on education in America that was presented and published by a regional educational conference. Became a mentor and member of the Board of Directors for Committed Partners for Youth in 1999. She is highly involved as a mentor and primary fundraiser. She holds one of two Certificates in Appreciative Inquiry in the Northwest. Appreciative Inquiry is a strengths-based approach to transformational change that uses positive questions and story telling to engage people to discover, dream, and design the future that they want. Education: |
Margot Heiniger-White, ENH, OTL,
Families First of Grant County, Inc.
|
Margot Heiniger-White, EMH, OTL, is the author or co-author of four books on fine and gross motor skill development in young children, including Kids Learn from the Inside Out and S'cool Moves for Learning. She developed, and has field tested with over 300 children in clinical and school settings, the Integrated Motor Activities Screening scale, published in 1990. She worked professionally as a Licensed Occupational Therapist from 1960 until her retirement in 2007. Ms. Heiniger-White is a nationally known lecturer, teacher, author, and Certified Occupational Therapist. She has extensive post-master's work in learning disabilities, pre and perinatal psychology, birth trauma resolution and self-parenting. |
| Harold Ireton, University of Minnesota |
Harold Ireton, Ph.D., a developmental psychologist, has taught at the University of Minnesota for over 30 years. His interests include child and parent development and education, and training of early childhood professionals. He is the author of the Child Development Inventories and Child Development Review system which integrates parent's report and professional's observations. He is also the author of books and articles on development, screening-assessment and parent education (Parents' Development model). |
| Victoria Johnson Central Oregon Family Resource Center |
Vicki Johnson has worked with children and families for 37 years. These years include 20 years as a Child and Family Mental Health Therapist. Since 2004, Johnson has worked at the Central Oregon Family Resource Center as both the DHS/Child Welfare Parent Trainer and the Parent Trainer for the Deschutes County Family Drug Court. |
| Laura Backen Jones, Oregon Research Institute |
Dr. Laura Backen Jones has her Ph.D. in developmental psychology. For the last 15 years, Dr. Jones has provided parent training and collaborated in embedding intervention opportunities within family service organizations. Dr. Jones heads three NIH-funded funded projects to develop and evaluate online parenting programs. She also directs a community-based parenting center that serves over 500 parents annually. Dr. Jones conducts research at Oregon Research Institute examining the dissemination of evidence-based-practices into community programs. |
| Erinn Kelley-Siel, Office of Governor Ted Kulongoski |
Erinn Kelley-Siel has served as Governor Kulongoski"s Advisor on Health and Human Services since 2003. She has advised the Governor on a variety of issues, including reducing Oregon's hunger rate, strengthening protection for children in Oregon's child welfare system, transforming Oregon's public mental health system, and making healthcare more affordable for all Oregonians. Erinn is an attorney by trade who came to Oregon from Texas where she represented that state's interests in child protection proceedings and advocated for children and families. |
| Tedra Mandell, Oregon Commission on Children and Families |
Tedra Mandell, MA in Counseling & Educational Psychology; BS in Human Development & Family Studies; Oregon Licensed Professional Counselor; National Certified Counselor; Prevent Child Abuse America - Healthy Families America Certified Trainer and National Peer Reviewer. She is currently the OCCF Healthy Start Program Specialist. Previously held positions as Child and Family Therapist with Children's Farm Home and Jackson County Mental Health; Mental Health and Family Services Manager with Head Start in Nevada, and Graduate Teaching in Human Development & Family Studies at University of Nevada, Reno. |
| Joanna Morales, B.A.,ITMH,LE, Birth To Three |
Joanna has worked with high risk families in home visits for 8 years. She and her colleagues developed family goal setting cards in order to help parents identify and reach their goals. Joanna is an Infant/Toddler Mental Health Specialist, a Lactation Educator and a retired La Leche League Leader. She is experienced in working with parents from many cultures. |
| Jorge Navarro, Centro LatinoAmericano |
Jorge Navarro is the Executive Director of Centro LatinoAmericano a multicultural, bilingual agency dedicated to the empowerment of the Latino Community in Lane County. The stabilization and strengthening of families is at the heart of the services provided by Centro. Jorge served the community as a child care provider and a community activist over a 35 year span of time. In his position as Executive Director continues to focus the interventions of the agency on women, families and children. |
Judy Newman,
EC CARES |
Judy Newman is the Co-director and Co-founder of EC CARES, the early intervention and early childhood special education program for Lane County, Oregon. Her experience includes direct service provision administration and university teaching. She is very committed to advancing local and state policy and advocacy initiatives related to young children. |
| EC Cares Panel |
A team of Early Childhood Special Educators from the EC CARES program with many years of experience providing services and supports to families who have children with developmental disabilities, delays and/or sensory impairments. They are up to date on the current research and practice related to this topic. In addition to direct service experience this team provides regular trainings to parents, other early childhood providers.
The parents on this panel all have children who have either a disability, a developmental delay or a sensory impairment. The children are various ages now, but all were identified in the early childhood years and provided parent education and family supports. |
| Karen Pautz, Siskiyou First 5 Children and Families Commission |
Karen Pautz is the Executive Director for Siskiyou First 5 Children and Families Commission, she is also the Siskiyou Community Services Council (SCS) Ford Family Foundation Enhancing Skills of Parents Project Director. Karen has over 18 years experience in the field of early childhood education leadership. As a consultant, trainer and evaluator she has worked with Head Start and Early Head Start Programs, helped establish community partnerships in rural counties in OR and CA, provided local, regional and national trainings in topics related to successful collaborations, parenting education, brain development, cultural competency and supervision. In 2006 Karen was selected by California Attorney General's Office, Safe from the Start Project to be trained by Dr. Bruce Perry as a trainer on the Impact of Trauma on Child Development. In 2003 Karen's advocacy for children and families was recognized by the Children's Defense Fund with a Fellowship in the Emerging Leaders Project |
| Clara Pratt, Oregon State University |
Clara Pratt is a professor emeritus at Oregon State University. As Director of the OSU Family Policy Program, she has worked with the Oregon Commission on Children and Families, Oregon Healthy Start and numerous other community based programs for young children and families, as well as for adolescents and elders. She is retired but continues to work part-time in evaluation and research especially around best practices and family support issues. |
| Dan Reece, Sacred Heart Medical Center |
Dan Reece is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who has been with Sacred Heart Medical Center, PeaceHealth, for the past 20 years. He has served as Director of Medical Social Work and Assistant Administrator for Care Coordination. Currently, he is the Executive Director for the Gerontology Institute at Sacred Heart. Dan has been a member of the Success by Six Leadership Team for the past 10 years. He is the immediate past Chair of Success by Six. |
Dianne Reinmuth
Parenting Now!/Birth To Three |
Dianne Reinmuth, M.S., has been a parent educator in the First Three Years program at Birth To Three for over ten years, following both professional and personal experience in international adoption, writing home studies and providing family support for adoptive families. She has been a teacher at the middle school and high school levels and received her undergraduate degree in Education and her graduate degree in Counseling from Oregon State University. Dianne and her husband have raised their four children to adulthood, enjoying on-going conversations that provide yet another generation's perspective on the value of support for parents of young children. |
| Juvata Rusch, Parenting Now!/Birth To Three |
Juvata Rusch, MA, MS, joined the Birth To Three staff in 1981 and has held many positions, including Parent Educator and Group Program Manager. She developed the Birth To Three Toddler Program in 1984, which evolved into the Wonderful ONEs and Terrific TWOs in 1998. She is currently a trainer and consultant for the organization. In addition to Parenting: The First Three Years, she is also an author of the Parenting Now! and Make Parenting A Pleasure curricula. Juvata has worked with parents and children for over 40 years, first as a preschool director and parent educator in Berkeley and Los Angeles, California. With Master's degrees in both child development and counseling psychology, she has taught child development on the college level. Juvata is also a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in private practice. She and her husband, Chuck, have four grown children, Mark, Jeff, Laren, and Leslie, all of whom have been a source of satisfaction and inspiration for her work. |
| Jana Svoboda, LCSW |
Jana Svoboda is a clinical social worker with extensive experience working with individuals, children and families in a variety of settings. Currently in practice in Corvallis, OR, she h as presented to large and small groups in many states and Canada. No matter the topic or length of presentation, Jana strives to keep the audience involved, entertained, and learning. Her dynamic presentation style and contagious enthusiasm is reflected in consistently high participant satisfaction and outstanding evaluations. |
| Karen Van Tassell, OCCF, Healthy Start |
As a registered nurse and lactation consultant, Karen has worked with families prenatally and around the time of the birth of their children for over 25 years. She is state coordinator for Healthy Start, an evidence-based home visiting program for first birth families in Oregon, and a certified trainer with Healthy Families America and childbirth educator. |
| Elizabeth Twombly, University of Oregon EIP |
Liz Twombly M.S., is an Instructor and Senior Research Assistant at the University of Oregon's Early Intervention Program. Liz has worked on the Ages and Stages project since 1993 and is an author on the 2nd edition of the ASQ and the ASQ:SE (A companion screening tool that assesses early childhood soical-emotional development). She conducts training nationally and internationally on the use of the ASQ and ASQ:SE in early childhood, child welfare, health and mental health systems. |
| Carmen School District 4j |
Carmen Xiomara Urbina is currently the Parent, Family and Community Coordinator for Eugene School District 4J and former Executive Director of Centro LatinoAmericano. She attended Oregon State University on a scholarship from the government of her native Honduras. She was awarded a B.S. in Agriculture and Resource Economics in 1989; she also holds an associate degree in business administration and accounting. After returning to Honduras, Ms. Urbina worked for several AID (Agency for International Development) programs; was the human resource manager for an international corporation; and trained Peace Corps volunteers. She eventually returned to the US where she has worked exclusively in human services since 1992, coming to CLA in 1996 where she was hired to manage the Medical Access Program before being hired as the Executive Director in 1997.
Currently she is the President Elect of the City of Eugene City Club, Former Chair of the City of Eugene Human Rights Commission, Lane Community College Budget Committee Member, and was appointed by the Governor to the Medicaid Advisory Committee. She also served as a board member to the Governors Racial and Ethnic Health Task Force and served from 1999 to 2003 and continues to be an active and vocal health care advocate. She has also served as a voting member of the Oregon HIV Care Coalition. She is Board Member of Educacion and Justicia para la Raza, the Diversity Action Committee for the University of Oregon and the Diversity Committee for the College of Education at the University of Oregon. |
| Maria Westerhoff, Parenting Now! / Birth To Three |
Maria Westerhoff is the mother of a blended family with four boys ages ranging from 6 – 17. She began her work with at risk families in the Healthy Start Home Visiting Program and then spent five years with the Open Doors Program working with homeless families and the Make Parenting A Pleasure Curriculum. Maria currently works as crisis outreach and a homeless case manager in Eugene and as a parent educator for Birth To Three, answering the Parent HelpLine and facilitating Incredible Infants Groups.
|
| Amy-Rose White, Postpartum Support International, Oregon |
Amy-Rose White, MSW, CHt, is an Oregon state coordinator for Postpartum Support International (PSI), a volunteer with WellMama Pregnancy & Postpartum Stress Support in Lane County, OR, and a counselor and Certified Hypnotherapist with a perinatal specialty. She has worked in the field of maternal and early childhood mental health and education for over ten years, including at the Relief Nursery in Eugene and the mother-baby unit at Sacred Heart Medical Center. |
David Willis, M.D., FAAP,
Northwest Early Childhood Institute |
David W. Willis, M.D. is the Medical Director of Northwest Early Childhood Institute. He is Developmental-Behavioral pediatrician with a special emphasis on infants and young children's emotional, behavioral and developmental difficulties. He is a graduate of Thomas Jefferson Medical School in Philadelphia and received his pediatric residency and child development fellowship training at Oregon Health Science University, in Portland. After 5 years in general pediatric practice, he focused his career on the management of developmental-behavioral challenges of young children, from both a medical, developmental and mental health perspective, a unique practice model. As Co-Founder and current Director of the Institute, Dr. Willis has led the development of our unique regional multidisciplinary organization that focuses not only on a new clinical services model - our Developmental Home, but also focuses on community collaborations for prevention and science-to-practice innovations for infants, young children and their families. Dr. Willis is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at OHSU and current Vice-President of the Oregon Pediatric Society. Nationally, he is a Fellow with ZERO TO THREE, of Washington DC. He currently lives in Portland, Oregon with his wife, Margy and they have two grown sons, Adam, a M.D.-Ph.D. student at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Drew, a computer engineer living in Vancouver, WA. |
