Events

Dr. James McHale,
University of South Florida

Founding Chair of the Department of Psychology at USF St. Petersburg. James directs the internationally recognized USF Family Study Center and is Executive Director for the Family Study Center's community clinic, the Infant-Family Center in St. Petersburg. His studies of coparenting and infant/child development have been sponsored since 1996 by the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute of Child Health and Development, the Department of Health and Human Service's Administration for Children and Families (ACF), and a variety of different Foundations. He has authored more than 200 conference research reports and published over 100 articles, books, and other manuscripts on the topic of coparenting in family systems. He annually serves as Principal Investigator for numerous grants and sponsored initiatives, including a current $3.75 million ACF-funded study examining interventions for healthy coparenting relationships among families in a child welfare diversion program.

Dr. Chandra Ghosh Ippen, 
University of California San Francisco

Morning plenary: “When loved ones fight: Child Parent Psychotherapy with multiple caregivers” by Dr. Chandra Ghosh Ippen, Associate Director of the Child Trauma Research Program at University of California, San Francisco, and Director of Dissemination and Implementation for Child-Parent Psychotherapy. Dr. Ghosh Ippen is a member of ZERO TO THREE’s Board, and author and co-author of over 20 publications and manuals related to trauma, including Don’t Hit My Mommy (2005), and Losing a Parent to Death: Guidelines for the Treatment of Traumatic Bereavement in Infancy and Early Childhood (2003).Dr. Ghosh Ippen is also the director of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) Measure Review Database, and producer and director of Vale la Pena Recordar, a Spanish language video on childhood traumatic grief.

Dr. Silvia Mazzoni, 
Sapienza University of Rome

Afternoon plenary: An international perspective on coparenting supports and services for diverse family systems by Dr. Silvia Mazzoni, Associate Professor in the Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, a specialist in techniques of observation and clinical evaluation of the family. Dr. Mazzoni is a recognized leader and core member of the International Coparenting Collaborative, founding member of the Italian Society of Family Mediation, and member of the Italian Association of Parenting Coordinators and the Italian Section of the World Association of Infant Mental Health. Her scholarly contributions include publications on couple and family psychotherapy, support interventions for highly conflictual separated and divorced parents, coparenting of autistic children, coparenting alliances of lesbian coparents, and numerous other works addressing coparenting in family systems.

Dr. LaDonna Butler

Afternoon Breakout Session, Widening Our Lens to Optimize Community Safety Nets: Recognizing, Affirming, and Strengthening Diverse Family Support Structure by Dr. LaDonna Butler, an Associate Program Director for the Family Study Center. From 2018-2020 she served as the Family Study Center’s Learning and Development Facilitator for a Foundation for a Healthy St Petersburg sponsored-project “Trauma-Informed Infant-Family Mental Health”, and subsequently served as PI for an expansion of that initiative, "Reckoning with Race and COVID-19 in Infant-Family Mental Health". Currently, Dr. Butler is project lead for the Family Study Center's subcontract with the Pinellas County Department of Human Services, Opioid-Affected Youth Initiative: Aiding Drug Impacted Children in Out-of-Home Care. In the St. Petersburg community, Dr. Butler serves as Executive Director and CEO of The Well for Life, an alternative healing space serving individuals in need of mental health counseling, wellness, and self-care resources.

Russia Collins

Contributing to Dr. Mazzoni's afternoon breakout is Russia Collins, Clinical and Training Director of the Family Study Center's Infant-Family Center. Ms. Collins is a core member and contributing author on the International Coparenting Collaborative. A Licensed Mental Health Counselor and Certified Child Protection Professional, she worked for many years in community behavioral health and as the Sixth Judicial Circuit's Community Coordinator for Pinellas County's Early Childhood Court. A longtime contributor to the community initiative "Baby Talk" and to the Family Study Center's "Listening to Babies" partnership with Concerned Organizations for Quality Education for Black Students (COQEBS), she lent her 15+ years of experience with the child welfare system to a groundbreaking healthy relationships initiative funded by the Administration for Children and Families, co-developing and implementing the newest adaptation of the Family Study Center's Focused Coparenting Consultation model, "Strengthening Family Safety through Coparenting" (SFSC).

Valerie Dallas, LCSW

Afternoon Breakout Session for rostered CPP providers, Beyond Dyadic Intervention: CPP with Multiple Generations, will be a case-based presentation presented by Valerie Dallas, LCSW, with case facilitation by Dr. Ghosh Ippen. A nationally rostered Child-Parent Psychotherapist trained in Infant Mental Health, Valerie Dallas is a clinical social worker who serves young children and caregivers who have experienced trauma or adversity. She is also Site Coordinator for the Young Parents Project at Florida State University.

Dr. Anne Hogan

Facilitating Dr. Ghosh-Ippen's afternoon session for rostered CPP providers is Dr. Anne Hogan, instructional lead for the Family Study Center's Infant-Family Mental Health graduate certificate program. Dr. Hogan also served as project lead and co-Director for an FSC collaborative with the state of Florida’s Office of Early Learning developing Reflective Supervision capacity for the state’s Early Learning Coalitions. Previously, she directed Florida State University (FSU)’s Harris Institute for Infant Mental Health Training from 2002-2013 and is co-author of the FSU Center for Prevention and Early Intervention Policy’s Partners for a Healthy Baby Curriculum. Dr. Hogan is also a Past President of the Florida Association for Infant Mental Health and is Co-Leader for the FAIMH IMH-E ® Endorsement Committee. She provides training and consultation throughout Florida and serves on the Advisory Committee for Florida’s Early Childhood Coordinating Systems (ECCS) statewide project.   

Dr. Kacey Jenkins

Facilitating Dr. Butler's afternoon breakout session, Dr. Kacey Jenkins is Program Director for the Family Study Center's collective impact 0-3 Coparenting Initiative, buiding competencies of frontline staff in community agencies serving infants and their families. A Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in Florida and Kentucky, Dr. Jenkins is certified in Perinatal Mental Health, Embodied Trauma Conscious Reproductive Health, and Breath Coaching and is also trained in fertility counseling and Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR). Her clinical expertise includes in-home treatment with children and adolescents, evaluations and family reunification support for ex-offenders, and treatment for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities with histories of sexually problematic behaviors and offenses. She maintains a private practice specializing in marital therapy and works with new and expectant families dealing with perinatal issues.