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show content about, Matt Smith, LPC-S hide content about, Matt Smith, LPC-S

Matt Smith, LPC-S

Matt Smith is the Assistant Executive Director for the Williamson County Juvenile Services Department in Georgetown, Texas. Matt is a certified Juvenile Probation Officer and a Licensed Professional Counselor-Supervisor. He earned his Bachelor’s Degree in English & Psychology from the University of Texas at Austin in 1996 and his Master’s Degree in Human Services with a focus in Professional Counseling from St. Edward’s University in 2001. Matt began working in juvenile justice in 2001 as an Associate Psychologist with the Texas Youth Commission at Brownwood State School. He has worked for the Williamson County Juvenile Services Department for the past nineteen years having held previous positions as a specialized juvenile probation officer (mental health and substance use), counselor, program supervisor, facility administrator, Director of Field Services, and Director of Mental Health Services. Matt also serves as the co-chair for the Williamson County Youth Behavioral Health Taskforce. Matt is a founding member of Resilient Wilco, a local initiative focused on educating the community about the impact of Adverse Childhood Experience (ACEs). He is certified as an ACE Interface Master Trainer through UT Teen Health in San Antonio and a Level 1 & 2 Trauma-Informed Certification Trainer through Community Resilience Initiative. Matt is a member of the Georgetown Health Foundation Board of Directors. He serves on the Dual Status Task Force of the Children’s Commission of the Texas Supreme Court and as a Collaborative Council member of the Texas Judicial Commission on Mental Health.

show content about, Becky Haas hide content about, Becky Haas

Becky Haas

Known for her contagious enthusiasm, Becky Haas is an international advocate and trainer on using a trauma informed approach, the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) study and Positive Childhood Experiences (PCEs) study. She is a pioneer in creating trauma informed communities. The work she led in Northeast Tennessee was recognized by the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) in 2018 as a model for other cities to follow. In 2019 she co-authored the Building a Trauma Informed System of Care toolkit for the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services detailing a blueprint for creating community resilience. This toolkit was featured in PACEs Connection, Growing Resilient Communities 2.1 and has been recommended as a “practical tool” in John’s Hopkins, Progress in Community Health Partnerships: Research, Education, and Action. From 2018-2020, Becky served as the Trauma Informed Administrator for a regional healthcare system providing training development and delivery to healthcare staff in multiple hospitals as well as was instrumental in raising awareness of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) as a social determinant to poor health and addiction within rural Appalachia. Prior to working in healthcare, she was the Director of a crime prevention program for the Johnson City Police Department which is credited for reducing drug related crime in one neighborhood by 40% and creating a first probation program of its kind in Tennessee which was acquired by the Tennessee Department of Corrections and now serves as a state model for reducing recidivism. While working for police, she assisted in strengthening relationships between police and community including culturally diverse populations resulting in the first annual Martin Luther King, Jr. unity march in 2015. Under her leadership these crime prevention efforts were awarded the Outstanding Crime Prevention Program of the Year for the southern region by the National Criminal Justice Association in 2014 and are listed by the U.S. Department of Justice as a success story.

Becky is the author of several sector specific professional development trainings with two receiving statewide accreditations in Tennessee as evidence-based training. Among the diverse sectors of professionals, she has trained, she is uniquely distinguished for her work training police officers and others in the justice system to understand trauma. She co-authored an article, “Increasing Empathy Through Trauma Informed Policing” based on her 3-hour POST Trauma Informed Policing Training which received publication in the International Association of Chiefs of Police Magazine in October 2021.

In 2020, Becky co-founded the Global Resiliency Accelerator which now meets quarterly and has grown to having participants from 14 countries. Among many invited presentations in 2021, she presented to the San Antonio Public Health Trauma Informed Care Consortium, University Health System Trauma Informed Institute, Delaware State Police Department, Smyth County Virginia School District, Tennessee Association of Chiefs of Police, Sutter County California Public Health Department, Virginia Department of Justice, the Tennessee Early Childhood Training Alliance, Academy of Social Justice in the UK, Georgia Medical School at Augusta University, and provided training for Anthem Health team members across the state of Florida.

A qualified subject matter expert, she has been certified by the SAMHSA Gains Center as a Trauma Informed Care Trainer and earned her professional certification in Trauma and Resilience from Florida State University. Becky has completed courses in Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI) and Trauma Informed Classrooms from Texas Christian University as well as programs from Starr Commonwealth. She is a certified Law Enforcement Crisis Intervention Team member and completed specialty training from the International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement – National Association of Chiefs of Police. She is an East Tennessee State University Ballad Health Strong Brain Institute founding member and serves as Co-Chair of curriculum development. As an active member of the CTIPP National Trauma Campaign strategy team, she has presented several times on the monthly CTIPP CAN call. She has been an ordained minister since 1996 and completed ministerial training at Rhema Bible Training Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1979 and authored her first book, Your City is Waiting on You in 2017.

Becky has been the recipient of numerous personal awards including a regional Women’s Tribute Award as a Transformational Woman in 2019, the Anita Steiner Award from Goodwill Industries for implementing job skill training into the reentry community and was inducted into the Social Work Honor Society at King University for her above and beyond contributions which embody the heart and mission of the Social Work profession. In March of 2022, Becky received the prestigious Friend of Children award from the Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth recognizing her as a state and national leader in implementation and support of trauma informed services and communities.

 

show content about, Heather Robison, LPC-S hide content about, Heather Robison, LPC-S

Heather Robison, LPC-S

Heather received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She has a Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology from Sam Houston University and a Master of Arts in Healthcare Administration from Ashford University.

Heather has 22 years of experience working with children, adolescents, and adults in outpatient, residential, correctional, acute and community-based treatment settings. She has over 18 years of administrative experience in the mental health field.  She is a Certified Provider and Coach in Collaborative and Proactive Solutions, a Certified Positive Discipline Parent Educator and is EMDR trained. She holds licensure as a Licensed Professional Counselor and Board Approved Supervisor and is a Licensed Child Care Administrator.

 

Heather began her career in adult corrections in 2000 diagnosing mental health disorders and intellectual disorders.  From 2005 to 2014 she was an administrator over an array of community health programs for three counties.  She oversaw and directed an array of services to include crisis outpatient, outpatient therapy, outpatient substance abuse services, mobile crisis outreach services, crisis hotline services and crisis stabilization services.  From 2014 to January 2022, she served as the Director of Clinical Services at a residential treatment program serving youth and was nominated and selected by a rigorous corporate review team to serve as a Director of Clinical Services Mentor to newer Clinical Directors nationwide.  She has maintained a small private practice for several years.

 

show content about, Julie Kaplow, PhD, ABPP hide content about, Julie Kaplow, PhD, ABPP

Julie Kaplow, PhD, ABPP

Julie Kaplow, PhD, ABPP, is a licensed clinical psychologist, board certified in Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology. She serves as Executive Vice President of Trauma and Grief Programs and Policy at the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute and Executive Director of the Trauma and Grief (TAG) Center at The Hackett Center for Mental Health in Houston. Julie is also Executive Director of the TAG Center at Children’s Hospital New Orleans and Professor of Psychiatry at Tulane University School of Medicine. In these roles, she oversees the development and evaluation of treatments for traumatized and bereaved youth and disseminates trauma- and bereavement-informed “best practices” to community providers nationwide. Following tragedies such as Hurricane Harvey and the Santa Fe school shooting, Julie and her team provided evidence-based risk screening and interventions to impacted children and families. More recently, Julie and her team have been helping to coordinate the mental health response in Uvalde, Texas following the Robb Elementary School shooting.

 

Julie has published widely on the topics of childhood trauma and grief and has served as Principal Investigator on numerous grant-funded programs focused on enhancing resilience in youth exposed to adversity. She is lead author of Multidimensional Grief Therapy, co-author of Trauma and Grief Component Therapy for Adolescents, and co-author of Trauma Systems Therapy. Julie has served as a consultant to the DSM-5 Sub-Work Group on Prolonged Grief Disorder, the ICD-11 Work Group on Disorders Associated with Stress, the National Academy of Medicine (Scientific Advisory Council on Child Death), and the Mass Violence and Children Working Group of the FBI.

 

Prior to joining The Hackett Center for Mental Health, Julie served as Chief of Psychology and Vice Chair for Behavioral Health at Texas Children’s Hospital/Baylor College of Medicine. Julie received her BA in Psychology from the University of Michigan and her PhD in Clinical Psychology from Duke University. She completed her internship at Boston Children’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School followed by postdoctoral training at the Center for Medical and Refugee Trauma at Boston Medical Center.

 

show content about, Jennifer Ashman-Porter, M.Ed., LPC-S hide content about, Jennifer Ashman-Porter, M.Ed., LPC-S

Jennifer Ashman-Porter, M.Ed., LPC-S

Jennifer Ashman-Porter has 22 years of experience in education, the last four in administration, and currently serves as the Director of Student Services for Hutto ISD.  Jen earned both her Bachelor and Master Degrees from the University of Houston and is a Licensed Professional Counselor Supervisor and a National Certified Counselor.  She is very well respected in the mental health and education communities and is a highly sought after speaker on issues related to children and trauma. Most recently Jen became an ACE Interface Master Trainer for Williamson County.  Jen has served as the Deputy Director of a mental health non-profit and has experience in strategic planning, budgeting and operational management.  She served in Fort Bend and Katy ISDs before moving to Georgetown in the summer of 2015. Jennifer is blessed by her family, friends, and is proud to serve the families of Williamson County.