Consultation:
Elizabeth Thompson, PhD is a mental health executive with an established track record of optimizing service delivery to traumatized children and families through organizational leadership, workforce development, policy & program development, grants management, regulatory compliance and building community relationships. In her current position, she serves as Vice President of the Department of Family and Community Interventions at Kennedy Krieger Institute. The Outpatient Department consists of three programs--Center for Child and Family Traumatic Stress, Therapeutic Foster Care, and Early Head Start, and provides treatment and early intervention services to children and families with exposure to abuse, violence and major loss.
Dr. Thompson holds a faculty appointment in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Since 2003, she has been active in the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, and is recognized for her contributions to several national workgroups and “expert panels”, advancing key initiatives in the child traumatic stress field. Current professional interests include organization development, implementation science and racial injustice as psychological trauma.
She is a past board member of the NTL Institute of Applied Behavioral Science and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Society of Psychologists in Management and the Historic East Baltimore Community Action Coalition. Dr. Thompson is also a member of several professional organizations including the American Psychological Association and the International Society of Traumatic Stress Studies.
Dr. Thompson earned her PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Training:
Hannah Blaes-Johnson, LCSW-C, is a licensed social worker specializing in working with families impacted by violence. She currently provides evidence-based treatments, such as TF-CBT and CPP, at the Center for Child and Family Traumatic Stress at Kennedy Krieger Institute. She previously worked with children and families affected by violence at other agencies in Baltimore City, as well as in Pennsylvania and Florida.
Abena Brown-Elhillali, PhD, RYT is a licensed clinical psychologist and registered yoga teacher with 20 years of experience assessing and treating children and families. Dr. Brown received her doctorate in clinical psychology from Howard University, where her studies focused on psycho-physiology and mental health. She is a former employee of the Center for Child and Family Traumatic Stress at Kennedy Krieger Institute where she worked as a supervising psychologist. Currently, Dr. Brown provides therapy in a community mental health setting, where she dedicates her clinical time to educating families about mind-body strategies to treat trauma and foster resilience and growth. When not engaged in clinical work, Dr. Brown enjoys exploring local parks and beaches with her family and gardening.
Angela Celano, LCSW-C is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker at the Center for Child and Family Traumatic Stress at Kennedy Krieger Institute who specializes in mental health treatment for children and adults who have experienced trauma. Celano received her master’s degree in Social Work at the University of Southern California in 2014. She received extensive training through University of Southern California and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles in early childhood development and mental health and is certified in Parent Child Interaction Therapy, Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, and Seeking Safety. Celano served in Los Angeles County as a mental health clinician on a multidisciplinary team assessing children and infants who had recently been placed in foster care. Celano has advocated for increased mental health services for infants as a way to prevent trauma and support families.
Laura N. Costa, PhD. ABPP is board certified child and adolescent clinical psychologist specializing in the assessment and treatment of trauma. She received her master's degree and doctorate in clinical psychology from George Mason University, also earning a certificate of advance graduate study in school psychology. She employs a variety of evidence-based interventions in her work and is certified in Trauma Focused CBT, Parent Child Interaction Therapy, and SPARCS. Dr. Costa has spent the majority of her career working at the Center for Child and Family Traumatic Stress at Kennedy Krieger Institute, where she has supervised psychology doctoral interns, postdoctoral fellows, and staff. Currently, she heads the diagnostic interview clinic and psychological assessment clinics and is a member of the psychology training committee. She dedicates much of her time to educating staff, stakeholders and families about the long-term and intergenerational effects of childhood trauma and believes strongly in the value of being a life-long learner.
Emily Driscoll-Roe, LCSW-C, is a Social Work Manager at the Center for Child and Family Traumatic Stress at Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore. She received her undergraduate degree from Fordham University in 1993, and her master’s degree in Social Work from New York University in 1996. She has provided therapeutic services to children, adolescents and their families since 1996, and has practiced in New York City; Dayton, Ohio; and Baltimore. At the Center for Child and Family Traumatic Stress, she received extensive training in the field of trauma treatment, with particular expertise in the area of sexual abuse. Through her work at the Traumatic Stress Center, Driscoll-Roe became especially interested in the impact of vicarious trauma on clinicians working with traumatized families. She co-founded the Center’s Vicarious Trauma Processing Group and provides training on managing vicarious trauma and burn-out to mental health professionals.
Sarah A. Gardner, LCSW-C, Director of Clinical Services at the Center for Child and Family Traumatic Stress at Kennedy Krieger Institute. Ms. Gardner has over 30 years of experience with direct service, supervision, consultation, emergency management, administration and leadership in a mental health clinic serving traumatized children and families involved with multiple systems. Ms. Gardner’s primary area of expertise is intergenerational trauma patterns and engaging families who experience marginalization related to racism, poverty and other negative social conditions. Ms. Gardner developed FamilyLive, an innovative family therapy model which helps caregivers with unresolved trauma histories develop parenting skills.
Through the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN), Ms. Gardner has led national efforts and developed multiple resources to reduce barriers to accessing mental health services through consumer partnerships. Ms. Gardner has delivered dozens of professional presentations and co-authored articles on family trauma in peer reviewed journals.
Daniel Hoover, PhD, ABPP is a board certified clinical child and adolescent psychologist at Kennedy Krieger Institute and Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He has 30 years of experience as a service provider, trainer, and clinical supervisor. He directs psychology internship and postdoctoral training at the Center for Child and Family Traumatic Stress. Dr. Hoover founded and directs the Horizons Clinic, treating children with developmental disabilities who are exposed to trauma; one of the few such treatment clinics nationwide. Dr. Hoover consults on a SAMSHA National Child Traumatic Stress Network grant entitled: Supporting Trauma Recovery for Youth with Developmental Disabilities. He has published numerous papers and chapters on the assessment and treatment of children with autism and intellectual disabilities exposed to abuse and trauma. He is the original developer of the Interactive Trauma Scale, a web-based graphic touchscreen measure of traumatic exposures and symptoms in children.
Sheryl Jefferson, MSW, LCSW-C is a Licensed Certified Social Worker-Clinical with over 20 years of experience providing mental health services to children and families. She has worked in residential settings as well as Level V school settings. For the past thirteen years she has provided trauma informed, evidenced based mental health services to children of all ages and their families at the Center for Child and Family Traumatic Stress at Kennedy Krieger Institute utilizing the TF-CBT, Strengthening Family Coping Resources as well as the Chicago Parenting Program interventions. Ms. Jefferson was trained in Child Parent Psychotherapy in 2016 and is currently a rostered CPP Clinician. She also is the Clinic Coordinator for the Child Parent Psychotherapy treatment modality and is currently being trained as a Regional Trainer for CPP. Ms. Jefferson is a Clinical Supervisor providing supervision to Clinical staff members as well as Reflective Supervision to CPP trained Clinicians.
Teresa Loya, LCSW-C has been at the Center for Child and Family Traumatic Stress, providing clinical services to children and families who have experienced trauma, for 19 years. She earned her master’s degree in Social Work from the University of Maryland. At the Center she provides direct service, supervision, and training in treatment of childhood traumatic stress. She is trained in Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT), and is a reflective supervisor in Child Parent Psychotherapy (CPP). Loya’s practice has focused on working with families who have experienced intergenerational trauma. She has a special interest in vicarious trauma and presents in this area as well. Loya coordinates the Parent Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) clinic which provides services to young children demonstrating behavior problems following their traumatic experience. She has spoken both locally and nationally on the topic.
Betsy Offermann, LCSW-C, is a Clinical Manager at the Center for Child and Family Traumatic Stress at Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore. She received her bachelor's degree in social work in 1984 and her master's degree in 1985 from the University of Maryland. In 1988, she completed a post-master's certificate in marital and family therapy. She has more than 34 years of experience providing treatment services to sexually abused children and their families. The SMART Model (Safety, Mentoring, Advocacy, Recovery, and Treatment) was developed by Offermann to address problematic sexual behavior in young children who have experienced sexual abuse. Offermann also helped to develop a video that is now used state-wide to train child care workers, investigators, mental health providers and parents on the impact of sexual abuse. She has given presentations about her work locally and nationally, and served as co-chair of the 2006 Governor's Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect. Offermann has trained staff, mentors, investigators and child welfare workers to improve understanding of the impact of trauma and effective treatment strategies.
Miguel Roberts, PhD, is a clinical psychologist with Kennedy Krieger’s Center for Child and Family Traumatic Stress where he coordinates the adult services clinic. He obtained his Ph. D in clinical psychology from the University of Mississippi and completed his pre-doctoral internship at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He completed a NIDA postdoctoral fellowship specializing in PTSD and substance use disorders at Duke University Medical Center. Dr. Roberts has over 10 years of federal service as a psychologist for the US Army, the Baltimore VA Medical Center and the Washington DC VA Medical Center. He previously treated veterans with PTSD and other associated mental health concerns using evidenced based treatment. He is a VA Certified provider for Cognitive Processing Therapy and Prolonged Exposure.
Cynthia Rollo, LCSW-C, is an accomplished trainer, consultant, supervisor, and clinician. Cindy has been involved in bringing trauma‐informed training and system change to mental health professionals, administrators, graduate students, child welfare workers, case managers and support staff who provide care in a range of community and residential settings and serve diverse populations. Over the last 20 years, Cindy has provided psychotherapy to families living in the context of urban poverty and have ongoing trauma exposure in Baltimore, Maryland. She is also a national trainer for Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF‐CBT) and co‐developed and implemented a graduate level course on Evidence‐Based Mental Health Treatment with Children and Adolescents.
Jennifer M. Serico, PhD, is a clinical psychologist specializing in child and adolescent trauma. Dr. Serico provides evidence-based treatment, trauma-informed evaluations and clinical supervision to trainees and staff at the Center for Child and Family Traumatic Stress at Kennedy Krieger Institute. Dr. Serico is a certified Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) within-agency trainer and a Child Adult Relationship Enhancement (CARE) trainer. Her research interests focus on trauma-informed parent training for children and adolescents with emotion and behavior dysregulation.
Aminah Wells LCSW-C, is a clinical social worker in private practice who has over 20 years of experience in outpatient and school based mental health settings. She attended Loyola University where she majored in Psychology and minored in Creative Writing and she holds an MSW from the University of Maryland, School of Social Work. She is a board certified clinical supervisor and has served as a field instructor to numerous MSW students. Aminah has extensive training and experience in the field of grief and loss and providing crisis support to schools and communities navigating traumatic losses. She was a presenter at the 2019 National Center for School Mental Health Annual Conference and in her tenure as a clinician, she has developed policies and protocols to support students with complex mental health needs and curriculum to support high school peer education programs. Aminah's current focus is on treating adolescents and adults coping with loss, chronic illness, and traumatic childhood experiences.