NOTE: This event is specifically for Washington State attendees who are part of the behavioral health workforce.
This session is part of the Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) track of the Mental Health Institute.
Working with individuals with IDD requires clinicians to be agile and creative in their delivery of interventions. Similar to working with neurotypical children and adolescents, clinicians often run into challenges that impact therapeutic effectiveness and decrease client and clinician motivation for therapy. This training will provide strategies for recognizing when therapy has stalled, and tools for how to get it moving again.
Contact hours will be available for participants who attend the entire session. The University of Washington is an approved provider of continuing education for DOH licensed social workers, licensed mental health counselors, licensed marriage and family therapists, psychologists, chemical dependency professionals, nurses and physicians under the provisions of: WAC 246-809-610, WAC 246-809-620,WAC 246-811-200, WAC 246-840-210, WAC 246-919-460 and WAC 246-924-240.
Session is 11a-1p PT
Kalisa Hourie is a lifelong resident of Seattle, and the proud parent and fierce advocate of two amazing and diverse adult children. Her elder daughter, Brooke, 29, was born with the conditions of Dandy Walker Malformation, Translocated X Chromosome, Sensory Integration Dysfunction with Autistic like characteristics, and Turners Syndrome. Her younger daughter, Nicole, 27, is neurodivergent and a third-year student of Veterinarian Medicine at Washington State University. Kalisa draws from years of professional experience as a caregiver as well as professional experience in the private sector to effectively navigate through the many levels of mental health, medical health, public school systems, government agencies, and legal fields. As the primary caregiver of both of these wonderful people Kalisa has created a loving, balanced and enriched life for both her children. Kalisa enjoys an active family life that is well integrated into their larger community where both Brooke and Nicole can share their immense gifts.
Shayla Collins designs and leads mindfulness and compassion programs locally & nationally. She facilitates sessions for parents of children with disabilities or special healthcare needs, providers working with children, youth and families as well as individuals who have interfaced with the criminal legal system. Shayla is a devoted wife & a mother of two young Boys. She enjoys reading, eating delicious vegetarian cuisine and antique shopping.
Dr. Sina Shah is a Board-certified Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist at Seattle Children’s Hospital, a faculty member of the University of Washington School of Medicine since 2020, and a board member at the ARC Trust of Washington. Dr Shah sees children and families on an outpatient basis at the Children’s Autism Center, and also works as an attending psychiatrist on the inpatient Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine Unit at Children’s. As part of his teaching responsibilities, he is the course director for the Genetics component of the child psychiatry fellowship didactics series, and also annual instructor for Child Psychiatry portion of the Mind, Brain, and Body course at the UW School of Medicine. Dr Shah’s professional interests include autism spectrum disorder, neurodevelopmental and genetic disorders, catatonia, bullying, and trauma-informed care.
Marie Loeb, LICSW, LMHC, CMHS, DMHS, (she/they) is an Autistic, queer, polyamorous Clinical Social Worker who is committed to serving their community through direct practice, training, and advocating for policy change. Marie is the owner of Holistic Child and Family Practice where she works with individuals and families, is a practicum instructor for the University of Washington School of Social Work, supervises clinicians in and out of the practice, and works to build community through no cost neurodiversity-affirming consult groups and trainings. Holistic Child and Family Practice has a staff that is exclusively neurodivergent, and within this environment Marie developed a new modality, Empathetic Inquiry, which is a strengths-based approach where the client is centered as the expert of their own experience and utilizes the natural hyperempathetic talents of neurodivergent providers.
Jim Mancini, MS, CCC-SLP, is a speech-language pathologist with over 20 years of experience working with patients with intellectual and developmental disabilities/autism and their families. He is currently the Director of the WA INCLUDE Collaborative, manages ECHO programs at the University of Washington and leads the Washington State Center of Excellence (COE) training program. He has special interest in diagnosis of autism and other developmental disabilities, building community through building relationships, parent and provider education and health equity for underserved communities. Jim loves gardening, backpacking and other outdoor adventures, music and spending time with his family.
Alana McVey, PhD, is a Postdoctoral Scholar jointly appointed at the University of Washington and Seattle Children's Autism Center. Clinically, she provides evidence-based treatment of mental health concerns to autistic children, adolescents, and adults through the Autism Center's Mood and Anxiety Program. Dr. McVey's program of research centers on the redesign and implementation of evidence-based mental health treatments for autistic people in community settings. Her current project, funded by the Autism Intervention Network on Physical Health (AIR-P), is focused on redesigning Dialectical Behavior Therapy to treat suicidality in autistic young adults.
Karís Casagrande (she/her), PhD, is a clinical psychology postdoctoral fellow with the University of Washington Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) program and the Seattle Children’s Autism Center. Clinically, she specializes in neurodevelopmental assessment, parent coaching models of intervention focused on behavior and social communication, and cognitive-behavioral therapy for individuals with neurodevelopmental differences. She is also engaged in community outreach and capacity-building research and programming to improve access to and quality of care for individuals with autism and their families in their home communities. Previously, she has worked with community organizations such as museums, theaters, and hotels to increase accessibility for individuals with sensory and developmental differences.
