PPAL's 14th Annual Children's Mental Health Conference on May 30, 2025 will have an amazing lineup of speakers who are experts in their field! Read more about them below...

KEYNOTE SPEAKER:

HASAN DAVIS, J.D. - "THE HOPE DEALER"

Founder/CEO, Hasan Davis Solutions LLC

Hasan Davis is a lawyer, juvenile justice advocate, and motivational speaker. He is unwavering in his commitment to improving the lives of young people and adults wherever they encounter government and social systems. Navigating multiple challenges in his early life, including Dyslexia, home insecurity, ADHD, and a pre-teen arrest that led to 7 years of probation, Hasan's journey from juvenile delinquent to Juris Doctor serves as a powerful testament to the transformative impact that caring adults can have when they actively champion the students in their lives. As a speaker, Hasan invites audiences on an emotional experience, blending elements of stand-up comedy, storytelling, and statistical insights. His mission is to empower care workers and advocates to become change agents, Hope Dealers, and champions for the amazing people that provide support. Through his work, Hasan also wants to ensure that those members of our communities who have too often been left behind have hope, resilience, and the tools they need to thrive. 

Hasan is an accomplished author, having penned 4 books that inspire and educate. Hasan holds several honors including being named a Rockefeller Foundation Next-Generation-Leadership Fellow, An Annie E. Casey Foundation Children and Family Fellow and a Council of State Governments, Henry Toll Fellow. His work has shaped public policy and influenced reform in Juvenile Justice, Education and Child Welfare systems. His dedication to justice and empowerment has earned him international recognition as a voice for positive change. He is a graduate of Berea College and the University of Kentucky College of Law.

Hasan Davis J.D.

Founder/CEO, Hasan Davis Solutions L.L.C.

Author: Written Off(2016), The Journey of York(2019), Human Writes(2022), and The Race(2022)

Available on Amazon.com and Booksellers everywhere

859-200-0598

Vesper Moore

(they/them)

Chief Operating Officer, Kiva Centers

Vesper Moore serves as the Chief Operating Officer at Kiva Centers. As an Indigenous activist and leader, Vesper is deeply committed to promoting mental health and disability rights through activism, leadership, organizing, public speaking, and education. Their work focuses on cultivating social movements and raising public awareness to foster lasting social change.

Vesper has contributed to the establishment of mental health organizations worldwide and has been an advocate for civil rights in the United States. Through their advocacy, they have brought the perspectives of people with mental health challenges and disabilities to both national and international platforms.



Collaborating with the United States government and the United Nations, Vesper helps shape strategies around trauma, intersectionality, and disability rights. They have been featured on NBC News, PBS NewsHour, Politico, and at The White House. Vesper is at the forefront of legislative reform, striving to shift the societal paradigm surrounding mental health.

Workshop Title: Suicidality Through a Cultural Lens: Supporting Loved Ones with Understanding and Care

Rebecca Amdemariam, Esq. 

(she/her/hers)

Attorney

Training Unit, Children and Family Law Division

Committee for Public Counsel Services

Rebecca Amdemariam is a Legal Training Attorney for the Children and Family Law Training Unit of the Committee for Public Counsel Services. She has presented lectures and facilitated numerous learning and coaching trial skills sessions for training new lawyers to represent clients in Care and Protection and CRA cases. She has helped develop CPCS attorney training on challenging racial inequities in the family regulation system and provided training to the Family Resource Center of Boston, Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) and the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office. Prior to her work as a Legal Training Attorney, she was a Staff Trial Attorney in the Boston and Salem CAFL Offices.

Catherine A. Madsen, M.A., Esq.

(she/her)

Staff and Legal Training Attorney

Committee for Public Counsel Services

Children and Family Law Division

Catherine Madsen is a Legal Training Attorney with the Children and Family Law Training Unit at the Committee for Public Counsel Services. In this role, she trains both new and experienced attorneys who represent clients in Care and Protection and CRA cases. Before joining the Training Unit, Catherine served as a trial attorney in the Worcester CAFL office after returning to Massachusetts in 2019. Prior to that, she spent 13 years practicing juvenile law in Colorado, handling cases in both trial and appellate courts, including two years as a staff attorney at the Colorado Court of Appeals.

Workshop Title: Nuts and Bolts of CRAs

Dr. Christian H. Bijoux 

Bijoux Consulting Group LLC

Dr. Bijoux is the Founder and Managing Partner of Bijoux Consulting Group LLC. Bringing almost two decades of experience in the private and non-profit sector, Dr. Bijoux has consulted with state, federal, and local government agencies, public health and advocacy groups, and community organizations on race relations and policy issues related to youth legal systems, as well as enhancing racial equity within organizations. Dr. Bijoux has served as Chief Diversity Officer at the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC), Deputy Director of Equity and Racial Justice at the Center for Juvenile Justice Reform (CJJR) at Georgetown University's McCourt School of Public Policy, and the Program Director of the Dually Involved Youth (DIY) Initiative in Santa Clara County, CA.

An accomplished academic and practitioner, Dr. Bijoux has contributed to the field as an adjunct professor, teaching topics related to social policy and community systems. His educational background includes a doctorate in Social Policy from the Heller School of Social Policy at Brandeis University, and a Master of Public Health in Epidemiology and Health Policy and Management at Drexel University School of Public Health. These qualifications underpin his holistic approach to addressing complex community challenges while advancing inclusive development and meaningful partnerships.

Workshop Title: Breaking Barriers: Empowering Families & Professionals to Overcome Systemic Trauma

Barent Walsh, Ph.D.

Executive Director Emeritus and Senior Clinical Consultant at Open Sky Community Services

Barent Walsh, Ph.D. has written extensively and presented internationally on the topic of self-destructive behavior. He is the author of three books on non-suicidal self-injury, including Treating Self-Injury: A Practical Guide 2 nd edition, Guilford Press, (2014). His most recent publication is, “Understanding and Treating Atypical Severe Non-Suicidal Self-Injury,” (2024) in the “Oxford University Press Handbook of Nonsuicidal Self-Injury.”

Dr. Walsh is Executive Director Emeritus and Senior Clinical Consultant at Open Sky Community Services, a human service agency headquartered in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Workshop Title: Understanding and Responding to Self-Injury in Adolescents and Young Adults

Rebekah Gibbons, LICSW 

Families for Depression Awareness

Rebekah Gibbons, LICSW is a certified trauma therapist, currently serving individuals aged 15 and up. Her clinical specialities include, trauma, attachment, and adolescent mental health and development. She has extensive experience with adolescents, families, and adults, having worked in community mental health as an outpatient clinician and as an in-home family therapist, as well as a clinician and clinical director at a residential group home for adolescents ages 12-19. Rebekah also works as an Associate Professor of Practice and co-leader of the MSW trauma certificate at the Simmons School of Social Work.

Florcy Romero

Families for Depression Awareness

Florcy Romero (she/her) received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Clark University. She is the founder of In Solidarity, a coalition focused on healing, distributing resources, and educating Queer and Trans Black, Indigenous People of Color (QTBIPOC). She has skills in curriculum design, community engagement, and advocacy for marginalized communities. Florcy is certified in Youth Mental Health First Aid and is committed to providing safe spaces for young people to explore their mental health and wellness.

Workshop Title: Understanding Teen Depression

Diana I. Santiago, Esq.

Legal Director, Massachusetts Advocates for Children

As MAC’s Legal Director, Diana Santiago provides strategic direction to MAC’s advocacy and planning and oversees legal operations. During her nearly 10 years as an education attorney at MAC she has become a leader in the state advocating for equal educational opportunities at the intersection of immigration, multilingualism, and disability. She partners with families and communities to ensure that MAC’s priorities reflect those of the families and communities that MAC serves. Diana convenes the Immigrant and Multilingual Children with Disabilities Coalition, a statewide coalition of multilingual and multicultural special education attorneys and advocates with a focus on language access in education, barriers to immigrant parent participation in the special education process, addressing the needs of English learners with disabilities, and the disproportionate use of exclusionary discipline on English learners.

Prior to joining MAC, Diana worked at the Boston Public Health Commission managing the Boston Child Health Study and projects focused on inclusion of children with disabilities in after school programs. Prior to that, she was a staff attorney at South Coastal Counties Legal Services. Diana attended Northeastern University School of Law and has a master’s degree in public health from Tufts University School of Medicine.

Workshop Title: Derechos en educación especial para estudiantes y familias multilingües e inmigrantes 



Olivia Nakimera

Functional Medicine Certified Health Coach

CEO, Liv Wellness LLC

Olivia Nakimera is the CEO of Liv Wellness, a Functional Medicine Health coaching practice helping women leaders live well, so they can lead with light. Her work involves helping clients cultivate daily habits amidst their current circumstances that enable them to live life with hope, health, impact and meaning. To cultivate sustainable hope, Olivia helps her clients root their health goals in Clear Values, Activities that evoke positive emotions, and small but consistent habits.

Prior to her work in Health Coaching, Olivia spent 17 years in Corporate Finance in Boston. Olivia's mission now is to help us lead ourselves well by prioritizing health, so we can in turn help our communities, homes, and organizations live healthy too.

She loves talking to her 2 sons about simple ways they can take care of their health in everyday choices.

Workshop Title: Gut Health and The Connection to Mental Health



Jenny Coleman, MA, LMHC

Director, Stop It Now!

Jenny Coleman, LMHC has been working in child welfare for 30 years; as a clinician, educator and advocate and in 2011, she joined Stop It Now! as their Helpline Director, and now serves as their director, overseeing a national child sexual abuse prevention program. She presents globally; training individuals and youth serving organizations in primary prevention. She serves on the prevention committee for the Association for the Treatment and Prevention of Sexual Abuse (ATSA) and is a board member of the National Coalition to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse. Jenny frequently contributes in national discussions with organizations such as the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and the Center for Disease Control (CDC).

Additionally, Jenny was selected for the 2025 National Symposium on Sexual Behavior of Youth’s Distinguished Service Award for her development and work on Stop It Now! and WhatsOK? resources and helplines to prevent child sexual abuse.

Workshop Title: WhatsOK? Promoting safe and healthy development in youth sexual behaviors



Guy Stephens

Founder & Executive Director

Alliance Against Seclusion and Restraint

Guy Stephens is a passionate advocate and a nationally recognized expert on restraint and seclusion. In 2019, Guy founded the Alliance Against Seclusion and Restraint (AASR). AASR is a highly respected national nonprofit organization and a community of over 30,000 parents, caregivers, self-advocates, teachers, paraprofessionals, school administrators, occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists, counselors, school psychologists, attorneys, and others working together to influence change in supporting children whose behaviors are often misunderstood. AASR’s mission is to inform changes in policy and practice to reduce and eliminate the use of punitive and exclusionary discipline and outdated behavioral management approaches and end the school-to-prison pipeline. The vision of AASR is safer schools for students, teachers, and staff.

Guy promotes trauma-informed, neuroscience-aligned, neurodiversity-affirming, relationship-driven, and collaborative approaches to working with children. He has presented at conferences and events across North America and regularly speaks as a guest lecturer for undergraduate and graduate courses. Frequently, Guy is cited in news and media coverage related to restraint, seclusion, suspension, expulsion, corporal punishment, and other forms of punitive and exclusionary discipline. 

Workshop Title: The Five Principles To Better Supporting All Children



Emily Gagen, PhD

Director of M-PATH

Dr. Emily Gagen is a licensed clinical psychologist at the Brookline Community Mental Health Center. She is the director of the Massachusetts Psychosis Access and Triage Hub (M-PATH) and is also a member of the team at the Center for Early Detection, Assessment, and Response to Risk (CEDAR). Dr. Gagen has worked with individuals with psychosis and schizophrenia-spectrum disorders for 15 years and specializes in the treatment of young adults with early psychosis.

Tanya Trevett, M.Ed.

M-PATH Family Partner

Tanya Trevett serves as the Family Partner at M-PATH. She has personal experience as a mother of a child facing mental health challenges, providing her with distinctive insights and empathy. Beyond her lived experience, Tanya has a background in special education, having collaborated with a diverse range of students, each presenting their own unique challenges. With a B.S. in Biology from Boston University and an M.Ed. in Special Education from Lesley University, her academic foundation further enhances her role at M-PATH. She is also passionate about community education; she is an active volunteer with several organizations including NAMI.

Natalia Nodiff

Young Adult Peer Mentor - M-PATH



Natalia draws on her lived experience with psychosis to support others with empathy and insight. Once told she might never live independently or attend college, she’s gone on to do both and more. She’s passionate about reducing stigma, building connection, and helping others find hope. She believes that people who experience psychosis have wisdom and resilience that deserve to be seen. Outside of work, she’s a writer, artist, meditator, and theremin player.

Workshop Title: Early Psychosis: Symptoms, Identification, and Treatment



Marsha Charlton, FNP-C, PMHNP-BC

CEO of Distinctive Ray Therapeutics

With over 10 years of experience in primary care, psychiatry, and veterans' health, Marsha offers medication management and supportive therapy tailored to your unique needs. Whether you're dealing with anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, PTSD, or hormonal mood changes, we'll work together to find solutions that suit your life. Marsha’s approach is practical, culturally sensitive, and non-judgmental, providing guidance to help you navigate challenges and stay grounded. As a Board-certified Nurse Practitioner in both family and psychiatric care, she brings a whole-person perspective to mental health treatment.

Workshop Title: Addressing Anxiety in Children: A Comprehensive Approach



Jorge Enrique Rivera Peña, Psy D.

Jorge Enrique Rivera Peña tiene un Doctorado en Psicología Clínica (Psy D.) Su maestría (MS) está en Psicología Clínica, también de la Universidad Carlos Albizu de Puerto Rico. Tiene una Maestría en Educación en Orientación y Consejería (M. Ed.) de la Pontificia Universidad Católica de Puerto Rico: En el 2005, completó un (BA) en Educación Elemental en la Universidad de Puerto Rico.- Recinto de Ponce. Fue Consejero Profesional en la Facultad de Derecho Universidad Interamericana desde junio 2013 hasta julio de 2019. Además estuvo trabajando como Team Leader/ Clinician del programa One Care de Medicina Integrativa de la empresa Behavioral Health Network que da servicios al Hospital de Bay State Health en la ciudad de Springfield del estado de Massachusetts. En este lugar se trabajó tanto condiciones crónicas de salud como la salud mental. Actualmente trabaja como Consejero Profesional para un Centro de Consejería para Veteranos de Combate en Springfield, Massachusetts desde septiembre de 2019. Además se desempeña como Profesor Universitario de Cambridge College- Puerto Rico desde 2018.

Florcy Romero

Families for Depression Awareness

Florcy Romero (she/her) received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Clark University. She is the founder of In Solidarity, a coalition focused on healing, distributing resources, and educating Queer and Trans Black, Indigenous People of Color (QTBIPOC). She has skills in curriculum design, community engagement, and advocacy for marginalized communities. Florcy is certified in Youth Mental Health First Aid and is committed to providing safe spaces for young people to explore their mental health and wellness.

Workshop Title: Comprendiendo La Depresión En Los Adolescentes

THANK YOU TO OUR SPEAKERS!