ABOUT THE PRESENTERS *For additional information about speakers visit our website at www.traumainformedcareproject.org*
Howard C. Stevenson, Ph.D. is the Constance Clayton Professor of Urban Education and Professor of Africana Studies in the Human Development & Quantitative Methods Division of the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the Executive Director of the Racial Empowerment Collaborative (REC), a research and intervention development center that brings together community leaders, researchers, families, and youth to promote racial literacy and health in schools, neighborhoods, and organizations. He is also a co-founder of Lion’s Story. This non-profit uses REC research findings to train professionals to resolve stressful racial conflicts to improve health relationships and climates in schools, neighborhoods, and health and justice institutions. His TED talk, How To Resolve Racially Stressful Situations, and book, Promoting Racial Literacy in Schools: Differences that Make a Difference, summarizes this work. Two National Institutes of Health-funded research projects examine the benefits of culturally responsive racial literacy interventions. The PLAAY (Preventing Long-term Anger and Aggression in Youth) Project uses basketball and group therapy to help youth flexibly regulate stress and restraint during interpersonal conflicts that lead to violence. This project has been active in several cities across the US since 2010. Dr. Stevenson also co-led the SHAPE-UP: Barbers Building Better Brothers Project with Drs. Loretta and John Jemmott, training Black barbers as health educators to teach Black 18-24-year-old males to reduce their risk of -- HIV/STDS and retaliation violence -- while they are cutting hair. In 2021, Dr. Stevenson was elected to the National Academy of Education (NAED) membership. From 2019-2025, he has been listed in the RHSU Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings of the top university-based scholars in the U.S. who did the most to shape educational practice and policy.
Lori Desautels, Ph.D. has been an Assistant Professor at Butler University since 2016 where she teaches both undergraduate and graduate programs in the College of Education. Lori was also an Assistant Professor at Marian University in Indianapolis for eight years where she founded the Educational Neuroscience Symposium that has now reached thousands of educators and is in its 15th year. Lori’s passion is engaging her students through the social and relational neurosciences as it applies to education. She does this by integrating the tier one trauma accommodating Applied Educational Neuroscience framework, and its learning principles and practices into her coursework at Butler. The Applied Educational Neuroscience Certification, created by Lori in 2016, is specifically designed to meet the needs of educators, counselors, clinicians and administrators who work beside children and adolescents who have, and are, experiencing adversity and trauma. The certification is now global and has reached hundreds of educators. Lori’s articles are published in Edutopia, Brain Bulletin, and Mind Body Spirit international magazine. She was also published in the Brain Research Journal for her work in the fifth-grade classrooms during a course release position with Washington Township Schools. Lori continues her work co-teaching in the K-12 schools integrating her applied research into classroom procedures and transition, preparing the nervous system for learning and felt safety. Her third book, Connections over Compliance: Rewiring our Perceptions of Discipline, was released in late 2020, and Intentional Neuroplasticity: Moving Our Nervous Systems and Educational System Toward Post-Traumatic Growth, her fourth book, was released in January 2023. Her new book/manual titled Body and Brain Brilliance: A Manual to cultivate awareness and Practices for our Nervous System will be published in 2024. Lori’s work, presentation videos and latest research can also be found on her website www.revelationsineducation.com. Lori resides in Indianapolis, Indiana with her husband, Michael. She has three grown children, Andrew, Sarah and Regan and four rescue fur babies. Lori has met with well over 200 school districts across the country, in Canada, Costa Rica, Australia, Scotland, England and Dubai equating to more than 150,000 educators with much more work to be done! Chrisy Schmidt, Psy.D. is a licensed clinical psychologist with extensive training and expertise surrounding the assessment and treatment of children who have histories of prenatal substance exposure and complex trauma. Over the course of a long tenure at a nonprofit medical and behavioral health clinic, Dr. Schmidt lead the child adolescent psychology program, coordinated the student and postdoctoral training program, directed several foundation and federal grants, and provided numerous local and national trainings regarding pre- and postnatal trauma. In addition to her direct clinical work, Dr. Schmidt also enjoyed a long tenure as a consultant to the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, where she provided consultative psychological services to administrators, caseworkers, and other professionals involved with the Department. In her private consulting work, Dr. Schmidt continues to train agencies and communities across the country regarding the treatment and assessment of youth who have histories of pre- and post-natal adversity. Each summer, Dr. Schmidt and her family appreciate the additional opportunity to help run a two-week overnight camp for children who have special needs, Camp SOAR.
In all professional endeavors, Dr. Schmidt is committed to helping individuals and systems understand and address the impact of the work on one’s personal and professional well-being. After many years of working alongside colleagues who were suffering both personally and professionally by virtue of holding onto the pain of others, Dr. Schmidt founded H3 Wellness: Holding Hope for Helping Professionals. With an overarching mission to assist helper organizations take better care of their clients by taking care of their workforce, it is the hope of H3 to promote vitality, engagement, and excellence in the work of caring for others. Dr. Schmidt is honored to have worked with a variety of helping organizations in service of this mission, including schools, mentor organizations, social service agencies, child welfare systems, and a child welfare legal organization. David A. Jobes, Ph.D., ABPP is a Professor of Psychology, Director of the Suicide Prevention Laboratory, and Associate Director of Clinical Training at The Catholic University of America. Dr. Jobes is also an Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, at Uniformed Services University. He is the author of seven books and hundreds of articles and book chapters. Dr. Jobes is a past President of the American Association of Suicidology (AAS) and the recipient of various awards for his scientific work including the 1995 AAS “Shneidman Award” (early career contribution to suicidology), the 2012 AAS “Dublin Award” (for career contributions in suicidology), and the 2016 AAS “Linehan Award” (for suicide treatment research). He is the recipient of the 2022 Alfred M. Wellner Award for Lifetime Achievement (for research excellence) from the National Register of Health Service Psychologists. He has been a consultant to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Academy of Medicine, the National Institute of Mental Health, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Defense, Veterans Affairs, and served as a “Highly Qualified Expert” to the U.S. Army’s Intelligence and Security Command. Dr. Jobes is a Board Member of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and he is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and is board certified in clinical psychology (American Board of Professional Psychology). Dr. Jobes maintains a private clinical and consulting practice in Washington DC and in Maryland.
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