HONOREES
Whitecap Counseling
I am a cycle breaking millennial therapist who understands the power of relationships. I value quality over quantity. I have years of experience breaking cycles in my personal and professional life. I have my master’s in clinical psychology from Eastern Washington University. I am a Certified Clinical Trauma Professional Level II (CCTP-II). I have also completed CBT Plus training through Harborview. My professional experience has centered around trauma treatment and crisis response. I have worked with children, families, and adults from all walks of life.
Resources for Counselors and Clients
As a professional counselor in private practice, Dawna specializes in treating individuals experiencing self-worth issues. She has learned that sometimes depression and anxiety stem from denied self-worth. This reality has prompted her to hone her skills for repairing self-worth issues for clients and readers. She is the lead author of a new theoretical model, Worth-Conscious Theory.
Dr. Ramona Roberts is currently the Executive Director of Caron Outpatient Treatment Center in Wyomissing, Pa (formerly Supervisor of Trauma Services at Caron's residential campus) and a licensed Clinical Psychologist. She teaches for a number of colleges/universities and has several research publications in peer-reviewed journals. She is a level II Certified Clinical Trauma Professional. She has received numerous awards and has presented to audiences locally to intercontinentally. She has also been featured on a Parent-to-Parent podcast.
Mental Health Professionals Organization
They assist emerging Black Therapists, Indigenous Therapists, and Therapists of Color in obtaining, maintaining, and navigating the bureaucracy of mental health licenses by offering free public advertisement & marketing of services in our Therapy & Wellness Directory, as well as encouraging participation as volunteers in the DMHS Free Therapy & Wellness Program. DMHS also offers the necessary tools including free clinical supervision by fully licensed Approved Supervisors.
LIANA LOWENSTEIN
CORY HELPS KIDS COPE
Book Series
Cory Helps Kids Cope with Sexual Abuse: Playful activities for traumatized children
Cory’s Story and the variety of creative activities are specifically designed to help children cope with sexual abuse and trauma. Therapeutic games, art, puppets, and other engaging techniques address the eight components of TF-CBT. The book includes a reproducible story, assessment and treatment activities, and detailed parent handouts. It is geared to children aged 4-12.
Cory Helps Kids Cope with Divorce: Playful therapeutic activities for young children
An engaging therapeutic story and innovative activities to help children aged 4-8 identify feelings, clarify divorce-related misconceptions, ease transition stress, express anger, eliminate self-blame, and learn coping skills. Includes a reproducible story, therapeutic games and other creative activities, plus tips and interventions for parents.
The author is Liana Lowenstein, a Clinical Social Worker, Certified Play Therapist-Supervisor, and Certified TF-CBT Therapist.
She is internationally known for her many wonderful books for therapists.
They are available at Amazon.com or directly from her website: www.Lianalowenstein.com We recommend these innovative books to any counselor and therapist working in these areas.
Thank you, Liana, for these wonderful tools!
BRYAN SMITH
EXECUTIVE FUNCTION
Book Series
Bryan Smith, has been an elementary school counselor for over 13 years after being an elementary school teacher. He has been awarded the Counselor’s Choice Award for his work series: Executive FUNction. They teach children how to plan, organize, manage time, and maintain self control. These seem to comprehensively offer practical interventions and considerations for evidence-based practices (EBPs) when working with children.
Our favorite in the series so far is: What Were you Thinking? A story about learning to control your Impulses.
JANINE HALLORAN
COPING SKILLS FOR KIDS AND ULTIMATE PLAYDATE GUIDE
Therapy Workbooks for Children and Teens
Janine Halloran, is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor who has been working in the field for over 15 years. She creates products and resources which she distributes through two different businesses: Coping Skills for Kids and EncouragePlay
She has been awarded the Counselor’s Choice Award for her workbook series: Coping Skills for Kids Workbook and the Ultimate Playdate Guide.
Our favorite is: Coping Skills for Kids Workbook: 75 Coping Strategies to Help Kids Deal with Stress, Anxiety, and Anger.
DEBRA BURDICK, LCSW, BCN
Therapy Tools and Mindfulness Workbooks
'The Brain Lady' is a board certified neurotherapist and lisensed clinical social worker. She is a known for her many works including mindfulness techniques, workshops, teletrainings, and even a card deck for therapists to use with children. She has been awarded the Counselor’s Choice Award for her mindfulness workbooks. Her workbooks, several hundred pages each, comprehensively review and offer practical interventions and considerations for evidence-based practices (EBPs) using mindfulness.
All of her works are extensively used by clinicians and we highly recommend to any therapist, new or veteren.
MOST RECENT WINNERS
I Want My Dad: Helping teens and children understand a parent's dependency to drugs and alcohol
This book for teenagers and children is about understanding parents and unhealthy lifestyles during and after a parent’s drug or alcohol dependency and abuse. Children of alcoholic or addicted parents often have difficulty understanding what is happening to their parent. The story goes through the life of Alex whose father suffers from the disease of addiction and dependency on drugs or alcohol. It explores how Alex thinks, feels, and acts to his father’s dependency and how family separation may occur at times. Drug and alcohol dependency is explained to Alex in the way children and teenagers can comprehend without instilling the idea that the parent does not love them. The book also contains helpful information for helping teens and children to understand alcoholism and drug dependency problems. It further contains information and helpful discussion questions for adults. It is perfect for reading together if you are family, foster family, caregiver, counselor, social worker, teacher, or family friend to help the child understand how lives are impacted the disease of addiction.
Therapy Tools
Our latest award winner is Seth J. Gillihan, PH.D., Licensed Psychologist. He has been awarded the Counselor’s Choice Award for his CBT Deck for reducing stress. This offers practical interventions and considerations for evidence-based practices (EBPs) using mindfulness and CBT type skills for both clients and therapists.
RECENT THERAPY TOY WINNER
Open Spaces: Healing Games
Open Spaces LLC was founded in 2003 on the belief that the most effective social, emotional and communication games combine fun challenges of skill that create SPACES for relaxed conversations to occur with OPEN-ended questions that provide opportunities for preferred life narratives to take root. Our flagship product, Totika, has all of these characteristics and has been a best selling game for over 15 years. Along the way we added more card decks and recently introduced the new Totika Thumball. Our creative inspiration is you, our customers, and your work with children, teens, adults and families. They have also recently added another line that can be used in a group settings called Yehua Balance.
LORI LITE
ANGRY OCTOPUS: A RELAXATION STORY
Therapy workbook
Our latest award winner is Lori Lite, an American author. She is best known for her work creating lesson plans designed to help children, teens, and parents decrease their stress levels. Besides writing books and creating curriculum, she also has created guided CDs to help with relaxation. She has even made or own company, Lori Lite’s Stress Free Kids.
Angry Octopus: Children Learn How to Control Anger, Reduce Stress and Fall Asleep Faster.
Angry Octopus is a story that teaches children how to use progressive muscle relaxation and breathing techniques to calm down, lower stress, and control anger. Children relate to the angry octopus in this story as the sea child shows the octopus how to take a deep breath, calm down, and manage anger. This story received national attention on ABC’s Shark Tank. Every child has a different emotional maturity, attention span, and need but the story is aimed at ages 6-12.
DR. REAGAN NORTH
MOTIVATIONAL INTERVIEWING FOR SCHOOL COUNSELORS
Counselor Skills Book
This book is a powerfully practical explanation of MI ideas and techniques for school counselors to read. Loaded with actual examples from the school context, the book is designed to help busy School Counselors learn these tools in a quick and enjoyable way. Students need help accessing their own motivation to improve grades, grow relationships, kick bad habits, and pursue deeply meaningful lives. School Counselors are perfectly positioned to help them do so, and MI is the tool they need.
DR. GREGORY JANTZ
Therapy book
Drawing on the innovative whole-person approach, Dr. Jantz reveals the treatments, practices, and lifestyle changes that can provide lasting relief from depression in his book : Healing Depression for Life —by addressing its chemical, emotional, physical, intellectual, relational, and spiritual causes. Not all depression is the same, and not all people with depression are the same. Healing Depression for Life will help you find the missing puzzle pieces that could make all the difference in overcoming your feelings of helplessness and hopelessness and put you on the path to lasting joy.
SOCIAL SKILLS PICTURE BOOK: FOR HIGH SCHOOL AND BEYOND
DR. JED BAKER
Therapy Skills Book
Jed Baker, PhD, is an award winning author of five books, including Social Skills Training for Children and Adolescents with Aspergers Syndrome and Social Communication Problems; Preparing for Life: The Complete Handbook for the Transition to Adulthood for Those with Autism and Aspergers Syndrome; The Social Skills Picture Book; The Social Skills Picture Book for High School and Beyond; and No More Meltdowns: Positive Strategies for Managing and Preventing Out-of-Control Behavior. His work has also been featured on ABC World News, Nightline, the CBS Early Show, and the Discovery Health Channel.
CHERI MEINERS, M.ED.
LEARNING TO GET ALONG
Book Series
Cheri J. Meiners, M.Ed., has done a lot for counselors and teachers alike. She’s been a school grade teacher and taught education classes at Utah State University where she received her Master’s degree in elementary education and gifted education. Her latest book, Making a Difference, teaches kindness, respect, and purpose, and empowers children to make good choices, and to be their best. She has been a Teacher’s Choice Award Finalist according to Learning Magazine and a writer of the Top 5 Children’s Book for Teaching Proper Behavior from the Children’s Book Guide.
DR. CLAUDIA BLACK
It Will Never Happen to Me
Our latest award winner is Dr. Claudia Black, an author, trainer, and social worker. Her work in the field of addiction is world renowned since her very first books. Her books have become a staple in every Chemical Dependency Counselor program. She has founded the ClaudiaBlack Young Adult Center, a network of facilities recognized by the joint commission for treatment of addiction, trauma, and mental health issues.
KIMBERLY DELUDE
Freddie the Fly
For her work with the ongoing series Freddie the Fly created by Kimberly Delude, MA, CCC-SLP (ASHA Certificate of Clinical Competence in Speech-Language Pathology). Working for over six years in the public schools she has helped countless children improve their social and language skills through fun activities that don’t feel like learning. Her self-published therapy series, Fairy Tales 2.0, was the 2020 Massachusetts State Clinical Achievement Award recipient.
She has also created books which are produced through: Boys Town Press. Freddie the Fly is a social series that uses humor and established strategies to help children have fun while improving their communication. The goal of the books is to provide resources that parents, teachers, caregivers and therapists feel comfortable using to help children grow.
JENNIFER LICATE
Navigating Friendships
These books are great for children ages 9 through 13 who are struggling with changing friendships, learning about self-advocacy and figuring out how to get along with others. The book series is intended for a counselor or teacher to read with small groups or individually but can also be read to a class. Each book has a Teacher & Counselor Activity Guide with discussion questions and activities after each chapter, for greater understanding and discussion.
SABRINA A. COTTON
Jelani J. Sessions: Cloudy Days
I decided to create a brand that represents the meaning of his name. The Jelani J Brand will create kid friendly products that promote mental health awareness. Then I asked myself, four questions:
How can I contribute to the mental health children’s literature?
How can I normalize therapy and decrease stigma in minority communities?
How can I empower parents to speak about mental health to their children?
How can I make this simple, interactive, and fun?
After pondering these questions, I began to write. The pictures in the book are representative of my childhood “stomping grounds” in Chicago. The stories in the series are inspired by the experiences of most children residing in urban communities. Most important, I wanted to normalize the image of talking to a therapist.
KAT MCGRADY, ED.D., NCC
Building Resiliency in Youth Series
KAT MCGRADY, ED.D, LCPC, NCC, has experience as an educator, school counselor, and mental health therapist. Her dedication to child and adolescent well-being and to education is evident in her work to provide parents, youth-care professionals, and youth with individualized strategies and evidence based practices in order to promote growth and success. She also serves as an adjunct professor for the Johns Hopkins University Master's in Education program, as well as, a doctoral advisor for the Johns Hopkins University School of Education.
JEFF DANIEL TUCKER
Emelia Understands Equity
Jeff Tucker is a Licensed Professional Counselor with passions for education and social justice. When he was 6-years-old, his great-grandmother passed away. When his kindergarten teacher heard the news, she shared two books with him about grief and allowed him to take them home to read and process with his parents. This small act profoundly impacted Jeff. He has been an avid reader and writer every since. Jeff truly believes in the power of books to positively impact the lives of children.
Director of Trauma Services at Mirmont Treatment Center; and Adjunct Professor & Research Associate at Bryn Mawr College. He serves on the Executive Council of ASGPP and is co-chair of the Research Committee. His textbook, Social Work, Sociometry, & Psychodrama (2021), has been downloaded over 94,000 times. He is Co-Chief Editor of the Journal of Psychodrama, Sociometry, & Group Psychotherapy
Dr. Stephen "David" Hall, Founder and Chief Maven
PsychMaven is a group dedicated to being the helpful and informative friend for behavioral health professionals. They offer online courses and live seminars on therapist-focused business and professional development, as well continuing education on clinical topics. They have offerings geared for graduate students, new clinicians, therapist entrepreneurs, and those looking at new businesses or skill sharpening in behavioral health. They also provide personalized consulting services, as well as original and curated articles on behavioral health practice.
JUNE ROUSSO, PH.D.
Therapy Book
June Rousso, Ph.D. earned her Ph.D. in Personality/Social Psychology at the New School for Social Research, and worked as a clinician at various mental health clinics over the years, including the Jamaica Center for Psychotherapy and the Postgraduate Center for Mental Health in New York City. She has a have background in psycho-educational testing and was a Staff Psychologist at the SUNY College of Optometry and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Her holistic nutrition degree is from Hawthorn University, and applied positive psychology certificates from the Flourishing Center and Positive Acorn. Her diplomate is from the Viktor Frankl Institute of Logotherapy.
LAURA BLUM
ASL baby board books
Author and Founder of About Love and Language, Laura Blum is a National Certified ASL interpreter with a degree in Family Science, emphasis in Early Childhood Education. Laura’s passion for ASL and her background in ECE fuels her creativity. She has partnered with the Deaf community to create language delay resources to support parent’s efforts to provide a language rich environment for their children who are at risk for language delays.
CARON TREATMENT CENTERS
Facility Award
They offer customized and comprehensive treatment for substance use disorder with a variety of services offered and morning and evening options. Programming includes level of care assessments and treatment that is geared to primary, intensive, and recovery maintenance needs, as well as individual and family offerings. They offer helpful Fact Sheets, blog posts, professional development YouTube channel and resource library within their website written by professionals for the benefit of all.
Tool for Counselors
A frustration-free way to welcome visitors. The Receptionist for iPad allows you to completely customize your client’s check-in experience in many ways. Custom prompts, questions, buttons, provider photos, and of course your logo can be added throughout the check-in system. With this level of individualization, your practice exudes both personalization and professionalism.
JULIA COOK, MS
Awesome Dawson Has Big Emotions
Julia Cook is a former educator and school counselor, has written many books for children and teachers, including the popular page turners I Just Don't Like the Sound of No!, Making Friends Is an Art!, and The Worst Day of My Life EVER! Her activity guides for teachers offer classroom-ready fun to reinforce the life lessons shared in her storybooks. Among her many awards, Julia has received the Association for Educational Publishers Distinguished Award, and her books have been honored by The National Parenting Center, Mom's Choice Awards, and Teacher's Choice Awards.
Dan Blair, LMFT
Minute Mood App
Minute Mood is a free individual or couples journaling app that helps you and your partner communicate how you’re feeling without saying a single word. You want a way to stay connected and maintain consistent communication when life is busy. Each day a notification will remind you to take a minute to check in with your partner, a friend, or a child. Letting them know that you are thinking of them will have a lasting effect on the relationship.
Connect Counseling and Consulting
Dr. Rachel Hughes, LMFT, CMHS
Providing clinical supervision, family counseling, individual counseling, group counseling, intentional game therapy, continuing education, parental coaching, online trainings for caregivers, and more. Rachel Hughes is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Child Mental Health Specialist in the state of Washington and does work with clients primarily online. Rachel Hughes also works as a parenting coach for families outside of the state of Washington and has created a series of online courses for caregivers. They are an AAMFT-Approved Supervisor and qualify as a state supervisor for most mental health professionals. They also offer clinical consultation on family transitions and value-based parenting plans and school-based curriculum and interventions for reducing difficult classroom behaviors.
KRITI GAUR, PHD
POMM Process Oriented Meaning-Making: A counselor's guide to multicultural grief treatment
I am a counselor educator, author and a practicing counselor in California. I have experience as an
adjunct faculty in teaching integrated behavioral science courses and serve as a dissertation
committee reviewer for a final year PhD student at Adler University. I specialize in complex traumas
specifically grief, and have pioneered the 8-Step Process Oriented Meaning-Making Tool for
multicultural grief work. In my free time, I enjoy reading latest scholarly work that serves
to bring forth innovation in the field of mental health. I believe the saying ‘if it is not on paper, it
doesn’t exist’ does a disservice to the mental health field. With the advent of multicultural counselors
in research and the field of academics, we are evolving from history of oppression and white-washed
narrative to inclusive literature. Through my work in writing or reviewing papers, I strive to include
the under-represented stories of people holding varied identities, and bring them to light. I believe
that a solid scholarly work is one in which the author is able to talk about phenomena that are not
comprehensively studied in the existing academic literature, but is observed by a society at large.
Synthesis of the already known information with the conscious awareness of a phenomenon leads to
equitable, inclusive and holistic research – one that fills a gap in the existing knowledge.
Becca Eisenberg
What is Loneliness?
"What is Loneliness?" is a poignant and beautifully illustrated children's picture book that explores the complex emotion of loneliness in a way that is relatable and reassuring for young readers. Through thoughtful storytelling and captivating visuals, this book takes children on a journey to understand, embrace, and find ways to alleviate loneliness.
https://lifeskills2learn.com/
The Medical Office of Mangham
Medical Clinic
The medical office offers client care in North Louisiana for the rural clinical population. We're happy to recognize them as an honoree for their quality work in providing services.
Wilcox Wellness
Therapy Practice
They are a compassionate, straight forward, and dedicated team of mental health experts who can empower you to create confidence, clarity and calm in your life now and for years to come.