2016 Presenters
Keynote Speaker
PAUL LeBUFFE, MA is the Director of the Devereux Center for Resilient Children in Villanova, Pennsylvania. He is a graduate of St. Mary's College of Maryland and received his master's degree in experimental psychology from Bryn Mawr College. Paul is an author of many widely-used assessments of behaviors related to children’s social and emotional strengths and needs including the Devereux Early Childhood Assessment for Infants (DECA-I), Toddlers (DECA-T) Preschoolers (DECA-P2), and most recently, the Devereux Student Strengths Assessment (DESSA). These assessments have been adopted by more than 5,000 school districts, out-of-school-time programs, Head Start and Early Head Start Programs, early care and education centers, and early childhood mental health consultation programs. More than 6 million children have been assessed with these tools and the results used by professionals and parents to promote their social and emotional competence, foster their resilience and build the skills these children will need for school and life success.
Since the mid 1990s, Paul’s career has focused on the measurement and promotion of resilience in children and the adults who care for them. In addition to the assessments mentioned above, he has authored numerous research articles and chapters on resilience and related topics. Paul has presented to varied audiences including psychologists, teachers, school administrators, out-of-school-time professionals, and parents throughout the United States and Canada on promoting resilience in children, youth and adults. Paul lives in Downingtown, Pennsylvania with his wife, Penny, a special education teacher.
Since the mid 1990s, Paul’s career has focused on the measurement and promotion of resilience in children and the adults who care for them. In addition to the assessments mentioned above, he has authored numerous research articles and chapters on resilience and related topics. Paul has presented to varied audiences including psychologists, teachers, school administrators, out-of-school-time professionals, and parents throughout the United States and Canada on promoting resilience in children, youth and adults. Paul lives in Downingtown, Pennsylvania with his wife, Penny, a special education teacher.
Presenters
PAUL DAVIS, LCSW, BCBA, LBA currently works for Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health Arizona as the Director of Foster Care Services, responsible for all of Devereux’s foster care and respite operations statewide. Paul has worked for Devereux since 1998 with a focus throughout his Devereux career on foster care programming -- both traditional (child welfare) and treatment/therapeutic (behavioral health). Paul has previously worked in both clinical and administrative capacities and has worked in settings across the behavioral health continuum ranging from shelters and group homes to residential treatment centers and psychiatric hospitals. Paul has presented and co-presented at numerous conferences throughout the United States on such topics as the Intersection of Positive Behavior Support and Therapeutic Foster Care, Clinical Interventions for Positive Client Transitions, and Creating a Welcoming and Affirming Foster Care Organization.
ASHLEIGH FALL, MA, LPC, NCC is a Licensed Professional Counselor who received her master's in mental health counseling from Argosy University and her Infant/Family Clinical Practice Certification through the Harris Institute at Southwest Human Development. Her passion is working with the birth to five population, and she specializes in play therapy and sand tray therapy. Ashleigh has a private practice in Mesa called Family Strategies where she works with children and adults. Prior to working at Family Strategies, she spent four years working with children and families at Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health Arizona’s outpatient community mental health facility, where she helped develop and grow their birth to five program.
YVETTE JACKSON, LMSW is the Director of Operations for Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health Arizona. Yvette began her career at Devereux in 1998 as a Foster Parent Recruiter for therapeutic foster care and eventually transitioned to Foster Parent and Staff Training Coordinator for the programs in Pima County. In 2003, Yvette received her master’s degree in social work from Arizona State University (ASU) and shortly after became the Program Manager of Foster Care Services for Devereux. From early 2004 to late 2007, Yvette served as the Director of Community Based Services for Pima Programs within Devereux, and in 2007 was promoted to Director of Operations for the organization. In this role Yvette works directly with agency Program Directors to manage the day-to-day operations of a broad continuum of services ranging from prevention services to residential treatment. Yvette is a leader and key contributor to Devereux’s National LGBTQ Taskforce which has been charged with increasing the LGBTQ cultural competency of the organization across the country. Yvette is on the Human Rights Campaign’s, All Children - All Families training team and is actively working on her doctoral degree in behavioral health from ASU.
HILARY MAHONEY, MSP has worked with children and families in Arizona since 2002. She completed her Master of Public Health degree at the University of Arizona in 2009. Hilary started working at Cenpatico Integrated Care in June 2015 as the Trauma Informed Care Specialist and in March 2016 transitioned to the DCS Liaison for Cenpatico. She is excited about growing the Trauma Informed Care initiative across all systems serving children and families in the hope of supporting hope, resiliency and recovery.
LAUREN MARLOTTE, Psy.D. is a Lead Trainer for the Nathanson Family Resilience Center within the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior. She is also Attending Supervisor at the Family Stress, Trauma, and Resilience Clinic and the UCLA Psychology Clinic. Dr. Marlotte is a licensed clinical psychologist who received her doctorate from the University of La Verne, where she studied clinical and community psychology. She completed her postdoctoral fellowship at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) where she specialized in working with adolescents and their families. Currently, Dr. Marlotte is involved in research on the use of family resiliency and cognitive behavioral therapy in treating adolescent depression, implementation of skill building groups in classroom settings, and outcomes of Families OverComing Under Stress (FOCUS) for couples in the military. Her clinical and research interests are in the areas of cultural factors, military families, adolescents, stress, and resilience.
LAURA RUTHERFORD, Ph.D., NCSP is a Consulting and Research Psychologist at the Devereux Center for Effective Schools. She received a Ph.D. in school psychology from Lehigh University. She is a Pennsylvania licensed psychologist and certified school psychologist. In her professional experience, Dr. Rutherford has provided training, assessment, and consultation services to teachers, parents, and multi-disciplinary teams in both school and home settings. She is currently working on several projects to develop capacity for universal, targeted, and individualized support systems in urban schools. She has presented at numerous state and national conferences. Her research interests include assessment and intervention of social skills, providing supports to schools for children with externalizing disorders, and parent management training.
CHAD SNYDER, Ph.D., LPC, NCC is the Director of Clinical Training and Assistant Professor of the Clinical Mental Health Program at Argosy University. In this role, Dr. Snyder is responsible for the training oversight for all graduate level counseling students, collaborates and partners with community mental health agencies that have partnerships with Argosy to provide training, and serves on quality teams. Dr. Snyder also teaches a variety of core classes within the department and is core faculty in the counseling department at the University of Phoenix. Dr. Snyder has over fifteen years experience working in the mental health field with severely emotional and behaviorally challenged individuals in settings such as residential treatment facilities, therapeutic school classrooms, partial hospitalization programs, community hospitals, and the insurance arena. Dr. Snyder previously worked for Devereux as the Assistant Clinical Director of Residential Programs Statewide. He also supervised internship students from different universities, served on quality teams and acted as a liaison for the organization. Licensed as a Professional Counselor and National Board Certified Counselor (NCC), Dr. Snyder remains active with the American Counseling Association (ACA) and the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (ACES). He also serves as the Psi Omega Pi faculty adviser to the Counseling Academic & Professional Honor Society Chapter of Chi Sigma Iota at the University of Phoenix.
LISA B. THOMAS, Ph.D., NCSP is a Consulting and Research Psychologist at the Devereux Center for Effective Schools. She received a Ph.D. in school psychology from Lehigh University, where she specialized in pediatric/health psychology. In her professional experience, Dr. Thomas has provided assessment, training, and consultation services to a variety of individuals and organizations. She is currently involved in several projects to develop universal, targeted, and intensive behavioral and academic support systems within alternative education, behavioral health, and public school settings. Dr. Thomas has published her research in refereed journals and presented at national conferences. Her research interests include interventions for children with behavioral disorders, the application of school-wide positive behavior support to alternative settings, parent management training, and the assessment of reading and social skills.
ANDREW WADE, MA Originally from Florida, Andy joined the Marine Corps at 17 working in the intelligence field. After six years in the Marines, he went back to school to receive a master of divinity with a focus in pastoral care and counseling. This allowed him to transition back into the military as a Navy chaplain, serving again with the Marine Corps. He completed the clinical pastoral care residency program with Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. In both Iraq and Afganistan, he worked closely with other frontline mental health providers to provide a comprehensive plan of care that was highly successful at returning Marines back to full duty. He was instrumental in training Combat Stress Control initiatives for our own Navy and Marine Corps and also spent a number of years training mental health professionals in the armed forces of Australia, South Korea, and the Philippines. He retired last year from 27 years of military service and now works as a clinician and behavior analyst (under supervision) at Devereux’s Assessment & Intervention Center in Tucson. He holds a Bachelor of Art Degree in Social and Behavioral Science, a Master of Divinity with Languages, and a Master of Arts in Psychology with a specilization in behavioral medicine.