CL22 - II-C6, Intermediate-Level: IECMH Clinical Workforce Diversity Collective

Nucha Isarowong, PhD, LCSW, is Director of the Advanced Clinical Training (ACT) Program at the Barnard Center for Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health at the University of Washington. In this current role, he works to diversify and expand the infant and early childhood mental health clinical workforce in the state of Washington by centering relationships and principles of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in program administration, curriculum, and delivery. He engages in efforts towards systems change by influencing multi-level systems integration of diversity-informed practice principles in the IECMH field broadly, and with specific attention to father engagement and (dis)Ability. Nucha is a ZERO TO THREE Fellow (2012-2013) and serves as a national workshop facilitator and member of the Executive Council of the Diversity-Informed Tenets for Work with Infants, Children and Families (Tenets) Initiative.

Carmen Rosa Noroña, LICSW, MS. Ed., IECMH-E® is originally from Ecuador where she trained and practiced as a clinical psychologist. In the United States she obtained master’s degrees in social work and in early intervention. She serves as the Child Trauma Clinical Services and Training Lead and the Boston Site Associate Director of the Early Trauma Treatment Network at the Child Witness to Violence Project at Boston Medical Center. She is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Boston University School of Medicine, a Child-Parent Psychotherapy National Trainer, an expert faculty of the DC: 0-5 Training. She is also a co-developer of the Diversity-Informed Tenets Initiative, the BMC Family Preparedness Plan for Immigrant Families and of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) Being Anti-Racist is Central to Trauma-informed Care: Principles of An Anti-Racist, Trauma-Informed Organization. As a clinician, supervisor, trainer and consultant Ms. Noroña’s work has focused on understanding the impact of historical trauma, displacement and colonization in young children in minoritized families and implementing interventions tailored to their unique strengths, needs and socio-cultural-historical, racial ethnic and linguistic contexts. Ms. Noroña is also committed to addressing the intersection of systemic inequities and secondary traumatic stress in the workforce via promoting diversity-informed reflective consultation/supervision, skills training, Radical Healing strategies and organizational accountability. At the NCTSN she is a member of the Steering Committee, a core faculty of the Being Anti-Racist is Central to Trauma-Informed Care Initiative, and co-chair of the Latin American Families Collaborative group. Ms. Noroña has contributed to the literature in infant and early childhood mental health, reflective supervision, diversity and immigration and has adapted and translated materials for Spanish-speaking families affected by trauma

Jennifer Boss is the Director of Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health (IECMH) Coordination and Strategy at ZERO TO THREE. She has extensive experience in the early childhood field, including management and leadership in areas such as early care and education, child development, family engagement, home visiting, infant and early childhood mental health, and supervision. Prior to her current role, Jennifer was the Director of the National Center on Early Childhood Development, Teaching, and Learning, and Director of the Early Head Start National Resource Center. Before joining ZERO TO THREE, Jennifer was a Child Development Specialist in an Early Head Start program and a mental health clinician serving children and families in homes, schools and clinics. Jennifer has written about and trained extensively on early childhood development and early childhood mental health.

Dr. Eva Marie Shivers, J.D., Ph.D. is the founder and executive director of Indigo Cultural Center, a non-profit action research firm located in the stolen lands of Tohono O’odham and Hohokam (AKA: Phoenix, AZ).

She identifies as a bi-racial African American, able-bodied, cis-gendered woman and is the proud Mama of a beautiful African American, 11-year-old boy who is neuro-divergent. She is an action-based researcher and evaluator working at the crossroads of infant and early childhood mental health (IECMH) and early care and education. She is a dancer/yoga practitioner, and practices embodied healing. Dr. Shivers is an equity harmonizer and healer (i.e., equity trainer and facilitator). Her professional work facilitating conversations about racial equity and early childhood is closely aligned with my spiritual life and deeply held convictions about humanity.

For the past 15 years, Dr. Shivers has been providing early childhood racial equity training and consultation to infant and early childhood community agencies and state departments around the country and have been a frequent keynote speaker at infant and early childhood mental health conferences around the country. For the past 22 years, she has provided child care research policy consultation to federal, state and local government agencies and administrators. Dr. Shivers has also provided early childhood racial equity policy consultation to several federal administrations – including the Obama and Biden administrations. She is a proud ZERO TO THREE Fellow (2005-2007) and was on faculty at the Harris Infant Mental Health Training Institute in Phoenix, AZ for seven years. For the past 5 years, she mostly serves the IECMH workforce around the country – including reflective supervisors and leaders, and specifically the IECMH consultation workforce.