Tim Grove
Wellpoint Care Network
Senior Consultant
Tim Grove, MSSW, is a senior consultant at Wellpoint Care Network (formerly SaintA), a human services agency whose mission it is to facilitate equity, learning, healing and wellness for all. He has over 25 years of professional experience in a variety of direct care, administrative and executive positions. Tim created, developed and lead Wellpoint’s Trauma Informed Care (TIC) initiatives. He created a TIC training curriculum centered around the Seven Essential Ingredients, or 7ei, of understanding and practicing TIC. Tim and the training team at Wellpoint have used the 7ei framework to train more than 60,000 people from diverse disciplines over the past 15 years.
Tim is an Affiliate of the Institute for Child and Family Well-being.
Tim is a Mentor with Dr. Bruce Perry’s Neuroseqential Network and a Master Trainer in Dr. Rob Anda and Laura Porter’s ACE Interface curriculum. Tim and the Wellpoint team’s work has been highlighted and published in a number of magazines, journals and newspapers. He was the lead project manager of a three year research study on the effectiveness of 7ei in child welfare outcomes which demonstrated positive effect on creating placement stability and permanency for kids. Tim is recognized nationally as a trauma informed care expert and was interviewed by Oprah Winfrey for a 60 Minutes segment on trauma and resilience.
Ashlee Jackson
Children’s Wisconsin’s Family Support Program – Milwaukee
Family Support Specialist I
Ashlee Jackson is a Family Support Specialist II at Children’s Wisconsin in Milwaukee. She has worked for Children’s for 8 years, 6 of those as a Family Support Specialist, and 2 in our Prevention Program as a Home Visitor. She also has volunteer experience supporting families at the La Causa Crisis Nursery. Ashlee graduated with her BSSW from UW-Milwaukee.
Jennifer Jones
Prevent Child Abuse America
Chief Strategy Officer
Jennifer Jones, MSW, serves as the Chief Strategy Officer at Prevent Child Abuse America (PCA America) where she develops, implements, and advocates for an integrated strategic framework to help grow PCA America’s leadership role consistent with national prevention priorities, and serves as the lead on regional and national strategic partnerships. Prior to her role with PCA America, Jones was the Director of the Change in Mind Institute and the Co-Director of the Safety and Resilience Impact Area at the Alliance for Strong Families and Communities. Jones led all aspects of the Institute, including raising $1.7 million for the Texas Change in Mind Learning Collaborative and National Impact Study. Jones also served as the Project Director of the Child Safety Forward Initiative, a three-year Department of Justice cooperative agreement working with 5 jurisdictions to develop community-led, systematic solutions to reduce child fatalities caused by child maltreatment. Jones worked closely with the Alliance policy team, other national organizations and congressional representatives to advance brain science infused policy and trauma-informed care legislation. Preceding her role at the Alliance, Jones served as the Associate Director of the Wisconsin Children’s Trust Fund (CTF). In her last two years at the agency, Jones served as Interim Executive Director, at the Board’s request, and coordinated all activities related to the Governor-appointed Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Board, including managing all operations, and overseeing the agency’s budget and grantmaking functions. Before her positions with the Children’s Trust Fund, Jennifer served as the communications specialist in the Secretary’s Office at the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families and as a child welfare policy advisor in the Wisconsin Division of Children and Family Services. Jones is an affiliate of the Institute for Child and Family Well-Being, a joint project of Children’s Wisconsin and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Jones is also a member of the National HOPE (Healthy Outcomes from Positive Experiences) Advisory Board and serves on the Board of Directors of the Hunger Task Force. Jennifer received her master’s in social work from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and bachelor’s in social work from Marquette University.
Hannah Kirk
Children’s Wisconsin’s Healthy Start Program Milwaukee
Healthy Start Supervisor
Hannah Kirk is the Healthy Start Supervisor in Milwaukee, and was previously a Family Case Manager Training Specialist with Children’s Wisconsin, who partners with the Division of Milwaukee Child Protective Services.
Hannah has dedicated her professional career to Child Welfare within Milwaukee County, where she has worked extensively with children who have adverse childhood experiences. Hannah has a decade of experience in child welfare, where she has served children and families extensively with strengths-based and evidence-based interventions. Hannah has trained several child welfare case managers at Children’s Wisconsin over the last four years, supporting service implementation, and highlighting the importance of community engagement.
Hannah earned her Masters of Social Work from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 2021 and served as an intern with the Institute. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.
Bryan Samuels
Chapin Hall
Executive Director
Bryan Samuels is the Executive Director of Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago, a nonprofit policy research institute focused on connecting research to action. Under Bryan’s leadership, Chapin Hall is actively working in more than 40 states in building knowledge and creating solutions with and for public system partners, community leaders and members, and families—all with an aim to improve the wellbeing of children and youth and ensure all families thrive.
Across his career, Bryan’s work has centered on identifying and addressing inequities using evidence in policymaking. Key accomplishments include the creation and application of a well-being framework based on the best developmental understanding of normal childhood development; formation of a shared and actionable understanding of the effects of exposure to violence, trauma, poverty, and adverse childhood experiences on the mental, emotional, behavioral, and physical health of children; and emphasis on the importance of building the capacity of public and private child- and family-serving systems and organizations to focus on and produce positive outcomes.
Bryan was appointed by President Obama as the Commissioner of the Administration on Children, Youth, and Families (ACYF), where he served from 2009 to 2013 and leveraged the work of federal departments including Health and Human Services, Justice, and Education, among others, on behalf of children in foster care, youth experiencing housing instability, and families impacted by domestic violence. He received his B.A. in Economics from the University of Notre Dame in 1989 and his M.P.P. from the University of Chicago-Harris School in 1993.
Dr. Kristen Slack
University of Wisconsin School of Social Work
Dr. Kristen Slack’s research focuses on understanding the role of poverty and economic hardship in the etiology of child maltreatment, with a particular emphasis on child neglect. She is also interested in the caseload dynamics of child welfare systems in relation to other public benefit systems, and in community-based programs designed to prevent child maltreatment. Her work advances approaches to better coordinating services and benefits to effectively address the economic needs of families at risk for child maltreatment, and improved assessment strategies for identifying risks and protective factors related to child neglect. Her current research is supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Wisconsin Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Board. Dr. Slack has been published in dozens of academic journals, authored dozens of reports and manuscripts, and been primary investigator on over 20 federally-funded research projects.
Dr. Slack is also the founder of Prof2Prof, a free platform for professionals and doctoral students in academia to showcase their work, network, and find resources for college teaching, research, higher education administration, and student affairs services.
Theresa Swiechowski
Children’s Wisconsin’s Family Support Program – Merrill
Family Support Supervisor
Theresa Swiechowski is a Family Support Supervisor for Children’s Wisconsin’s Northwoods Family Resource Centers, where she has worked for 7 years in various roles. She is a UW Oshkosh graduate with a bachelor’s degree in Human Services. After moving around a bit from Oshkosh to the state of Maine, she and her husband returned to her hometown of Merrill, Wisconsin to raise their 5 children. The balance of work and family is always a challenge for families and theirs was no exception. Theresa’s career, although weaved in and out of raising her kids, has always been working in the human service field but mainly in case management involving mental health, addiction, and parent education. Over the years, she has seen those that were faced with the most difficult obstacles, build resilience and become super heroes of their own stories.
Soua Thao
Children’s Wisconsin’s Family Preservation and Support Program – Wausau
Home Visitor
Soua Thao has been a Home Visitor for Children’s Wisconsin for 16 years. She serves parents of young children from before they have their child up to their child’s fifth birthday. Soua works primarily with Hmong families in Central Wisconsin. Over the past 18 months, I have had the pleasure of getting to know Soua as she has worked with me as a champion for elevating the voice of the families that she serves to better design and improve our programs. I was thrilled when she accepted our invitation to participate in this podcast as she brings so much experience and understanding of the families that she serves, their strengths, the challenges that they face, and the opportunities that our programs and systems have to support and empower them further.
Bregetta Wilson
Wisconsin Department for Children and Families
Lived Experience Coordinator
Bregetta Wilson, MS, LPC-IT, is a positive person, an advocate, community leader, and change agent. She has been working for and with families for the last eighteen years. Bregetta has worked with Pew Charitable Trusts and National Organization Foster Club on Capitol Hill to bring awareness and issues regarding children and families on behalf of Wisconsin. She is a recipient of the Black Excellence Award for her work around Child & Youth Advocacy. Bregetta’s current role within the Department of Children and Families includes working with Lived Experience Partners to elevate the voices of families and children within system and policy change.
Through her organization Embrace Improve Empower, LLC. Bregetta supports organizations with mental health and community engagement efforts. She is a contracted psychotherapist for the Multicultural Trauma and Addiction Treatment Center of Wisconsin, providing mental health services to families in Wisconsin.
She is active in her community around social justice efforts and serves on the boards of the YWCA of Southeast Wisconsin, Rubies and Milwaukee Center for Children and Youth; she is a member of Professional Dimensions, a network of women professionals in Milwaukee and an Alum of Forward48.
A graduate of Alverno and Cardinal Stritch University, she resides in Milwaukee with her fiancé, three children, and pet Husky. Bregetta enjoys going to Orangetheory, dancing, traveling, collecting crystals, practicing holistic aspects of healing, and spending time with family and friends.
Julie Woodbury
Children’s Wisconsin’s Family Preservation and Support Program – Black River Falls
Family Preservation and Support Manager
Dr. Julie Woodbury has been actively involved in the education of families and youth for more than 30 years. Her focus has been on teaching resilience to emerging adults through youth education and development, staff management, and leadership. Julie has been with Children’s Wisconsin for 6 years and is currently a Family Preservation and Support Manager in Black River Falls, Wisconsin. Dr. Woodbury supervises the delivery of child abuse prevention services to Children’s Wisconsin clients in the Western Wisconsin area. She holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Technical Management, a Master’s Degree in Public Administration with an emphasis on Non-Profit Organizations, and a Doctorate in Education.