TSI Staff
Patricia Wilcox, LCSW, is the Vice President of Strategic Development at Klingberg Family Centers in New Britain, Connecticut and also part of the Traumatic Stress Institute team. Her career in child and family treatment has included the state child welfare system, the Superior Court, private practice and Newington Children’s Hospital Day Treatment. At Klingberg she has been a clinician and the Clinical Director before obtaining her current position in 2005. She specializes in treatment of traumatized children and their families and has presented extensively on this topic.
Pat is the creator of the Restorative Approach®, a trauma and relationship-based approach to congregate care treatment of children, and its companion book, Trauma-Informed Treatment: the Restorative Approach. She has presented at NASW, the International Conference on Violence, Abuse, and Trauma; The American Association of Children’s Residential Centers; the Alliance for Children and Families; The Child Welfare League of America; and the Black Administrators on Child Welfare.
Steve Brown, Psy.D., is the Director of the Traumatic Stress Institute of Klingberg Family Centers. A clinical psychologist, he is a primary architect of TSI’s Whole-System Change Model to Trauma-Informed Care (TIC). In 2020, he authored the adaption of Risking Connection® to organizations serving people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). He is a co-creator, with Dr. Courtney Baker, of the Attitudes Related to Trauma-Informed Care (ARTIC) Scale, one of the first psychometric measures of TIC.
Steve trains professionals nationally on psychological trauma and trauma-informed care. In addition to being a psychologist, he is a long time sexuality educator/trainer and author of Streetwise to Sex-Wise: Sexuality Education for High Risk Youth, a sexuality education curricula used internationally by agencies and schools serving high-risk youth.
Mary Jo Harwood, LSW, DNCCM is a Lead Program Coordinator for the Traumatic Stress Institute of Klingberg Family Centers. A significant part of her 30-plus years as a licensed social worker has been spent supporting the recovery of individuals and communities after traumatic incidents. She has provided trauma-informed leadership to victim service organizations, mental health providers, and served in the capacity of a therapist, EMDR practitioner, crisis responder, and trainer.
Mary Jo is a member of Mediators Beyond Borders International (MBBI). She has worked in Liberia with ex-combatants and in South Sudan with women peacebuilders, and has also consulted with teams in Northern Nigeria and Kenya to address the intersection of trauma and peacebuilding through the application of conflict- and trauma-sensitive programming. She is currently a Facilitator for the MBBI project: “Trauma-informed peacebuilding for mediators and facilitators in Ukraine.”
John Engel is the Associate Director for the Traumatic Stress Institute of Klingberg Family Centers. John oversees all aspects of TSI’s training and consultation services, including sales and delivery of the Whole-System Change Model. John supports departmental operations, including strategic planning, organizational development, staffing, and budgeting. Additionally, John has been an advocate for mindfulness in the workplace. He envisioned and implemented Monthly Risking Connection (RC) Mindfulness sessions for our RC community – a natural fit with our RC curriculum – as a method for both helping clients and supporting treaters’ self-care.
In his former roles as Executive Director of MERGE for Equality and author of the column The Fatherhood Journey for the Daily Hampshire Gazette, John worked to promote public and private conversations about fatherhood and gender equality.
LaVerne Baker Hotep is a Program Coordinator for the Traumatic Stress Institute of Klingberg Family Centers. With over 30 years in social service and a special interest in historical and intergenerational trauma, she has co-lead training for various client serving agencies around the country. With members of Mediators Beyond Borders International, LaVerne has co-facilitated trauma response training in Liberia and South Sudan.
Previously, LaVerne served as a Family Development Specialist and Resource Navigator at the Kingsley Association in Pittsburgh, PA, serving Allegheny County’s East Liberty Family Center where she founded and continues to convene Me2 Sister Circle, an international trauma-informed self-care and enrichment group for women. As former director of community education for the Center for Victims in Pittsburgh, PA, she initiated and convened culturally significant conferences to educate about trauma and its impact in vulnerable communities.
Elaine E. Liberato Jenkins, M.S., is a Program Coordinator focused on the intellectual and developmental disability (IDD) sector for the Traumatic Stress Institute of Klingberg Family Centers. Elaine’s passion lies in advocacy for young children and their families – especially those with special needs. She has a special interest in coaching and development of early childhood educators and community leadership. Elaine is an active member of the early childhood community in Mecklenburg county, North Carolina. She serves on several community advocacy committees that promote the health of families and their children, influencing local agencies and preschool programs to support children’s social and emotional development, as well as increasing awareness of early childhood trauma experiences to create inclusive learning settings, equity, and diversity.
Elaine also has consulted at the national level as a Federal Monitoring Reviewer for federally-funded preschool programs, served as a Professor at The University of North Carolina at Charlotte under the School of Education, is a Triple P (Positive Parenting Program) practitioner, and was a Disability Mental Health Consultant for a Head Start program for 7 years. In 2022 she joined the Board of Directors for Smart Start of Mecklenburg County. Elaine is originally from the Dominican Republic and was raised in New York City. While there, she planned, designed, and implemented an inclusion program for a local Early Head Start/Head Start program that served a total of 625 enrolled children and families. She has over 15 years of field experience working closely with diverse groups – of families, children, educators, administrators, and community agencies – to help them move toward whole-system change.
Callie Hardin is the Senior Research Coordinator for the Traumatic Stress Institute of Klingberg Family Centers. She leads all aspects of the ARTIC Scale product line and co-developed the Online ARTIC platform. Callie manages a growing body of multi-year Online ARTIC studies, conducts program evaluations for Client Agencies, and prides herself on offering compassionate guidance around data collection best practices and trauma-informed recommendations so clients can achieve high response rates and get the most out of their reports. While Callie’s main focus is the ARTIC Scale, her organizational and technical prowess has greatly benefited the TSI team, most notably by customizing a CRM system that improved our ability to manage growing complexities throughout our department.
Community organizing in New Orleans has been a vital part of Callie’s personal growth for many years. She has committed to the ongoing work of Undoing Racism in all aspects of our world and her own life. Working for TSI has allowed Callie to increase that lens to integrate concepts around Trauma-Informed Care and racial trauma into her organizing. Callie is an active member in Klingberg’s IDEAS (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity,Awareness & Sensitivity) Committee, supporting Klingberg leaders to increase alignment between the organization’s stated values and actions.
LaTasha Reece, M.S., is the Research Associate for the Traumatic Stress Institute of Klingberg Family Centers. She assists the Senior Research Coordinator with the aspects of the ARTIC scale product line including assisting client agencies, data collection and management and supporting her TSI team members. LaTasha is a trauma-focused physiologist and quantitative researcher with a background in molecular biology and biotechnology. She is committed to improving the lives of women and children of color via physiological assessment of stressors in the individual and addressing systemic racism in healthcare institutions. LaTasha is also a proud wife and mother of two beautiful little girls. When not working, LaTasha loves to spend time with her family, reading, exercising and exploring her love comics, anime, and college football!
Chris Greene is the Marketing Coordinator for the Traumatic Stress Institute of Klingberg Family Centers. Her focus has always been on creating a sense of community and bettering TSI’s systems to improve our clients’ experiences. During her time with TSI, Chris renovated – and continues to update and enhance – the TSI website, improved the production process for TSI training materials, and helped launch a CRM system that improved our ability to manage growing complexities around our Whole-System Change implementation and professional development events processes.
Prior to her work for TSI, Chris served in both administrative and management capacities for Planned Parenthood and Antarctic Support Associates, worked in direct care and social work settings, and gained event management and mentoring experience as a volunteer for Girl Scouts.
Samm Winebrenner is the Operations Support Specialist for the Traumatic Stress Institute of Klingberg Family Centers. She has over a decade of experience in customer service, as well as in financial institutions and sales. She is passionate about personal identity, and is active in an online LGBTQ+ community group that supports individuals struggling with acceptance. When not working, she can be found spoiling her dog and two cats or sewing in her lair.
