2026 Winter Workshops Schedule
Most sessions will be held in the Spiritual Life Center with a virtual attendance option. Exceptions are noted below.
Please note your attendance preference on your registration. Links for virtual sessions will be sent prior to the event.
Sessions marked with an asterisk (*) denote that
CEUs are available.
Questions: Please contact Mandy Posey, Associate Director of Training:
aposey@cunninghamhome.org
Cunningham “Show How You Care” Fair (in-person only)
Tuesday, February 17, 2026 | 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM
REGISTER HERE
Description: Join us for the Cunningham “Show How You Care” Fair—an afternoon dedicated to embracing self-care and well-being! Discover hands-on activities, wellness tips, and rejuvenating techniques, all demonstrated by your Cunningham peers. From mindfulness practices to relaxation strategies, this event is designed to inspire you to prioritize yourself! Come and go as your schedule allows. Bonus: This event can be counted toward your Wellness Education credits for the PY26 Wellness Program
Introduction to Trust Based Relational Intervention (TBRI)*
Wednesday, February 18, 2026 | 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
REGISTER HERE | 2.0 CEUs
Description: This workshop will provide an overview of Trust Based Relational Intervention (TBRI). TBRI is a parenting and intervention approach that helps children heal from trauma through connection and caregiving. TBRI is based on neuroscience, attachment theory, and sensory processing research and focuses on building trust and meeting the child’s needs. TBRI is an evidence-based practice used in families, schools, treatment centers and communities.
Presenter: Dori Choy, LCSW is an Associate Director within the Residential program at Cunningham Children’s Home. She is also a wife, an adoptive mom and a newly minted grandmother (to Hammy the Hamster). She has focused her career on child welfare and has led foster care programs and intensive placement stabilization programs in Indiana prior to moving to Illinois in 2019 and joining the Cunningham team. She is currently supporting the TBRI implementation at Cunningham on a part-time basis and is the owner of Charis Life Consulting, a practice offering therapy, training and consultation.
Bridges Toward Better: A Cultural Awareness and Responsiveness Training*
Friday, February 20, 2026 | 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
REGISTER HERE | 2.0 CEUs
Description: This interactive course is designed to strengthen participants’ cultural awareness and responsiveness by exploring the foundational elements of culture, identity, and awareness. Participants will examine the key components of culture and gain a deeper understanding of personal versus social identity. Through guided reflection and practical discussion, the course highlights how social identities influence professional roles, career pathways, and program delivery. Participants will also learn intentional, actionable strategies to enhance cultural sensitivity and equity in their work, ensuring programs and services are responsive to the diverse communities they serve.
Presenter: Alexa McCoy, MPH is the University of Illinois Extension Educator for DeWitt, Macon, Piatt, Champaign, Ford, Vermillion and Iroquois counties. She has 16 years of experience in health administration, including case and disease management, and previously worked as a Population Health Facilitator for Carle Health. Alexa holds a Master of Public Health from Columbia Southern University. She is passionate about using her healthcare experience to empower communities and improve local public health outcomes.
Foundations in Regulation: A Trauma-Informed, Integrative Approach to Support Clients’ Mental Health* (virtual only)
Tuesday, February 24, 2026 | 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM
REGISTER HERE | 3.0 CEUs
Description: This training provides a comprehensive “Bottom-Up” framework for therapeutic practice, prioritizing the autonomic nervous system as the critical intervening variable between stimulus and response. Through the lens of Polyvagal Theory, the course explores neurobiology, sensory processing, and the clinical application of sound and music-based interventions to support regulation in clients with trauma histories. Participants will develop practical skills in mapping and tracking autonomic states, utilizing evidence-based regulating activities, and creating Polyvagal-informed treatment plans that emphasize safety, connection, and provider self-regulation.
Presenters: Laurie Belanger is an experienced keynote speaker and trauma therapist with more than 25 years of experience working with children, adolescents, adults, and families navigating complex challenges. She is known for translating trauma-informed concepts into practical, encouraging strategies that resonate with both large and small organizations. Laurie takes a strengths-based approach grounded in multiple theoretical frameworks, with a focus on real-world application. She is a Certified EMDR Therapist, an Approved EMDR Consultant through EMDRIA (the International Association for EMDR Therapy), and an EMDR Educator. In addition, Laurie is formally trained as a TBRI® Practitioner, a Certified Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP) provider, and a Unyte-approved Mentor. She also serves as a consultant on complex clinical cases.
Marcelo Sena is a seasoned business leader, certified trauma-informed coach and Safe and Sound Protocol provider with over 20 years of cross-sector experience and a passion for mental health innovation. In the last decade, he has specialized in nervous system regulation tools, such as HRV biofeedback, Polyvagal Theory, and the Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP). Marcelo is committed to advancing mental health practices that foster safety and healing in communities. As a founding member of Unyte Health, he actively collaborates with clinical leaders and administrators to strategically implement the SSP in diverse settings, including residential treatment centers, community mental health groups, family and foster care services, hospitals and schools. His efforts have resulted in enhanced therapeutic outcomes, improved client engagement, and better staff well-being.
Nurture Groups in TBRI and Beyond* (in-person only)
Thursday, February 26, 2026 | 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM
REGISTER HERE | 1.0 CEU
Description: Nurture Groups are an important part of TBRI programing. These groups are structured, pre-planned and focused on connection and empowering clients to express themselves and allow for both giving and receiving of care. Nurture groups should be fun, active and safe; this session will focus on the components as well as the function of Nurture Groups and how they can be used within programing and outside of TBRI programing to support clients and staff. This will be experiential training, please expect to engage in components of the nurture group.
Presenter: Dori Choy, LCSW is an Associate Director within the Residential program at Cunningham Children’s Home. She is also a wife, an adoptive mom and a newly minted grandmother (to Hammy the Hamster). She has focused her career on child welfare and has led foster care programs and intensive placement stabilization programs in Indiana prior to moving to Illinois in 2019 and joining the Cunningham team. She is currently supporting the TBRI implementation at Cunningham on a part-time basis and is the owner of Charis Life Consulting, a practice offering therapy, training and consultation.
Supporting Autistic Children*
Monday, March 2, 2026 | 1:30 PM – 3:00 PM
REGISTER HERE | 1.5 CEUs
Description: This beginner-level training is for professionals who are interested in learning more about autism. The training will cover a general overview of autism spectrum condition and best practices for creating supportive environments when working with autistic children. Sensory considerations and regulation strategies will also be reviewed.
Presenters: Adrienne Shockley is the Associate Director of The Autism Program (TAP) at the University of Illinois and an instructor of autism and neurodiversity in the Department of Human Development & Family Services. She oversees TAP’s Resource Room and supervises student interns who support its work. Adrienne provides community training and consultation on autism and neurodiversity, with a primary focus on early childhood settings. Her background includes early childhood special education, developmental therapy, and training in the PLAY Project. She also facilitates a play group for preschool-aged children on the autism spectrum, coaching parents and caregivers to support play and communication development.
Cassie Alpers is the Assistant Director of The Autism Program (TAP) at the University of Illinois, where she helps oversee the Resource Room and supervises student interns. She provides community training and consultation on autism and neurodiversity, primarily in educational settings. Cassie has a background in special education, with teaching experience across a range of settings and with individuals ages 5–22 who have diverse support needs. She also holds a master’s degree in social work and has worked as a mental health therapist with neurodiverse individuals of all ages. She draws on this experience to provide direct services to families, including resource referral and advocacy, and to lead a social group for neurodiverse elementary and middle school-aged children.
Building Supportive Environments for Autistic and Neurodiverse Individuals*
Tuesday, March 3, 2026 | 9:00 AM – 10:30 AM or
Wednesday, March 4, 2026 |1:45 PM – 3:15 PM
REGISTER HERE | 1.5 CEUs
Description: This is an intermediate-level training for professionals who are interested in furthering their knowledge of autism. The training will cover an in-depth overview of autism spectrum condition and best practices for creating supportive clinical environments when working with autistic individuals. The relationship between autism and trauma, embracing a neurodiversity-affirming framework, and executive functioning will be reviewed. An overview of ABA therapy will also be included.
Presenters: Adrienne Shockley is the Associate Director of The Autism Program (TAP) at the University of Illinois and an instructor of autism and neurodiversity in the Department of Human Development & Family Services. She oversees TAP’s Resource Room and supervises student interns who support its work. Adrienne provides community training and consultation on autism and neurodiversity, with a primary focus on early childhood settings. Her background includes early childhood special education, developmental therapy, and training in the PLAY Project. She also facilitates a play group for preschool-aged children on the autism spectrum, coaching parents and caregivers to support play and communication development.
Cassie Alpers is the Assistant Director of The Autism Program (TAP) at the University of Illinois, where she helps oversee the Resource Room and supervises student interns. She provides community training and consultation on autism and neurodiversity, primarily in educational settings. Cassie has a background in special education, with teaching experience across a range of settings and with individuals ages 5–22 who have diverse support needs. She also holds a master’s degree in social work and has worked as a mental health therapist with neurodiverse individuals of all ages. She draws on this experience to provide direct services to families, including resource referral and advocacy, and to lead a social group for neurodiverse elementary and middle school-aged children.
Impacts of Indirect Trauma: Understanding Secondary Traumatic Stress, Vicarious Trauma, Compassion Fatigue, and Burnout*
Thursday, March 5, 2026 | 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM
REGISTER HERE | 3.0 CEUs
Description: This training will inform helping professionals’ knowledge of Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS), Vicarious Trauma (VT), Compassion Fatigue (CF), and Burnout. It aims to increase participants’ awareness of these concepts as well as how to identify techniques and methods to address the impact these have on personal and professional well-being. This course will further identify protective factors and prevention strategies to help support individuals in their daily lives.
Presenters: Stephanie Johansson, LCSW currently serves as a Field Specialist with the Provider Assistance and Training Hub (PATH) team, providing training and support pertaining to the IM+CANS, IM-CAT, and other curriculum that assists Illinois providers in obtaining the necessary skills to help individuals and families make meaningful changes in their lives. Prior to joining the PATH team, Stephanie provided individual, couples, and family therapy in both community-based mental health and private practice settings, with a focus on childhood exposure to violence and trauma-focused care and interventions. She also has more than a decade of experience in administrative roles, leadership and management, and training creation and provision throughout the state in a variety of settings.
Amber Estes, LCPC currently serves as a Clinical Quality Review Specialist with the Provider Assistance and Training Hub (PATH) at the University of Illinois School of Social Work. Prior to joining the PATH team, Amber worked for over 16 years at a residential treatment center that served adolescent males ages 12 to 21. While in this setting, Amber worked in several different roles including direct care, supervisor, and therapist. Amber is trained in trauma specific therapy techniques such as Trauma Focused-Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy. She has extensive experience working with youth and families who have experienced complex trauma as well as mentoring and supervising staff who have experienced indirect trauma.
Ghada Abdalla, MSW is a Family Advocate Specialist with the University of Illinois School of Social Work PATH Program, where she supports the development and delivery of training for Family Peer Supporters. She helped establish a Family Peer Support program in Connecticut and continues to contribute to content development and quality improvement efforts. Ghada holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a clinical diploma earned in Egypt and has professional experience as a psychologist, educator, and nonprofit founder supporting parents and children with disabilities. She has provided family support across multiple countries and U.S. states and recently earned her master’s degree in social work from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Her work is informed by both professional expertise and lived experience, with a strong focus on family resilience.
ADHD 2.0: Shifting the Narrative from Deficits to Strengths* (virtual only)
Friday, March 6, 2026 | 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM
REGISTER HERE | 1.5 CEUs
Description: For all the gains we’ve made in understanding and treating ADHD, we still get one core component wrong: focusing on deficits rather than strengths. In ADHD 2.0, world-renowned author Edward M. Hallowell, MD, draws on the latest science to provide an arsenal of new strategies and lifestyle hacks to help your clients/students thrive with ADHD, including how to:
-Look at ADHD as a spectrum of traits
-Enhance the creativity and entrepreneurial spirit inherent in the ADHD mind
-Embrace the innate neurological tendencies as an antidote to negative thinking
As inspiring as it is practical, you will leave with the confidence to help your clients/students tap into the power of this condition and find the key that unlocks their potential!
Presenter: Edward (Ned) Hallowell, MD, is a psychiatrist, ADHD expert, Founder of The Hallowell Centers, and NYT bestselling author of 22 books, including Driven to Distraction, Delivered from Distraction, and ADHD 2.0: New Science and Essential Strategies for Thriving with Distraction. He’s been featured on 20/20, 60 Minutes, Oprah, Dateline, The View, and more.