The Back to School with Trauma in Mind webinar will focus on the increased trauma our children face related to the pandemic and the increase in school and community gun violence. Three community experts in their fields, Catherine A. Gray, Deputy Director and Clinical Director for the Anne Arundel County Mental Health Agency; Lt. Steven Thomas, Anne Arundel County International Critical Incident Stress Foundation (ICISF) and Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) Team Coordinator; and Pamela Brown, Ph.D., Executive Director of the Anne Arundel County Partnership for Children, Youth and Families, will discuss and provide information related to trauma’s impact on children. Participants will learn how to help children return to school using a trauma-informed approach. This webinar is part of CFAAC’s Becoming a Trauma-Informed County series.

This event is open to the public and free to registered participants; and is part of CFAAC's Community Impact Speaker Series.

About the Speakers:

Catherine A. Gray, MSW, LCSW-C, is the Deputy Director and Clinical Director for the Anne Arundel County Mental Health Agency where she provides oversight and supervision of the Crisis Response System and the agency’s clinical services team. As an integral member of the leadership management team, she is responsible for ensuring that clinical standards, funding and regulatory compliance requirements are met in service delivery to clients. She is trained in Strategic Family Therapy, Therapeutic Crisis Intervention, Critical Incident Stress Management, Trauma Informed Care, Applied Suicide Skills Intervention Training and Resilience. She has worked in the mental health field for over 25 years and has extensive experience in clinical social work and crisis intervention. Catherine received her master’s degree in Social Work from University of Maryland, Baltimore School of Social Work.

Lt. Steven Thomas, CCISM, is the Anne Arundel County International Critical Incident Stress Foundation (ICISF) and Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) Team Coordinator. He is an ICISF-approved instructor and in the spring of 2019 received the ICISF Pioneering Spirt Award at their World Congress. He is also a Youth & Adult Mental Health First Aid Instructor and was named a top 100 instructor at the 2018 Mental Health First Aid Summit in Washington D.C.

In 2019, he was awarded Police Assisted Addiction Recovery Initiative (PAARI) leadership award for his role in developing and implementing Anne Arundel County’s Safe Station Program. Steven has a BA from UMBC in Political Science and Sociology and a MA from the University of Baltimore in Legal and Ethical Studies. He started his career as a patrolman with the AAC Police in 1996 where he remained in patrol until he became the Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) and Peer Support Coordinator in 2016. In 2020 the Anne Arundel County CIT Unit was named CIT International’s CIT Unit of the Year.

Pamela Brown, Ph.D., is currently the Executive Director of the Anne Arundel County Partnership for Children, Youth and Families; one of the 24 Maryland Local Management Boards. She has held several leadership positions over the past 30 years in government and in the not-for-profit sector. Throughout her career she has worked on addressing inequities across government and educational systems. She completed her Ph.D. in Educational Leadership at Florida Atlantic University. Pamela is a certified Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)/trauma trainer.