Speaking & training
Photo: Georgetown University
Every system runs through a body.
Across more than 25 years in therapy rooms, refugee camps, child welfare agencies, and government programs, I have seen the same thing: people understand what needs to change long before they have the capacity or the conditions to act on it. Insight is rarely what's missing.
I speak and train on what closes that gap. History, power, and institutional conditions arrive in bodies and relationships, and they shape what people can do under pressure, whether that pressure sits in a family, a clinical encounter, an organization under strain, or a public system.
All engagements are available in English and Spanish, in person and online.
The System Lives in the Body
How Power Shapes Capacity · PDF, 2 pagesA two-page guide to recognizing patterns under pressure, what people and teams can practice, and what requires changes in power and working conditions.Read the guideSelected engagements
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Polyvagal Institute, 2026 International Gathering
Main-stage presentation, How History and Power Shape Nervous Systems in Conflict, to an international audience in person and online, with simultaneous interpretation into five languages. Sitges, Barcelona, Spain, 2026. Event details
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Casey Family Programs
Plenary and workshop for child welfare leaders from 17 states at the National Child Welfare Well-Being Transformation Collaborative Conference.The System Lives in the Body addressed power and institutional conditions; Crossing Over and Coming Back focused on vicarious trauma, boundaries, and staying connected under pressure. Detroit, Michigan, 2026.
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County Welfare Directors Association of California (CWDA)
Training, Staying Steady and Connected in Complex Work, at the annual meeting of California's 58 county human services directors, who together oversee services for more than 10 million people. Palm Springs, California, 2025.
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Acacia Center for Justice
Six-part experiential training series for staff at a national organization supporting legal defense for immigrants facing detention or deportation. Sessions covered nervous system regulation, vicarious trauma, and the supervision and organizational conditions that make the work sustainable. 2026.
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University of the Philippines–Philippine General Hospital
Guest speaker in the Baltazar V. Reyes Jr. Psychotherapy Lecture Series, hosted by the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine for mental health professionals from across the Philippines. 2026.
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Chaddock, Trauma-Informed, Relationship-Focused Conference
Keynote, Trauma, Attachment, and the Nervous System: Lessons for Healing in a Fractured Time, at the Trauma-Informed, Relationship-Focused Conference. Quincy, Illinois, 2026. Conference Program
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New Museum
In-person training series for teaching artists at New York's contemporary art museum, on trauma-informed approaches to working with young people in arts education. New York, 2026.
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Casey Family Programs, immigration and child welfare convening
Training for child welfare agency leaders on nervous system patterns in organizational decision-making, communication, and culture. Sacramento, California, 2025.
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Office of Refugee Resettlement, Unaccompanied Children Program
National training for federal staff and partner organizations serving unaccompanied children, on authentic youth engagement. 2023–2025. Watch an excerpt
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The Clemente and Canal Projects
Experiential workshop, Dept of Transformation: Un-familia-r, hosted by Prem Krishnamurthy, on embodied awareness, self-reflection, and connection. New York, 2024. Event details
Conversations & public engagement
Technology, AI, and the nervous system
With Travis Goodman on Wired for Connection, the Polyvagal Institute podcast. On attention, digital connection, and the line between AI that supports or capacity and AI that substitutes for them. Listen
Connection, safety, and attachment
With Kirsty Nolan on Attachment Theory in Action. On how attachment shapes relationships in therapy, families, communities, and institutions. Listen
Religion and child rights in the United States
A conversation I moderated for Georgetown University’s Collaborative on Global Children’s Issues. Watch
School stability for children in foster care
Testimony before the New York City Council and a news segment on how staying in the same school supports healing, connection, and sucess.
Aspen Institute
Fellow, American Express Leadership Academy for Nonprofit Leaders. Watch
Book a talk or training
I offer keynotes, half- and full-day workshops, training series, and leadership consultation. Audiences range from parents, caregivers, and clinicians to the leaders of organizations and public systems at every level of government, in the U.S. and internationally.
Topics run from the family to public policy: attachment, parenting, and clinical practice; leadership, burnout, and vicarious trauma; how power moves through institutions and into the people inside them; and what technology and AI are doing to attention.
With training in both law and clinical social work, I also offer well-being sessions for law firms and other high-pressure workplaces.
Trainings combine teaching, guided attention to the body, and work with situations participants recognize.
Tell me about your audience, proposed dates, and what you want participants to understand or do afterward.