Who We Are — National Native Children's Trauma Center

director

An enrolled member of the Assiniboine-Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Reservation and a descendant of the Absentee Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma, Dr. Maegan Rides At The Door, LCPC has served as the NNCTC’s Director since 2015. Maegan utilizes her knowledge in culturally trauma responsive care to provide training and technical assistance with a wide variety of systems of care including but not limited to schools, child welfare, juvenile justice, and healthcare. She has been central to the design and implementation of trauma-responsive systems of care with tribal, private, federal, and state partners; the implementation of cross-system youth suicide prevention programming; and the expansion of child advocacy centers’ capacity to meet the needs of tribal communities.

director of school-based Training and Technical Assistance

Amy Foster Wolferman, MEd, oversees the NNCTC’s TTA projects in schools. She has been with the NNCTC since its inception and has more than 20 years of experience providing TTA to educators, school leaders, families, and community members in trauma-resilient school systems and practices, secondary traumatic stress interventions, Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), bullying prevention, and suicide prevention. Amy has developed or co-developed numerous NNCTC TTA products, including a trauma-informed schools implementation framework and numerous classroom-based social and emotional learning curricula.

associate director

Prior to joining the NNCTC in 2015, Mark Lane, MFA worked as an educator and as a freelance writer focusing on educational and social issues. The lead author on successful grant proposals totaling more than $15 million, he develops NNCTC programming and budget priorities, assists with administrative oversight of all center activities, and provides training and technical assistance in trauma-informed systems and mental health awareness. He has led the development of numerous center curricula, products, and resources, and he has conducted a range of qualitative research and organizational assessment initiatives.

training and technical assistance Manager

Kimee Wind-Hummingbird, MSW a citizen of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation with Cherokee descendancy, joined the NNCTC in 2021 after 22 years serving youth and families in the child and family programs of her two tribal nations. In addition to extensive supervisory experience and expertise on the Indian Child Welfare Act, she has trained and consulted with both tribal and non-tribal partners, including judges, attorneys, state child welfare agencies, tribal child welfare agencies, and other service providers. At NNCTC, she manages and provides training and TA on projects focusing on Tribal child welfare and child advocacy.

training and technical assistance manager

Deanna Chancellor, MPA (Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma) joined NNCTC in 2023 after serving 18 years as the Director of the Leflore County, Oklahoma, Child Advocacy Center and Women’s Crisis Services. She has extensive experience providing training and technical assistance related to all aspects of child advocacy centers including development, accreditation, cultural adaptations, and secondary trauma. She leads projects focused on enhancing child advocacy center (CAC) services in Tribal communities through our Native Child Advocacy Resource Center.

clinical consultant

Part of the NNCTC team since 2006, Deb Hallos, LCPC, LMFT consults with sites on trauma-informed systems and provides training on universal as well as clinical evidence-based interventions for trauma. She is the lead author of two classroom-based social and emotional learning curricula focused on mitigating the effects of trauma and rooted in the principles of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, one for adolescents and one for younger children. In addition to her work at the NNCTC, Deb operates a private psychotherapy practice and has more than 20 years of experience providing clinical services to children, adolescents, adults, couples, and families.

cultural consultant

Sina Ikikcu Win (Takes the Robe Woman), Ethleen Iron Cloud-Two Dogs, MS, PhD Candidate is an enrolled citizen of the Oglala Sioux Tribe and has Crow ancestry. She counts among her many blessings her cherished life companion, beloved family, and many precious relatives. With over thirty years of experience in the helping field, Ethleen currently provides training and technical assistance locally in her community on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and nationally in the areas of youth, family, and community development; mental health; substance abuse; education; suicide prevention; juvenile justice; and cultural development. She serves on the Rosalyn Carter Mental Health Task Force, the Knife Chief Buffalo Nation Society Board of Directors, and the Anpo Wicahpi Owayawa (Morning Star School) Pine Ridge Girls School. She also volunteers her time directing Healing Camps for children, youth, and families who have experienced trauma or have been exposed to trauma. Ethleen resides in Porcupine, SD.

training and technical assistance specialist

Kara Pasqua, MLS, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation with lineage in the Pitt River-Paiute tribes, joined NNCTC and NCARC in 2023. She brings more than 25 years of experience directly serving children and families in the Indian Child Welfare and Child Support programs of the Cherokee Nation, including the development and management of programs and serving in various supervisory leadership roles. She also has extensive expertise in collaborating with state, federal, and tribal agencies and relishes working with those actively advocating for children and families. She provides training and TA to support the enhancement of child advocacy center services for Tribal communities through our Native Child Advocacy Resource Center.

product development manager

Jennifer Calder, MA Ed. (Bad River Ojibwe) is passionate about the use of narrative, research and community knowledge in order to improve systems for learning and growth for individuals, teams and organizations. Previously, she worked with children in a residential treatment setting and as a 4th grade teacher. After her work in direct services with children, she shifted her focus to adult learning, leading training and workshops for prek-12 professionals, and facilitating statewide family engagement planning for the Montana OPI. In her previous work for the NNCTC she supported schools in tribal communities in developing culturally-grounded trauma-informed systems of care. She returns to the NNCTC as Product Development Manager after finishing graduate work in education focused on building capacity for change.

training and technical assistance specialist

Andrea French, MSW (Nakoda/Dakota/Chippewa/Cree), is a social worker with experience in child welfare and community behavioral health. She previously held the position of Project Director, where she successfully managed a System of Care grant program and coordinated initiatives in trauma-informed care. Additionally, she has worked as a State and Tribal Child Welfare Social Worker, emphasizing culturally sensitive practices and fostering collaboration with tribal communities. Currently, Andrea serves as a Training and Technical Assistance Specialist at the National Native Children's Trauma Center, where she continues to advocate for the well-being of Native children and families through comprehensive training and support initiatives.

training and technical assistance specialist

Kayla Burns (Spoopi Akii), BA is an Amskapi Pikuni from Blackfeet territory in Northwestern Montana. Kayla spent several years working with programs to provide community members and middle school students with training and education in trauma, social-emotional learning (SEL) and prevention. Kayla also worked as a Project Coordinator for Blackfeet Eco Knowledge, an Amskapi Pikuni non-profit organization, developing cultural modules for community members in Amskapi Pikuni cultural values and traditions. With a worldview intertwining both Indigenous and Western lenses, Kayla has worked hard to provide education to her community to help lessen the impact of historical trauma. Currently, Kayla is pursuing her Counselor Education Master’s degree at Montana State University-Northern, where she will graduate in 2027. She currently serves at the NNCTC as a Training and TA Specialist where she will develop curricula on culturally responsive psychoeducation and SEL, and educate and train across the US on trauma and resilience in Native communities.

Training and technical assistance specialist

Matthew Johnson, M.A., School Administrative Leadership Endorsement (Amskapi Pikuni), was born and raised in Blackfeet Nation in Browning, Montana. For over the past 25 years, He has worked for the Browning School District in a range of capacities, including school counselor, director of alternative education, and school administrator. Mathew’s work is informed by a fusion of Indigenous-focused restorative practices, historical trauma-informed education, storytelling, humor and joy, healing, and tribal educational self-determination. Rooted in the land and community, my “work” extends well beyond my job, and I am as active in the community to engage healing historical trauma through coaching and officiating youth sports, involvement in the Tribal court system, and most recently, participating in the COVID response team.