Faculty and Supervisors
Megan Polanin
Training Faculty
University of San Francisco (formerly at Geoergetown Medstar
Megan Polanin, PhD, is Co-Director of the Clinical Training Program and a school-based Licensed Clinical Psychologist with WISE at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital. She earned her doctoral degree in Counseling Psychology at Loyola University Chicago and completed postdoctoral training at the Kennedy Krieger Institute at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. Polanin has extensive experience working with children, families, and educators within schools, medical clinics, and community mental health centers. She is interested in human- and healing-centered therapeutic practices that honor strengths and aspirations, co-creating learning environments that facilitate meaningful growth for developing mental health clinicians and empowering others to trust and utilize their voices to advocate for themselves, their families, and their communities. Dr. Polanin provides training for clinical supervisors of MOMENTUM.
Tia Marie Brumsted
Clinical Supervisor and Training Faculty
Sweetbay Mental Health and Consulting, LLC
Tia Marie Brumsted, LCSW-C, LICSW, NCSSW (she/hers) is the founder and lead practitioner of Sweetbay Mental Health and Consulting, LLC, a practice dedicated to supporting individual and organizational wellbeing. With 20 years of experience in mental health and K-12 school health administration, she has served as a clinical social worker, school wellness program director, and systems-level education leader in Washington, DC and Maryland. Tia Marie is passionate about integrative mental health and is certified in mindfulness and meditation teaching, restorative yoga, and sound healing. She guides healing-centered classes, workshops, and retreats at her wellbeing studio in Gaithersburg, Maryland, helping individuals and groups live life with balance, clarity, and resilience.
Shamara Howze
Clinical Supervisor and Training Faculty
Howze your Health
Shamara Howze is a dedicated Licensed Professional Counselor and Play Therapist with nearly a decade of experience. Throughout her career, Shamara has focused on serving children and their families, employing the transformative power of play therapy. She believes in the holistic therapy approach, recognizing that working with children often involves supporting the entire family unit, fostering deeper connections in the home, and improved school outcomes.
Georgette Saad
Clinical Supervisor and Training Faculty
GMS Therapy
Dr. Georgette Saad is an experienced psychotherapist with over a decade of dedicated practice. Her extensive background includes evidence-based practice, formalized training programs, advanced supervision, teaching at the graduate level, and specialized training in psychoanalysis. Holding a doctoral degree from Smith College, Dr. Saad is deeply committed to advancing clinical practice and serving diverse communities in community mental health settings. As a bilingual, cisgender woman of color, Dr. Saad’s passion lies in nurturing growth and development in clinicians, empowering them with the skills and insights necessary to make meaningful impacts in their work.
Cheryl Aguilar
Training Faculty
Hope Center for Wellness
Cheryl Aguilar is a licensed independent clinical social worker with over two decades experience in the public and private sectors. She is the founder and therapist at Hope
Center for Wellness, a multicultural mental health practice focused on holistic healing.
Matresa Flowers
Training Faculty
Foraging Wellness
Matresa Flowers (LICSW) is a therapist and community herbalist who believes that learning about and being in community with nature can assist our ability to experience joy and better understand ourselves along the way. Over the past two years, she has hosted mental health nature walks focused on noticing the ways plant cycles can also mirror our own mental health cycles across different seasons. Her hope is to continue cultivating spaces for people to explore their relationship with themselves and the plant allies around them.
Vanessa León
Clinical Supervisor
Dos Olas Therapy
Vanessa León, LICSW, LCSW-C (she/ella) is the founder and therapist at Dos Olas Therapy PLLC, a mental health practice providing individual therapy and immigration evaluations in English and Spanish for adults in Washington, DC and Maryland. With a decade of experience working with parents, immigrants, and trauma survivors in school and community mental health settings, Vanessa knows how pivotal it is to balance flexibility and sustainability as a helping professional supporting individuals work towards wellness. Vanessa’s clinical and supervisory practice is further informed by her lived experiences as a first-generation daughter of Peruvian immigrants and mother of two. In her downtime, Vanessa enjoys picnic-ing in DC parks, splashing in the nearest body of water, and hanging out on her balcony.
Anne Harshaw
Clinical Supervisor
Independent
Anne Harshaw is a Licensed Certified Social Worker-Clinical with over two decades of experience in the fields of mental health and clinical therapy. Anne has run a successful private practice for the past sixteen years, demonstrating a deep commitment to helping individuals and families navigate social and emotional challenges. Anne’s passion for supporting individuals and families and her extensive experience and commitment to wellness make her a valuable asset in psychotherapy. Her dedication to promoting social and emotional well-being reflects her deep-rooted values and professional ethos.
Niani Smith
Clinical Supervisor
DCPS
Dr. Niani Smith is a Clinical Social Worker in the DC metropolitan area and a Certified Clinical Trauma Professional who supports multiple work streams within the social work realm. Supporting agencies ranging from the education sector to outpatient mental health, Dr. Smith has served thousands of children locally. Additionally, she serves as the Director of Behavioral Health and Wellness for Redemptions Global. This agency supports human service organizations in Africa and provides clinical supervision to multiple outpatient mental health clinics in Maryland. Dr. Smith has led various trainings and workshops regarding trauma-informed practices and healing, stress management and resilience, and other topics that support well-being and improved emotion management. Dr. Smith’s professional goal is to influence and change systems to support individuals’ healthy development and advancement by increasing awareness of the impact and effects of trauma and shifting systems to promote healing.
Donna Geraci
Clinical Supervisor
Creative Ways Therapy
Donna is unendingly intrigued by the innate human capacity to heal from emotional pain and trauma. She believes strongly in the transformative powers of mindfulness, play, and sand-tray therapies, and uses these modalities in her work with child, adolescent, and adult clients.
Donna obtained her MSW in 1991 from Howard University, focusing on clinical social work with children and families.Throughout her career, she has worked in the public and private sector of DC’s child welfare system, including serving as the Clinical Director at the
Latin American Youth Center.
As a co-leader of Creative Ways Therapy, Donna challenges the clinical team to explore new perspectives; and brings an energetic, growth-oriented mindset to programmatic pursuits. Donna is a creative thinker, an engaging therapist, and a motivating supervisor.
Donna’s commitment to self-care includes making art from repurposed materials.
Jasmine Stephens
Clinical Supervisor and Training Faculty
School Talk
Jasmine Stephens is a passionate mental health professional and program leader dedicated to supporting youth, schools, and communities through trauma-informed, culturally responsive practices. With a Master of Social Work from Howard University and a background in communication from East Carolina University, Jasmine brings a unique blend of clinical insight and strategic leadership to her work.
She currently works as a Restorative Justice Program Specialist, where she provides coaching, training, and strategic support to integrate restorative practices into school communities. Jasmine also serves as a licensed psychotherapist and has held leadership roles in youth development and school-based mental health, with a focus on behavior intervention and social-emotional programming.
Outside of her professional life, Jasmine is a fitness and wellness enthusiast with a love for Solidcore, fresh-pressed juice, and long walks. She’s also a devoted fan of all things beauty, fashion, and reality TV.
Laura Patton
Clinical Supervisor
Mary’s Center
Laura Patton LICSW, LCSW-C (she/her) is a clinical social worker with over 15 years of experience in the field of mental health. Laura’s practice has spanned across settings; providing therapy services to youth and families in schools and residential treatment facilities. Laura currently serves as a clinical supervisor in a school-based mental health program, where her clinical supervision is grounded in relational work, cultural humility, and strengths-based perspective. Laura earned her BSW from Indiana University and her MSW from Gallaudet University.
Dr. Olga Acosta Price
Training Faculty
The Center for Health and Healthcare in Schools: George Washington Milken Institute of Public Health
Olga Acosta Price is an Associate Professor in the Department of Prevention and Community Health. She is also Director of the Center for Health and Health Care in Schools, a national resource and technical assistance center committed to building effective school health programs. A passionate advocate of school-based mental health services, Olga Acosta Price has dedicated her formal training in clinical psychology to improving the lives of young people. “My experiences working with children, youth and families have driven my desire to understand resilience and to approach our work together from a strength-based perspective,” she says. Giving voice to the concerns of young people is an essential priority for her. “I thoroughly enjoy creating opportunities for youth to share their insights. They don’t hesitate to tell those of us who develop systems of care that we are clueless about what the world is really like for them.”
Dr. Mariola Rosser
Training Faculty
The Center for Health and Healthcare in Schools: George Washington Milken Institute of Public Health
Dr. Rosser has 20 years of experience in social learning, system convening, and building communities of practice in education and school behavioral health. She coordinates the DC School Behavioral Health Community of Practice, supporting provider and school readiness in implementing a multi-tiered mental health model. Previously, she worked at NASDSE, NCSI, and the IDEA Partnership, providing technical assistance to states on social-emotional outcomes, graduation rates for students with disabilities, and cross-system capacity building. She holds a Master’s in Therapeutic Pedagogy from Maria Grzegorzewska University and a Doctorate in Special Education from George Washington University.
Yazid Jackson
Training Faculty
School Talk
Yazid Jackson joined SchoolTalk’s RestorativeDC team in 2018 and currently leads as the Restorative Justice Senior Program Director, overseeing all elements of their programming. With 14 years of experience, Yazid has implemented restorative justice practices in various urban schools and residential settings, significantly reducing suspension rates and improving school climates. He has successfully led over 100 schools in embedding restorative justice principles, working closely with school leaders to develop and execute comprehensive plans for change. Under Yazid’s leadership, RestorativeDC’s network of partner schools has more than doubled, showing evidence of improved school climate, student engagement, and reduced suspensions.
Jessica Gonzalez
Training Faculty
School Talk
Jessica Gonzalez joined SchoolTalk in 2022 and serves as the director of its InclusiveDC initiative, which supports youth with disabilities and their peers in D.C. schools and community organizations. With a background in special education and multilingual learning, she has worked in Washington, D.C., and New York City since 2012, helping students develop the academic skills needed for success. Jessica was a founding team member at The Sojourner Truth Montessori Public Charter School, where she served as the special education coordinator, and has also worked as a special education and Spanish language teacher for D.C. Public Schools and a middle school liaison at the Flamboyan Foundation. She brings expertise in restorative justice practices and is passionate about language acquisition and global education, serving as a travel ambassador to help students gain international learning experiences. Jessica holds an M.S. in School Leadership and Administration from Trinity Washington University and a B.S. in Special Education with a minor in Romance Languages from Dowling College.
Lisa Shaw
Training Faculty
School Talk
Lisa joined SchoolTalk in 2019 and holds an M.S. in Conflict Analysis and Resolution. As an accomplished Special Projects Manager, she brings over 27 years of experience in senior organizational leadership, specializing in education and community-based initiatives. She is recognized for her expertise in training and developing conflict resolution skills, curriculum design, and facilitating experiential education programs in diverse community settings. In addition to her professional work, Lisa is an active volunteer serving as a keeper-aide at the Smithsonian National Zoo and an Election Officer with the Fairfax Office of Elections in Virginia.
Dr. Halima Dargan
Resident Mentor
Touro University, Assistant Professor of Counseling
Dr. Halima Dargan is a licensed professional counselor and clinical supervisor in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Louisiana. She has her PhD in Counselor Education and Supervision and currently works at an assistant professor in the mental health counseling Program at Touro University. Dr. Dargan has over 10 years of experience working with children and adolescents, working as a school counselor and clinical director in community mental health and an independent clinician in private practice settings.