From Recommendation to Reality
Why families cannot always carry out what healthcare systems advise — and how to close that gap without blaming parents.
Speaking
Talks that treat family life as part of public health.
I speak at conferences, organizational events, and community gatherings — always with one aim: to make developmental science usable in the week a family is actually living.
Who I speak with
Early learning teams, maternal health coalitions, community health worker networks, clinics, funders, and neighborhood gatherings. Audiences leave with language they can use the next day — not just a slide they admired.
Speaking topics
Caregiver Well-Being Is Child Health
The science connecting maternal stress, adult mental health, and early childhood outcomes, translated for practitioners and communities.
Serve and Return: Everyday Interactions
How the smallest back-and-forth moments build brains, language, and emotional regulation — and how to coach them with families.
Toxic Stress and Protective Relationships
What chronic stress does in the earliest years, and how community health workers, clinics, and programs can buffer it.
Building Systems Families Can Actually Use
Designing parent education, screening, and referral pathways that survive housing instability, shift work, language, and distrust.
The Community Health Worker Advantage
Why CHWs are uniquely positioned to connect developmental science with the realities of neighborhood life.
Recent appearances
- Early Learning Summit 2024Houston, TX“From Recommendation to Reality”
- Maternal Health Equity ForumAustin, TXPanelist
- Community Health Worker Leadership ConferenceTexasKeynote Speaker
- Community Health DiscussionHouston, TXFeatured speaker on family systems and early childhood