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July 10-11, 2026 | Springfield, VA
PhD, LCSW-C, RPT-S, CISM
Symposium Founder | Keynote Speaker | Day 2 Workshop Presenter
Althea T. Simpson is a powerhouse of creativity and a force for healing in the Black mental health community. Holding advanced degrees in both micro and macro social work and bringing over 22 years of experience in the mental health field, Althea specializes in trauma-informed care and guiding individuals and families from a state of hurt to healing. She is the founder of Brighter Day Therapeutic Solutions, a psychotherapy practice rooted in trauma response, Unicorn Life Play Therapy (Unicorn Life Play Therapy Academy), and the Black Play Therapy™ Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization committed to centering healing in the Black community through support for clinicians, community programs and events, and advocacy for Black mental health and wellness.
A Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Registered Play Therapist-Supervisor, Althea is also a certified trainer and facilitator in the LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® method and a fully certified PlaymobilPro.Play facilitator. Her current role as Youth Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Supervisor in community mental health places her at the intersection of clinical practice, systems work, and program development, giving her a front-row seat to the institutional forces that shape the trajectories of Black youth. She is the author of Hurt to Healing: Child Witnesses of Domestic Violence and Their Invisible Injuries and the founder of the annual Black Play Therapy Symposium, now in its seventh year.
At the 2026 Black Play Therapy Symposium, Althea brings her full expertise as clinician, supervisor, trainer, and systems thinker to the conversation on Reclaiming Black Childhood: Identifying and Disrupting the Cognitive Biases Behind the School-to-Prison Pipeline. Her life’s work is a living testament to the profound power of play as both a clinical tool and an act of resistance, and her commitment to creating affirming spaces where Black children, families, and clinicians can thrive is the heartbeat of everything this symposium stands for.
LICSW, LCSW-C, LCSW
Panelist | School Social Worker Perspective
Quinn Flowers is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker with nearly two decades of experience at the intersection of school-based mental health, clinical practice, and community healing. She is the founder of The Healing Garden, LLC, a psychotherapy practice in Maryland providing individual therapy, parent training, psychoeducation, and crisis intervention for children navigating depression, anxiety, stress, and relational challenges. By day, Quinn serves as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker at a senior high school within DC Public Schools, where she provides individual and group counseling, conducts social work evaluations, facilitates Functional Behavioral Assessments and Behavioral Intervention Plans, and coordinates home-school-community partnerships to remove barriers to student success.
A 2021 National School Social Worker of the Year and 2020 DC School Social Worker of the Year, Quinn has been recognized as a highly effective related services provider by DCPS for over a decade. She holds training in Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Sandtray Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and trauma-responsive social-emotional learning, and is a Registered Play Therapist candidate submitting her credentialing application in 2026.
At the 2026 Black Play Therapy Symposium, Quinn joins the Breaking Free from Bias: Perspectives from the Field panel as the voice of the school social worker, positioned daily within the very systems where the school-to-prison pipeline begins. Drawing from her frontline experience in DCPS navigating IEPs, behavioral assessments, and attendance intervention, Quinn brings an unflinching practitioner’s perspective on how implicit bias, adultification bias, and confirmation bias manifest in school settings and compound the risks facing Black students. Her work reflects a deep commitment to disrupting those patterns and centering play-based, trauma-responsive approaches that protect Black children’s right to be seen, supported, and celebrated.
M.Ed., LPC
Panelist | School Counselor Perspective
Sean Myers is a Licensed Professional Counselor and Certified School Counselor with nearly a decade of experience supporting students across K-12 settings in Georgia. Currently serving as a school counselor at an elementary school in Harris County Georgia, Sean is passionate about building equitable, trauma-informed school environments where every student can thrive. His work spans social-emotional learning, mental health support, 504 coordination, and college and career readiness.
A dedicated advocate for student success, Sean has developed reentry programming for at-risk youth, implemented school culture initiatives, and served as a dual enrollment coordinator. A Registered Play Therapist candidate submitting his credentialing application in 2026, Sean is deepening his integration of play-based approaches into his school counseling practice. He is a member of the Association for Play Therapy, a Packard Scholarship recipient, and a member of Chi Sigma Iota counseling honor society.
At the 2026 Black Play Therapy Symposium, Sean joins the Breaking Free from Bias: Perspectives from the Field panel as the voice of the school counselor positioned at the front lines of the school-to-prison pipeline. Drawing from his direct experience coordinating 504 plans, facilitating reentry meetings, and developing small-group counseling interventions, Sean brings a practitioner’s perspective on how implicit bias, confirmation bias, and adultification bias manifest within school systems, and how play therapy can serve as both a clinical intervention and an act of resistance. His work reflects a deep commitment to disrupting the cognitive biases that deny Black children their fundamental right to play, heal, and thrive.
M.Ed., LPC, LSATP
Panelist | Correctional System Perspective
Audrice Johnson is a Licensed Professional Counselor and Licensed Substance Abuse Treatment Provider with 25 years of experience spanning mental health, social services, and criminal justice systems. Currently providing crisis intervention and mental health services to incarcerated individuals at a regional jail in the Virginia region, Audrice brings a striking and essential perspective to the conversation about what happens when systems fail Black children, and what it looks like when they arrive on the other side of the pipeline.
She is the owner and therapist of Renewed and Restored Counseling Services, where she provides outpatient therapy to children, adolescents, and adults, and serves as an Adjunct Instructor at Virginia State University. Her clinical toolkit includes Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Solution Focused Brief Therapy, Internal Family Systems, and play therapy, and she is a VA Board Approved Clinical Supervisor. A Registered Play Therapist candidate in 2026, Audrice integrates expressive and play-based modalities into her work within correctional settings as a form of developmental restoration and healing.
At the 2026 Black Play Therapy Symposium, Audrice joins the Breaking Free from Bias: Perspectives from the Field panel as the voice from inside the correctional system, representing what the end of the school-to-prison pipeline looks like and bearing witness to its consequences. Her work demonstrates how play therapy can serve as a powerful act of reclamation, restoring developmental capacities in incarcerated youth and challenging the adultification bias that stripped them of childhood long before incarceration. Audrice’s cross-system expertise and clinical depth make her an essential voice in any conversation about disrupting the cognitive biases that continue to funnel Black children away from healing and into punishment.
DSW, LCSW, CAdPT, RPT-S
Workshop: Reclaiming Girlhood
Dr. Erica Tatum-Sheade is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Certified Adlerian Play Therapist, and Registered Play Therapist-Supervisor with over 20 years of experience working with children, adolescents, and families. She is the founder of Integrated Mental Health Associates in Scottsdale, Arizona, a thriving private practice employing 12 therapists, and the founder of Play Well with Dr. Erica, a supervision and professional development program committed to training the next generation of play therapists through a lens of empowerment, identity, and belonging.
Known for her warmth, authenticity, and fierce advocacy for inclusive mental health care, Dr. Erica specializes in using Adlerian Play Therapy to support youth, particularly girls and children of color, in developing courage, connection, and self-worth. She is a former two-term President of the Arizona Association for Play Therapy, a 2025 Clinician of the Year honoree, a 2024 Phoenix Titan 100 Award winner, the 2024 recipient of the Black Play Therapy Foundation’s Black Excellence in Play Therapy Award, and the author of children’s books Fernando Has Feelings and Layla Goes to Therapy. Her doctoral capstone, Creating Culturally Affirming Spaces for Girls of Color from an Adlerian Framework, reflects the through line of her career: centering Black girls and girls of color in clinical, educational, and systemic conversations about healing.
At the 2026 Black Play Therapy Symposium, Dr. Erica presents Reclaiming Girlhood: Play Therapy Interventions Addressing the Criminalization, Adultification, and Sexualization of Black Girls, a session that confronts the layered and compounding cognitive biases that uniquely target Black girls within educational, clinical, and justice systems. Drawing on her extensive experience facilitating empowerment groups for girls, conducting culturally responsive play therapy, and training clinicians in multicultural practice, Dr. Erica offers both a clinical framework and a call to action. Her work makes visible the ways adultification bias, hypersexualization, and criminalization rob Black girls of childhood, and demonstrates how Adlerian Play Therapy can serve as a powerful, affirming intervention that restores their sense of belonging, worthiness, and joy.