Program Coordinator, Duke Center for Child and Family Policy
Lauren Thomason joined the Center in February 2020 as a care project coach for the Building Capacity for Trauma-Informed Infant & Toddler Care: A Professional Development Framework project. In this role, she provides coaching for Infant-Toddler Specialists as they incorporate trauma-informed content into their work with infant-toddler teachers and program directors.
Thomason is a licensed professional counselor specializing in early childhood mental health. She began in 2009 as a private practitioner working with a child psychologist serving vulnerable families. Since 2015, Thomason has re-designed the Child Mental Health Initiative at Learning Together's Developmental Day Center in Raleigh, North Carolina. In this role, she works with children, teachers, and family members to provide early childhood mental health consultation related to toxic stress and building resiliency. She has served as a mental health specialist for Wake County Head Start/Early Head Start in Raleigh, Cary, and Knightdale.
Education:
- Master of Counseling, Asbury Seminary
- B.A., Psychology and Spanish, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill