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Hope for the Journey 2022 Conference Hosts, Presenters, and Speakers

Show Hope’s inaugural Hope for the Journey Conference premiered April 9, 2021, with the aim of encouraging parents and caregivers meeting the everyday needs of children impacted by adoption and/or foster care. The conference also served as an opportunity to further resource churches in their endeavors to be beacons of hope and encouragement for families in their congregations and surrounding communities.

From sessions led by professionals and practitioners to the powerful stories of adult adoptees, foster care alumni, and adoptive parents, the 2021 Hope for the Journey Conference was incredibly practical, accessible, and hopeful.

With new faces, new stories, and new insight, the 2022 Hope for the Journey Conference will structurally mirror the 2021 conference with five high-level learning modules and opportunities to go deeper on select topics within each module. We will also hear from families and individuals impacted by adoption and/or foster care—whether as parents or adult adoptees and foster care alumni. And finally, the Hope for the Journey Conference will also continue to build on Trust-Based Relational Intervention® (TBRI®) principles and how those principles intersect with our faith.

The 2022 Hope for the Journey Conference speakers and contributors are listed below:


Show Hope Founders + Hosts 
Mary Beth & Steven Curtis Chapman

Mary Beth and Steven Curtis Chapman founded Show Hope in 2003. Mary Beth is a “New York Times” bestselling author and speaker. Steven is a GRAMMY- and Dove-award winning singer/songwriter and recording artist with sales of more than 11 million records. The Chapmans were married in October 1984 and have six children—three children by birth, Emily Chapman Richards (married to Tanner and mom to three daughters Eiley, Della, and Verity), Caleb Chapman (married to Julia and dad to son Noble and daughter Olive), and Will Franklin Chapman (married to Jillian Edwards and dad to daughter Willow Faye), and three daughters who were adopted from China, Shaohannah Hope, Stevey Joy, and Maria Sue, who is now with Jesus.


Show Hope Executive Director + Conference Teacher
Emily Chapman Richards

Emily Chapman Richards serves as Show Hope’s current Executive Director. She has enjoyed watching Show Hope, a nationally recognized voice for adoption advocacy and orphan care support work, grow from a dream in her parents’ hearts to an organization that has helped thousands of children come to know the love of a family. After earning a Bachelor of International Studies and Religion from Baylor University, Emily continued her education while living abroad, graduating from Queen’s University Belfast with a Master of Theology. Emily is married to Tanner, and together, they are the proud parents to three beautiful ladies—Eiley, Della, and Verity. She is a visionary and a dreamer, and has long remained a passionate advocate for adoption and orphan care efforts.


Conference Teacher
Daren Jones

Daren Jones is the Associate Director of Training and Consultation Services with the Karyn Purvis Institute of Child Development (KPICD) at TCU. In his role, Daren’s main focus is instructing professionals in TBRI principles who are working with children impacted by trauma. Daren joined the KPICD in 2014 and has been integral in teaching and spreading TBRI across the U.S. and abroad. Daren earned a Bachelor of Social Work from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and began his career as a behavior instructor in a therapeutic day treatment program for children and youth. After serving in this role, Daren obtained his Master of Social Work from Spalding University in Louisville, Kentucky. He spent 12 years serving youth and families within residential and foster care settings before beginning his work with the KPICD. Today, he is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Counseling & Counselor Education at TCU in Fort Worth, Texas, where he resides with his wife, Katie; daughter, Ruby; and son, Finn.


Conference Teacher
Amanda Purvis

Amanda Purvis is a Training Specialist with the KPICD at TCU. As a training specialist, Amanda’s main focus is instructing professionals in TBRI principles who are working with children who have experienced trauma. Amanda earned a Bachelor of Social Work from Metropolitan State University in Denver, Colorado. She began her career working in Child Protective Services as an intake worker. She then transitioned to foster care and post-adoption support, where she spent a decade of her career before beginning her work with the KPICD in December 2017. Today, Amanda lives in Castle Rock, Colorado, with her husband and five children.


“Going Deeper” Presenters 

AN INTRODUCTION TO TRUST-BASED RELATIONAL INTERVENTION® (TBRI®)

Paris Goodyear-Brown

Paris Goodyear-Brown, the founder and director of Nurture House, is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and a Registered Play Therapist-Supervisor with 20 years of experience in treating families in need. While she specializes in treating trauma (sexual abuse, physical abuse, maltreatment, and neglect) and attachment disturbances, she often provides help for anxious, angry, or depressed children and teens. A child development expert, she frequently provides parent consultation, dyadic assessment, and parent coaching to help parents manage and resolve their children’s behavior problems. She is an adjunct professor of Psychiatric Mental Health at Vanderbilt University, guest lecturer for several universities in Middle Tennessee, and has an international reputation as a dynamic speaker and innovative clinician. She provides play therapy and licensure supervision and consults with various school districts, agencies, and mental health organizations to help develop play therapy programs and create more developmentally sensitive programming. Paris is also the author of multiple books, chapters, and articles related to child therapy. Her newest books include “Tackling Touchy Subjects;” the “Handbook of Child Sexual Abuse: Identification, Assessment, and Treatment;” “Play Therapy With Traumatized Children: A Perspective Approach;” and “The Worry Wars: An Anxiety Workbook for Kids and Their Helpful Adults.”


CONNECTING PRINCIPLES 

Dr. Melody Aguayo

Dr. Melody Aguayo has a Master of Marriage and Family Therapy and a Ph.D. in Psychology. She is the founder of Real Child Consulting, LLC, which specializes in providing coaching and training to parents and organizations that care-take children who are “at risk.” She has spoken at many notable locations including Christian Alliance for Orphans (CAFO), City of Orphans, Vanderbilt Neurological Symposium, and others. She is also a parent of two children through adoption. Her personal journey has compelled her into a professional world she wasn’t planning on being a part of. She has a passion for helping families and children who are hurting turn their pain into purpose.


EMPOWERING PRINCIPLES 

Marti Smith

Marti Smith graduated from Indiana University in 1996. She is a Child Trauma Academy Fellow, a TBRI Travis County Collaborative participant, and co-founder of Simple Sparrow Farm, a non-profit where she collaborates with Jamie Tanner, Simple Sparrow owner and president, to help heal individuals through farm-related activities. Marti began her OT career at the Covered Bridge Special Education Co-op where she specialized in autism, handwriting, and creative adaptive equipment provided on a minimal budget. She currently specializes in sensory regulation as it relates to trauma and has helped develop the sensory portions of the ChildTrauma Academy’s Neurosequential Model of Therapeuticsand TCU’s TBRI education. She has completed additional certification and training in Interactive Metronome, therapeutic listening, Wilbarger Deep Pressure Protocol, therapeutic massage, floor time, vestibular dysfunction, reflex integration, picky eating, athletic training, CISM, and rescue Scuba Diving. She has been an international speaker since 2004, sharing her passion to help children in creative, fun, inexpensive, and simple therapeutic ways. Marti is also the author of “The Connected Therapist.” She resides in Austin, Texas, with her husband and two children. She enjoys traveling, nature, photography, quilting, and spending time at Simple Sparrow Farm.


CORRECTING PRINCIPLES 

Mark and Tona Ottinger

As part of the Empowered to Connect (ETC) team for more than 12 years, Tona and Mark Ottinger are committed to empowering parents, professionals, nonprofits, churches, and communities with the tools to create safe, attachment-rich spaces for children and families to thrive. In 2016, they co-founded the Memphis Family Connection Center (MFCC). MFCC is a nonprofit that provides holistic attachment-centered counseling, occupational therapy, speech therapy, parent mentoring, and integrated services to the family as a whole. Mark served as a campus pastor at Fellowship Memphis Church for more than 10 years and recently transitioned to work solely as Executive Director of ETC and MFCC. Tona is the Senior Director of Programs for ETC and gives strategic oversight to both the local clinical and national community-based services. Together, they are passionate about the gospel, restoration, justice, and empowering parents and children to live deep, connected lives with one another and the Lord. Mark and Tona have been married for 24 years and have six children. 


THE GOSPEL + TBRI 

Scotty Smith

Scotty Smith is a graduate of The University of North Carolina, Westminster Theological Seminary (M.A.R.), and Covenant Theological Seminary (D. Min.). Scotty is founding pastor and pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church (CCC) in Franklin, Tennessee, where he pastored for 26 years. He presently serves as Teacher in Residence at West End Community Church, a daughter church of CCC. He also serves as adjunct faculty for Covenant Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri. Scotty has authored 10 books, including “Unveiled Hope” (with Michael Card), “Objects of His Affection,” “Restoring Broken Things” (with Steven Curtis Chapman), “Everyday Prayers: 365 Days to Gospel-Centered Faith,” and “Every Season Prayers: Gospel-Centered Prayers for the Whole of Life.” Scotty also invests time mentoring corporate leaders as a coach, consultant, and encourager. Scotty and his wife, Darlene, continue to live in Franklin.


“Practical Perspectives” Contributors

AN INTRODUCTION TO TBRI

Liz and Josh Archambault

CONNECTING PRINCIPLES

Zawadi Morrow

EMPOWERING PRINCIPLES

Kristin Allender

CORRECTING PRINCIPLES

Krysten and Kim Carver

THE GOSPEL + TBRI

To Come


If you have yet to register for 2022’s Hope for the Journey Conference, there’s still time! Learn more and register today. 

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