2023 conference Presenters

Melissa Bernier

Melissa Bernier is a skilled Child Welfare Workforce Training and Development Specialist at the Family Resource and Training Center with Eastern Washington University in contract with the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare Child and Family Services Program. She is an adept project manager, curriculum development, and implementation specialist who ensures measurable outcomes, worker satisfaction, and retention.  She is a licensed clinical social worker with 20+ years of experience in child welfare, residential treatment, treatment foster care, community mental health counseling for individuals, couples, and groups, clinical supervision, and adjunct college professor. She is a certified trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapist and motivational interviewing trained clinical professional. Melissa is currently working to achieve a doctoral degree in Educational Leadership with an emphasis on Instructional Design and Technology at Idaho State University. She has 5 years of experience as the West Coast Child Welfare Trainer’s Conference Director and is responsible for organizing large-scale professional conference planning and execution. 

Tyler Blankenship, B.A.

Tyler (he/they) is the Classroom Technology and Communications Specialist with the Child Welfare Partnership at Portland State. They started with the Office of Information Technology in 2016 as a Helpdesk Technician, eventually moving into the Helpdesk Coordinator role in 2018, and concurrently holding the Digital Accessibility Technician role from 2020-2021. Tyler’s current duties vary greatly, but include managing participant communications and registration logistics, and providing technical support and accessibility advice to both Child Welfare Partnership staff and training participants.

Amanda Hughes is a Coaching and Training Specialist with the Oregon Child Abuse Hotline (ORCAH). In her role she delivers Screener Training Academy, facilitates group and individual coaching during Post Academy Coaching, provides consultation for new and seasoned screeners, and develops practice tools and training content to aide in the consistent application of statute, Oregon Administrative Rules (OAR) and Child Welfare Procedure. Amanda earned her Master of Arts in Global Development and Justice from Multnomah University in 2017. Prior to working for Oregon Child Welfare, Amanda was contracted into Child Welfare as a co-located Domestic and Sexual Violence Advocate. In her five years with Oregon Child Welfare, Amanda has held roles from protective services to screening abuse reports, all prior to her current position in ORCAH’s Training and Program team. 

Devon Linville

Devon Linville (he/him/his) is a Coaching and Training Specialist at the Oregon Child Abuse Hotline (ORCAH). In this role he delivers trainings to both new and established screeners to ensure the practice of screening calls of child abuse and neglect is done in a manner consistent with Oregon Revised Statute, Administrative Rules, and Child Welfare Procedure. In addition to training, Devon provides hands on coaching to both new and established employees to assist and improve their screening practice.

Devon completed his Bachelor of Science in political science from the University of Oregon as a Pathway Oregon scholar in 2019. Devon has worked in child welfare beginning as a Case Aide, then Permanency Worker, then a Screener at ORCAH, and now a Coaching and Training Specialist at ORCAH. Devon enjoys reality television, his dog, and playing soccer.

Penny Michel

Penny Michel is a Development and Facilitation Specialist at the Alliance.  She is member of a team who is responsible for development and facilitation of pre-licensing and continuing education trainings for licensed caregivers, kinship caregivers, adoptive parents and community members. She began her career in early childhood education and transitioned into the human services field. This experience provided an opportunity to work in positions as a licensor for childcare and foster care.  She came to the Alliance in 2014 and became a Trust Based Relational Intervention (TBRI) Practitioner in 2019. She received her Masters of Social Work (MSW) from UW-Seattle and completed the process to become a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker (LISCW.)

Kirstin O'Dell

Kirstin O’Dell is the Child Welfare Workforce Evaluations Manager for the Child Welfare Partnership at Portland State University. For the past 20 years, her work has focused on the evaluation of training for child welfare staff, caregiver, and community partners. Ms. O'Dell has expertise developing competency-based evaluations using utilization focused and participatory approaches. She has worked with trainers and subject matter experts to develop knowledge and skill assessments, including five simulated practice experiences for new child welfare workers. She also has extensive experience developing effective quality assurance measures and feedback tools for training.