CTC News

Nichelle Brown Named CEO of Children’s Therapy Center

CTC is delighted to announce the selection of Nichelle Brown as our new chief executive officer.

“Nichelle’s knowledge and commitment to all services offered to children and families at CTC is unsurpassed,” said Sarah Daniels, president of Children’s Therapy Center’s board of directors. “She brings over a decade of experience in child and family systems leadership and program development to this role, and her passion for the well-being of children and families is evident in all she does. We are incredibly excited about the future of CTC under Nichelle’s leadership!”

Nichelle joined CTC in June of 2021 as the director of the organization’s Early Supports for Infants and Toddlers (ESIT) program. Under her leadership, the program grew to serve more children, families, and communities in south King and Pierce counties.

Prior to joining CTC, Nichelle was the ESIT program manager at Listen and Talk in Seattle. She currently sits on the board of Birth to Three Developmental Center and participates in the King County Transformative, Healing and Liberation Group. Nichelle was previously co-chair of the Snoqualmie and King County Interagency Coordinating Council teams. She is a member of the Pierce County Developmental Disabilities DEIB Strategic Planning Team and many other county, state, and community groups.

“I am thrilled to have the pleasure of leading a dynamic and diverse group of people committed to serving children and families every day,” said Nichelle. “I look forward to working with our leadership team to embed the values of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging both in the workplace and in the community. The more we serve each other, see each other, support each other, and create spaces where all people know and feel they belong, the more impact we will have for children and families.”

Nichelle holds a master’s degree in education from Temple University and a bachelor’s in social work from Norfolk State University. She and her husband live with their two children in Federal Way.

Please join CTC’s board and staff in welcoming Nichelle to her new role!

Move-A-Thon Coming in September

Join CTC this September 18-24, 2023 for a memorable week of moving together to support kids with disabilities and developmental delays and their families— virtually and in-person!

CTC’s second annual in-person Move-A-Thon day is Saturday, September 23 at Fort Steilacoom Park in Lakewood with an accessible ride, roll, walk, run around the lake, followed by performances, refreshments, a community resource fair and family-friendly and accessible games and activities.

Can’t make it on the 23rd? Sign up for the virtual event and move with us whenever, wherever, and however it works for you during the week of September 18-24, 2023.

Are you a super-mover? Sign up to participate both virtually throughout the week and in-person on Saturday.

However you choose to move, please join us to support kids and families in our communities. Register today!

Resources for Indigenous Families

Hummingbird Indigenous Family Services launched in 2019 with the mission of healthy Indigenous babies being born into healthy Indigenous families being supported by healthy Indigenous communities. Hummingbird is the first and only Indigenous agency in King, Pierce, and Snohomish Counties to exclusively serve Indigenous babies and families from zero to three.

Indigenous birthing peoples are disproportionately impacted by poverty and maternal-child health disparities, with some of the highest rates of housing insecurity and maternal and infant mortality in King County and the surrounding areas.

Their program, The Nest, offers a Guaranteed Basic Income (GBI) to Indigenous pregnant people until their child’s third birthday. This is the first guaranteed income program to exclusively serve Indigenous communities in the United States. Over the next six years, Hummingbird will give up to 150 families $1,250 no-strings-attached monthly payments to Indigenous pregnant people until their child’s third birthday.

This equates to up to $45,000 for a family participating from the birth of their child until they turn three.

Their application is now open! You can schedule a time with our team here or with one of our referral partners: Puyallup Tribal Health Authority, Family Ways, Pacific Island Health Board, Ireta P’urhepecha.

CTC Trains 100+ Staff for Autism Navigation Program

Families seeking timely autism evaluations for their children face many obstacles, including a lack of regional providers trained to diagnose autism and long waitlists for evaluations. The challenges don’t end there. After a child receives a diagnosis, families must try to navigate complicated networks of services for autistic children.

In 2022, CTC launched a program to specifically support families in our community trying to access timely evaluations and navigate systems. We offer onsite autism evaluations for families and partner with other community providers for autism services. We also train our staff to ensure neurodiversity-affirming practices are in place across our organization. More than 100 staff across CTC recently completed this multi-day training.

We are excited to build the program and reach more children and families in the year ahead!