Troy McPeak

Workshop Presenter

Hello, my name is Troy A. McPeak Sr. and I am a Training and Consultation Specialist with the Karyn Purvis Institute of Child Development (KPICD) at Texas Christian University (TCU). My role is to provide Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI) training and consultation to organizations who are interested in the implementation of TBRI. TBRI Is an attachment based, trauma informed modality designed to meet the complex needs of the youth who have experienced relational trauma. It also focuses on the needs of the caregivers who seek to help these vulnerable youth by helping them see the “whole child”. I am new to working for the KPICD, but not new to working with the KPICD. I have been privileged to serve as a TBRI Mentor with the KPICD since become a practitioner in 2017.

I started my TBRI journey in 2016 while working for Williamson County Juvenile Services in Georgetown Texas. From 2007 when I began my work as a Juvenile Supervision Officer (JSO) up until 2017, we operated as a military boot camp for youth who were ordered through the courts to our post adjudication program. Needless to say, we were extremely punitive by nature and the transition to becoming “trauma wise” was not an easy road. I was serving as a supervisor at the time over our post-adjudication program and over our Juvenile Justice Alternative Education Program (JJAEP). I became a TBRI Practitioner and was charged with training all Williamson County staff and leading the charge of changing the culture. Once we found that perfect balance between the structure of operations and the nurture utilizing TBRI principles, the outcomes were nothing short of amazing!

Fast forward to 2019, I was recruited by the Texas Juvenile Justice Department (TJJD) and hired to bring TBRI implementation across the state secure detention facilities and halfway houses. I was quickly promoted to the Associate Director of the Texas Model (TBRI Implementation Model) and continued to meet the needs of all secure facilities. Over the last year of my tenure with TJJD, I was tasked with training and consulting with several other County level Juvenile Justice Probation Departments and Detention Facilities across the state of Texas. I served in this capacity until being recruited by the KPICD earlier this year.

I am extremely passionate about spreading TBRI through training and consultation to organizations across the country and especially passionate about showing what’s possible within the Juvenile Justice arena! I thank God every day for bringing TBRI into my life as this has truly been a transformative journey both personally and professionally!

Katie Walker, LCSW, RPT

Workshop Presenter

Katie Walker is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Registered Play Therapist, and is currently working towards being fully certified in Eye Movement Desensitization Therapy (EMDR) and Hypnotherapy. Katie has been providing services for over 10 years now and has provided over 15,000+ hours in the therapy room helping others cope with various issues. Katie is a trauma specialist in her field and especially loves working with kids who have been through hard things. Katie’s passion for her work is so tangible and evident that she was voted Central Arkansas’s top kids mental health therapist for 2020 and named a top trauma therapist in the state in 2021, 2022, and 2023 by AY Magazine. Katie has a big heart for kids going through foster and adoption and the trauma they have endured. As an adoptive parent herself, Katie understands what it’s like to truly be in the trenches and the joys and pains that accompany foster and adoption.