October 20, 2026 @ 8:45 am – 2:30 pm
Registration: 8:15 – 8:45 am
Conference: 8:45 am – 2:30 pm
Attend In Person or Via Zoom
Essex North Shore Agricultural & Technical School
565 Maple St.
Danvers, MA 01923
To receive PDPs, participants must attend this conference and the conference, Annual School Attendance Summit: Addressing Student Anxiety, on October 6, 2026. Participants need to register for each conference individually. Members can participate in-person, virtually or by viewing the recording.
SpeakerS
Description
Understanding the root causes of challenging behavior and developing strategies to help students self-regulate are critical to ensuring students can fully engage in learning and access the curriculum. This conference will introduce participants to the core principles of Collaborative Problem Solving, equipping them with an empathetic and accurate understanding of the factors that contribute to unmet expectations and concerning behaviors. Presenters will also share practical approaches for strengthening collaboration with families to better support student success.
In addition, the conference will provide school-based professionals with practical, student-centered, neurodiversity-affirming strategies for teaching students about the science and lived experience of stress. Participants will explore ways to help students build self-awareness, strengthen communication and collaboration with trusted adults during times of stress, and develop effective self-regulation and anxiety-management skills. Emphasis will be placed on reframing stress management as a collaborative, skill-building process while providing concrete tools that educators can implement immediately in school settings.
About the Speakers
Stuart Ablon, Ph.D., (he/him) is Founder and Director of Think:Kids in the Department of Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital. An award-winning psychologist, Dr. Ablon is Associate Professor and the Thomas G. Stemberg Endowed Chair in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He is the author of three books, Changeable, hand-picked by Malcolm Gladwell, Adam Grant, Dan Pink, and Susan Cain for their Next Big Idea Club, The School Discipline Fix, and Treating Explosive Kids: The Collaborative Problem Solving Approach.
Dr. Ablon received his doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of California at Berkeley and completed his training at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. One of the world’s top-rated thought-leaders and keynote speakers, Dr. Ablon teaches educators, parents, clinicians, managers, and leaders a very different approach to understanding and addressing challenging behavior of all types and in all people. Dr. Ablon has helped hundreds of organizations throughout the world implement the Collaborative Problem Solving approach.
Anna Precht, Psy.D., (she/her) is a clinical psychologist at McLean Hospital and an Instructor of Psychology in the Harvard Medical School Department of Psychiatry. She specializes in the treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder, with a focus on suicidal and self-injurious behaviors, with Dialectical Behavior Therapy and is especially interested in working with adolescents. Previously, Dr. Precht was the Program Director of the 3East Boys DBT Program at McLean Hospital and is now the Senior Clinical Consultant at McLean’s Arlington School. She trains teams in DBT and provides consultations nationally and abroad.
Elise Wulff, M.Ed., (she/her) has more than 20 years’ experience working with the neurodiverse population in both public and private sectors. With Aspire since 2007, Elise currently manages consultation and professional development services. As a neurodivergent individual herself, Elise applies her extensive experience and unique perspective in collaboration with neurodiverse individuals, caregivers, and providers to customize tools and strategies that enhance success across various life domains including home, school, and work. Elise has written curriculum to promote healthy self-awareness, disclosure, transition planning, and executive functioning. As an international speaker, Elise supports organizations and corporations to implement practical and sustainable inclusion. She has specific expertise in the neurodiversity framework, special education, universal design, social-emotional learning, tools to build independence, and strategies for executive functioning.
Elise received her undergraduate degree in psychology and theater arts from Emory University and her master’s degree in special education from Lesley University. Her clinical interests are in the areas of neurodiversity, executive functioning, parent/caregiver support, and effective and sustainable inclusion practices for individuals, educators, parents/caregivers, and providers.
Membership Information
Most MPY webinars are available ONLY to current staff from member districts and organizations. Public school memberships include police and fire personnel. Former and retired employees and members of committees, including but not limited to, PTO/PTA, PAC, School Improvement Councils, Health Councils, Drug/Alcohol Councils, and school volunteers, are not considered MPY members.
PDPs and CEUs
MPY is an approved Professional Development Provider through the Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education (Provider No. F20180079). Professional Development Points (PDPs) are offered for most MPY professional development webinars. PDPs are issued in 10 hour increments, per DESE requirements.
Continuing Education Units (CEUs) are available for clinical staff through the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) and the Massachusetts Mental Health Counselors Association, Inc. (MaMHCA). The NASW and the MaMHCA approve each event individually. CEUs may be given in hourly increments.
To receive PDPs and CEUs, participants must pass the quiz. The PDP quiz will be made available only to participants who have registered for and attended both conferences.
Event Cancellation Policy
If you are unable to attend a MPY webinar you must cancel, through Bonnie Mullen at bonnie@mpyinc.org, one business day before the webinar.
For MPY hybrid conferences, the date in-person registration closes will be posted on MPY’s website. Virtual conference registration will close one business day before the hybrid conference. You cannot cancel or switch your registration from in-person to virtual after in-person registration closes. Please email Bonnie Mullen at bonnie@mpyinc.org with any questions regarding registration.
Registration: 8:15 – 8:45 am
Conference: 8:45 am – 2:30 pm