ACORN

With over 30 years of experience advocating for adults and families with developmental disabilities in the Portland, Oregon area, Jessica Leitner, MA supports caregiving organizations in navigating regulatory requirements while maintaining quality care. She has served as an Oregon Intervention System Trainer and Steering Committee Member; has worked with Multnomah and Clackamas Counties and Edwards Center, Inc; and helped implement Crisis Intervention Team training for local law enforcement.

Teresa McDowell, EdD, LMFT is professor emerita at Lewis & Clark, where she served as department chair and co-founded the college’s Problem Gambling Services. With over 40 years of experience as a clinician, educator, administrator, and consultant, Teresa focuses on workforce development, equity-based clinical practice, integrated treatment for problem gambling, and clinical supervision. She is a social researcher, program evaluator, and consultant with Partners in Social Research and Senior Instructor for ACORN. Dr. McDowell has authored more than 50 scholarly publications and is lead author of Socioculturally Attuned Family Therapy: Applying Third Order Thinking to Theory and Practice (3rd Ed., 2026).