About this course

Learning Objectives

• Identify common challenges encountered during Parent-Directed Interaction (PDI) sessions in PCIT, including extended Timeout Sequences, and analyze strategies to effectively manage these situations.
• Evaluate current parenting trends and discuss how to maintain fidelity to PCIT core principles while collaborating with families who may hold diverse views on discipline and timeouts.
• Apply expert-informed techniques to anticipate and prevent potential difficulties in PDI sessions and resolve issues when they arise

Learning Levels

• Intermediate

Target Audience

Course Instructor(s)

• 

  Beverly Funderburk, Ph.D.

  Professor of Research, retired

  Beverly W Funderburk, Ph.D. is a PCIT Global Trainer and charter member of the Board of Directors of PCIT International. Dr. Funderburk retired in 2025 from her career as a Professor of Research at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center (OUHSC), Department of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics. With Dr. Sheila Eyberg, the founder of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT), she is the co-author of the treatment protocol for PCIT. She served the PCIT Board of Directors for a number of years, helping establish the organization’s non-profit status. Her research interests include issues of training and dissemination in PCIT and cultural applications of PCIT. She served as the clinical director for a series of studies establishing PCIT as an effective treatment for parents with a history of maltreatment, reducing the risk for future maltreatment. Dr. Funderburk was instrumental in establishing a treatment program for Selective Mutism at OUHSC. She also served as a Senior Consultant for the Suicide Prevention Resource Center, where she focused on combining the knowledge base about prevention of child maltreatment with broader suicide prevention efforts. Dr. Funderburk remains active as a PCIT trainer, presenter, and consultant.

• 

  Cheryl McNeil, PhD

  Professor, Dept. of Psychiatry, University of Florida

  Dr. McNeil obtained her Ph.D. in the Department of Clinical and Health Psychology at UF in 1989 and is excited to be conducting research at her alma mater. Her academic interests are focused on program development and evaluation, specifically with regard to managing the disruptive behaviors of young children in both the home and school settings. Dr. McNeil has co-authored many books (e.g., Parent-Child Interaction Therapy: Second Edition, PCIT-Toddler, Time-out in Child Behavior Management, Handbook of PCIT for Children with ASD, Short-Term Play Therapy for Disruptive Children), a continuing education package (Working with Oppositional Defiant Disorder in Children), a classroom management program (The Tough Class Discipline Kit), and a Psychotherapy DVD for the American Psychological Association (Parent-Child Interaction Therapy). She has a line of research studies examining the efficacy of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy and Teacher Child Interaction Training across a variety of settings and populations, including over 150 research articles and chapters related to the importance of intervening early with young children displaying a range of mental health concerns. Dr. McNeil is a Global Trainer for PCIT International and has disseminated PCIT to agencies and therapists in many states and countries, including Norway, New Zealand, Australia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and South Korea. Dr. McNeil’s hobbies include fishing, tennis, travel, and swimming. Dr. McNeil works in PCIT and related approaches, provides training and consultation services at Springhill II, and teaches Psychology Postdoctoral Fellows, MHC interns, and Psychology Graduate students while promoting the research, educational and clinical mission of the Department of Psychiatry.

• 

  Felipa Chavez

  Assistant Professor of Psychology

  Dr. Felipa Chavez is an assistant professor of clinical psychology at Florida Institute of Technology. She received her doctorate in Clinical Psychology, with a concentration in working with children and families from the University at Buffalo (UB). She is a former NIAAA post-doctoral fellow at UB’s Research Institute on Addictions, where she trained in research examining early child development and parent-child relationships in heavy drinking alcohol families which resulted in her receiving the 2002 Research Society on Alcoholism (RSA) Junior Investigator’s Award. She has also been a pediatric liaison for the University at Buffalo (UB)Roswell Park Cancer Institute where she engaged in research on the late effects outcomes of pediatric cancer survivors. Dr. Chavez was the Director of Building Blocks: PCIT at Florida Tech, which disseminated Parent Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) to local families through the Community Psychological Services (CPS) center, which operates out of Florida Tech’s Scott Center for Autism. Currently, she conducts a program of research providing Teacher Child Interaction Therapy (TCIT) services to at-risk underserved community classrooms (including schools, daycares, and community centers) through her Project Play research program, which has been partially funded by the Fight Against Community Violence Target grant. Through her community-based outreach initiatives research, Dr. Chavez examines how improvements in disruptive classroom behaviors, through the implementation of TCIT, can improve classroom manageability, student academic performance, and teacher stress, with rippling effects for reduced child abuse potential in the home. As a within agency trainer, Dr. Chavez has trained over 60 clinical psychology graduate students in the dissemination of PCIT treatment services, several of whom have gone on to become certified PCIT therapist themselves, and she is currently working towards becoming a regional level trainer. Dr. Chavez along with her colleagues at University of Iowa and the University of Arkansas, in tandem with the Philadelphia Department of Behavioral Health an Intellectual disability services (DBHIDS), received a grant from the Philadelphia Eagles Football Team Autism Foundation for the PCIT training of Black and Latine clinicians who work with Black and Latine children on the Autism Spectrum. Dr. Chavez was also the multicultural consultant for PCIT International Association’s (PCIT-IA) Florida Department of Children and Family (DCF) Services contract for the dissemination of subsidized training for mental health professionals to become certified PCIT therapists and Within Agency Trainers (WATer). Additionally, in collaboration with her University of West Virginia colleagues, Dr. Chavez has undertaken some qualitative research that has informed the factor analytic structure of a newly created abridged version of the Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory (ECBI) for Toddlers. Currently, with her Georgetown Colleagues, Dr. Chavez is conducting research examining the experiences of PCIT with Black clinicians and Black clients, to inform a newly adapted version of PCIT for serving Black families. Dr. Chavez has close to 20-years of experience in teaching multicultural graduate course curriculum, and based on her years of experience in the delivery of both PCIT and TCIT services to underserved communities, she has developed a tips sheet offering clinical/training guidelines for the practical applications of PCIT principles in working with Black families in treatment, in support of the Black Lives Matter social, which has been widely used and referenced in the PCIT International Association Community (PCIT-IA). It is entitled: “We are Light that Overcomes Darkness as we strive to be our Brother’s Keeper”: PCIT Applications for supporting Black Families in Treatment. Other noteworthy accomplishments include her NPR academic minute on children and anxiety (https://academicminute.org/2020/05/felipa-chavez-florida-institute-of-technologyanxiety-in-children/) and a two-part series on how to address issues of the COVID-19 pandemic with children (https://news.fit.edu/academics-research/how-do-i-explain-this-pandemic-to-my-child-part-one/ ; https://news.fit.edu/academics-research/how-do-i-explain-this-pandemic-to-my-child-part-two/). All of which have culminated in 45- international and national conference presentations, 9-Guest lectures some of which included Harvard Judge Baker Children’s Hospital and Johns Hopkins Kennedy Krieger Medical Center, 4-book chapters, 1-Book, 9-articles, 3-grants, and 2-clinical treatment contracts.

• 

  JP Abner, Ph.D.

  Professor of Psychology

  John-Paul Abner graduated from the University of Florida with a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology (Child and Adolescent emphasis) in 1996 where he had the honor of studying under Dr. Sheila Eyberg, creator of PCIT. A professor in psychology at Milligan University, he is one of 21 people in the world who has been designated as a Parent Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) Global Trainer by PCIT International. He has conducted research on the application of PCIT to children with autism spectrum disorders and is currently an active promoter of PCIT to the autism community. He is the Director of PCIT Training for the East Tennessee State University Center of Excellence for Children in State Custody where he helps coordinate a statewide PCIT dissemination effort to help children in the foster care system. Dr. Abner is a frequent speaker at PCIT conferences where he focuses primarily on clinical issues. He is passionate about PCIT and CARE and this passion often comes out at relatively high speed and volume. He favors a highly interactive style of presentation and his presentations often feature storytelling, games, unintentional physical humor, pirate yarrghs, and prizes of minimal value.

• 

  Marta M. Shinn, Ph.D.

  Psychologist

  Marta. M. Shinn, PhD, is a Licensed Clinical Child Psychologist and Licensed Educational Psychologist. She and her team at Variations Psychology specialize in neuro-developmental diagnostics. Dr. Shinn has served as a faculty member of the Department of Child and Adolescent Studies at California State University, Fullerton, and is currently Assistant Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at the University of California, Irvine, Medical School. She serves as a Psychology Subject Matter Expert for the California Board of Psychology and the Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards, developing the national and state licensing exams. Her research interests include coaching psychology and the assessment of mental health interventions for underserved child populations. She is an experienced psychology professor, clinical supervisor, author, consultant, and dyadic coaching trainer (i.e., PCIT, PC-CARE, FMC, TCIT). Dr. Shinn is a Black Latina who is bilingual in Spanish and dedicated to culturally and linguistically informed psychological research and practice.

References

• Woodfield, M. J., Brodd, I., & Hetrick, S. E. (2021). Time-out with young children: a parent-child interaction therapy (PCIT) practitioner review. International journal of environmental research and public health, 19(1), 145. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19010145
• Lieneman, C. C., & McNeil, C. B. (2023). Time-out in child behavior management. Hogrefe Publishing GmbH.
• Coates, E. E., Coffey, S., Beauvoir, K. F., Aron, E., Hayes, K. R., & Chavez, F. T. (2024). Black clinicians’ perceptions of the cultural relevance of parent–child interaction therapy for Black families. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 21(10), 1327. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph21101327
• Jugovac, S., Hawes, D. J., Tully, L. A., & Pasalich, D. S. (2024). Practitioners’ use and acceptability of time-out. Child Psychiatry & Human Development, 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-024-01798-9
• Taber-Thomas, S. M., Schaffner, K. F., Scudder, A. T., & Herschell, A. D. (2026). Supporting Parents’ Use of Effective Time-Out Enhances Outcomes in Behavioral Parent Training Interventions. Evidence-Based Practice in Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1080/23794925.2026.2680909