![Thomas Ann Sh2018 0](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/5a794a6e-771d-47f4-bb44-58c8917dca5c/Thomas_Ann_SH2018_0.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=290&q=80&rect=0%2C0%2C1000%2C1000&w=290)
Ann Thomas
President and CEO, The Children's Place
Ann Thomas is president and CEO of The Children’s Place, a treatment agency in Kansas City, MO, that specializes in working with children under the age of eight who have experienced abuse, neglect, and other traumas. She’s also an adjunct professor at MidAmerica Nazarene University, teaching mental health practitioners the skills of play therapy and ways to help children flourish. A licensed clinical social worker and registered play therapist-supervisor, Thomas has spent over 20 years providing mental health treatment to young children. She has presented numerous workshops, nationally and internationally, about helping children heal and has advised Sesame Street In Communities, assisting with content development about traumatic experiences.
Previously
![Sesame Street: Helping Traumatized Children Cope](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/cef29b4d-252d-473b-ad15-8aab933caff8/43300762892_417bda2bf2_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=781%2C1315%2C3040%2C1709&w=400)
When Big Bird has “big feelings,” he imagines himself in a comfy-cozy nest, soothed by the smell of baking cookies. The Count teaches the Cookie Monster a breathing technique...
![Gun Violence: A Mental Health Crisis for Youth](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/nulld230e266-9ed6-4b16-be35-0508884e1174/42051615775_4c7e3eec4a_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=0%2C90%2C5875%2C3315&w=400)
Over the past 20 years, almost 200,000 children under age 18 have been shot. Nearly as many attend schools where a shooting has taken place. Mass casualty events receive much...
![Families in Crisis at the Border: What is the Impact on Children?](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/98482bb3-f998-4d11-a86d-110f64ea6d68/42234571544_fc01324314_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=0%2C36%2C3000%2C1686&w=400)
More than 2,000 children have been separated from their parents at the Mexico/US border in recent weeks. Housed in tent camps, converted warehouses, and other shelters, they h...