Barbara Alexander, LCSW, BCD, president of On Good Authority, interviews Toni Vaughn Heineman, DMH, the founder and Executive Director of A Home Within, the only national organization focused exclusively on the emotional well-being of foster youth. Through this organization therapists treat foster children pro bono for as long as needed. Dr. Heineman discusses this program and psychotherapy with sexually abused children.

Format: Asynchronous, distance learning. Non-interactive. Recorded audio with transcript.

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Page last modified or reviewed by athealth.com on Jun 11, 2025.

Subject Matter Expert:

Toni Vaughn Heineman, DMH, is the founder and Executive Director of A Home Within, the only national organization focused exclusively on the emotional well-being of foster youth. She is Clinical Professor in Psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco, and has been in private practice in San Francisco, working with adults, children, and families for over 30 years. Dr. Heineman consults with individuals and organizations. She is the author of several articles on psychotherapy with children and has made numerous presentations to lay and professional audiences about the mental health issues facing children and parents. She authored An Abused Child: Psychodynamic Understanding and Treatment and co-edited Building a Home Within: Meeting the Emotional Needs of Children and Youth in Foster Care. She has been awarded a Leadership Fellowship with Zero to Three, a Draper Richards Social Entrepreneur Fellowship, and a Social Entrepreneur Award from the Manhattan Institute.

Interviewer:

Barbara Alexander, LCSW, BCD, is a graduate of the Smith College School for Social Work and the Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy Program of the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis. President of the Illinois Society for Clinical Social Work for two terms, she co-chaired the 20th Anniversary Clinical Conference of the Clinical Social Work Federation, and chaired the Search Committee for President/Dean of the Institute for Clinical Social Work. After working for 13 years in child psychiatric settings and 30 years in private practice, she is now founder and president of On Good Authority, and an expert interviewer.

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