The Regional Children’s Advocacy Centers (RCACs) have come together to offer a National Chapter Leader Coaching Program grounded in the belief that State Chapter leaders do their best work when they are clear on their purpose, connected to their inner wisdom, and challenged to seek multiple perspectives on the many obstacles and opportunities inherent in their work. The purpose of this program is to facilitate purposeful learning, increased self-efficacy, and transformational growth for State Chapter leaders to support their movement-building efforts and increased resiliency in their role.
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CliftonStrengths Cohort
The CliftonStrengths cohort will utilize Gallup’s CliftonStrenghts 34 as the guiding framework for coaching Chapter leaders.
CliftonStrengths (formerly StrengthsFinder) is a talent assessment that describes and ranks a set of 34 talent themes for participants. It is a strengths-based assessment that is rooted in the basic notion that professionals perform their best in any role when they are able to engage in the behaviors and naturally occurring patterns that come easiest to them. CliftonStrengths believes that once you know what your talents are, you can invest in them and then aim them towards your work more effectively.
The CliftonStrengths cohort might be for you if you:
- Understand the things you are very good at but struggle to communicate why you’re good at them.
- Want to spend more time doing the things that come naturally to you and want to understand how to navigate the things that do not feel so easy.
- Want your team members to understand the way you work a little bit more and you want to become a more strengths-oriented team leader.
Working Genius Cohort
The Working Genius cohort will utilize Patrick Lencioni’s Working Genius model as the guiding framework for coaching Chapter leaders.
Working Genius is a productivity and team effectiveness framework that identifies how individuals are naturally wired to contribute to work. The assessment identifies each participant’s two areas of Genius, two areas of Competency, and two areas of Frustration across six types of work: Wonder, Invention, Discernment, Galvanizing, Enablement, and Tenacity. The core belief of Working Genius is that people are most energized, effective, and fulfilled when they regularly engage in the types of work that align with their natural genius—and that teams function best when all six types of work are clearly understood and intentionally shared.
The Working Genius cohort might be for you if you:
- Feel productive and busy, but still end many days feeling drained or frustrated by your work.
- Want clearer language to describe how you contribute best—and where you need support from others.
- Want to reduce friction, miscommunication, or burnout on your team by better understanding different work styles.
- Want to become a more effective leader by designing roles, workflows, and meetings around how work actually gets done.
NOTE: Given the intensity of this program, we will only be taking a limited number of participants and will only accept those who can commit to all aspects of the program.
This program includes the following elements over the course of 3 months:
- Start Date: Tuesday, July 28, 2026
- One virtual educational sessions with other coaching participants per coaching model cohort to learn about the framework and increase connection and learning among peers who are engaging in similar transformational work. These group sessions will also provide an additional space for reflection and action on your coaching goals. All information shared during both the individual and group sessions is confidential and will not be shared outside the coaching partnership.
- One 90-minute individual coaching session per participant to:
- Dive deeper into the Chapter leader's CliftonStrengths or Working Genius assessment.
- Identify how the insights gained from the assessment show up in their day to day work.
- Develop a set of actions and practices that will help Chapter leaders build on these insights.
- Support Chapter leaders in implementing their chosen coaching model with their teams other collaborative spaces.
- One 90-minute group follow up call
Accepted participants will be paired with one of the following coaches based on a variety of factors including coaching focus, expertise, and capacity.
Jordan Benning - Project Director, Midwest Regional CAC
Jordan Benning serves as the Project Director for Midwest Regional CAC. Through 18 years of Chapter and Regional leadership, Jordan has experienced how work can be an essential source of meaning and energy. She strives to equip professionals with the competence, confidence, and connection to keep them nourished and flourishing throughout their careers.
Corey Brodsky - Chapter Director, Midwest Regional CAC
Corey Brodsky has served as the Program Manager for Chapter Development and Partnerships at the Midwest Regional CAC since 2015. He is a Gallup-trained strengths coach who helps leaders aim their natural talents towards organizational and systems change. His areas of expertise include strategic planning, Board governance, and constructing fair pathways to CAC services. He is also generally a delight.
Jennifer Calder - Product Development Manger, Native Child Advocacy Resource Center
Jennifer Calder, MA Ed. is the Product Development Manager for the Native Child Advocacy Resource Center. She is passionate about the use of narrative, research and community knowledge in order to improve systems for learning and growth for individuals, teams and organizations. Previously, she worked with children in a residential treatment setting and as a 4th grade teacher. In her previous work for the NNCTC she supported schools and other child-serving organizations located in Tribal communities in the development of culturally-grounded trauma-informed systems of care.
Karen Hangarther - Director, Profesional Services, Southern Regional CAC
Karen Hangartner is the Director of Professional Services at the National Children’s Advocacy Center and a certified Working Genius Facilitator, bringing more than 20 years of experience in the CAC movement. She has delivered hundreds of trainings nationwide, presented internationally, and is a founding member of the STS Consortium advancing work on secondary traumatic stress. Karen leads with innovation and strategic vision grounded in research, believing deeply in the CAC model’s power to strengthen communities and create meaningful change.
Emily Chittenden Laird - Director, Southern Regional CAC
Emily Chittenden-Lairdis theDirector of SouthernRegional CAC.Emily is an experienced strategist and leader. Fueled by a desire to develop leaders and cast an inspiring vision for growth,Emily leads theSRCAC team by providing oversight and direction to ensure transformational change within the CAC movement. As a coach and certified Working Genius facilitator,Emily enjoys helping leaders grow their innate gifts and learn to trust themselves more deeply.
Patty Terzian- Project Director, Western Regional CAC
Patty Terzian is the Project Director at Western Regional CAC. Patty is an experienced nonprofit leader, strategist, speaker, and executive coach, with 17 years of experience working with Child Advocacy Centers and Chapters. Motivated by the impact of strong teams and empowered leaders, she provides direction for initiatives designed to help professionals enhance their skills, cultivate leadership, and strengthen resilience in their roles.