Shannon Sullivan

Shannon is the Regions 1 & 2 Facilitation and Development Supervisor. In this role, she develops innovative and accessible training and supports, empowering those caring for and serving families and communities to provide anti-racist, culturally relevant, trauma informed service. Shannon has been a champion working passionately for child welfare with the State of Washington and community partners in improving outcomes for children and families focusing on permanency for children.

Shannon began her career in April 1994 in Community Behavioral Health, where she taught persons with behavioral health to understand, monitor, and regulate symptomology. In May 2001, Shannon transitioned her career to working for Children’s Administration as a Child Welfare Services and Child Protective Services Investigator worker in Richland. Shannon also represented the Department in many additional roles, including working on The Juvenile Action Team with the Kennewick Police Department and Kennewick School District; serving on the Benton and Franklin Counties Domestic Violence Committee; participating on the Period of Purple Crying Task Force; serving on the Commercial Sex Trafficking Task Force Steering Committee for Benton and Franklin Counties; and co-developing the first Family Treatment Court for Benton and Franklin counties. In September 2004, Shannon was promoted to a Child Protective Services Supervisory position, where she supervised various positions, including Intake, CPS Investigators, Family Assessment Response, Family Voluntary Service, and Share Planning Meeting Facilitators.

In January 2018, Shannon advanced her career by accepting a Focused Coach position with the Alliance for Child Welfare Excellence with the University of Washington (now known as Alliance for Professional Development, Training and Caregiver Excellence). Shannon is passionate about training and supporting newly hired social workers, program managers, supervisors and administrators.

Shannon earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Washington State University and her master’s degree in social work from Eastern Washington University as a CWTAP student. In addition to her work for The Alliance, Shannon earned her certificate in private investigation in 2016 at the University of Washington, which is the nation’s No. 1 rated civilian investigative educational program.