Dr. Tiffany Gholson, LCSW

Dr. Tiffany Gholson has over 30 years of service in creating safe spaces where children, families, and communities can heal, grow, and thrive, especially in places where hope seems hardest to find.

Her leadership spans education, social services, child welfare, and juvenile justice systems, where she has built trauma-informed and culturally responsive programs that strengthen families and promote positive youth development. Dr. Gholson’s work blends compassion with strategy, bridging policy, practice, and people to drive meaningful change.

Through Gholson Consulting Group and her nonprofit, Breaking Barriers International, she continues to champion wellness, equity, and healing for youth and helping professionals impacted by trauma, violence, and systemic barriers.

Dr. Gholson has served as an adjunct professor and has worked across child welfare, juvenile justice, and K–12 education systems throughout Illinois. A proud alumna of the University of Illinois, she holds three master’s degrees in Social Work, Educational Administration, and School Superintendency and earned her PhD in Educational Policy Studies.

Her scholarship and writing reflect a lifelong commitment to community-centered leadership. She contributed a textbook chapter on “Home Visits with Families” in the 3rd Edition of The School Services Sourcebook, and her most recent publication is the professional memoir Learning the Heart Work: Building Community through Loving and Leading.

Her guiding philosophy is simple yet powerful: create safe spaces, listen with your whole heart, and help people discover the strength they already carry inside by bridging the gap between bureaucracy and genuine compassion.

Consultants

Forrest Moore, PhD currently serves as a Senior Strategy Consultant to the Gholson Consulting Group. In this capacity, Dr. Moore leads the solution, architecture, research, and evaluation efforts of all major client engagements. Dr. Moore has held a distinguished career in education and community development. Previously, Dr. Moore served as Deputy Chief of Research of Evaluation and Accountability for Chicago Public Schools were he developed and managed the department’s research agenda. Additionally, he served as the Executive Vice President of Knowledge Management & Community Engagement for America’s Promise Alliance where he led the organization’s efforts to engage business and community leaders to support the Alliance’s Grad Nation Campaign including Grad Nation Communities and 100 Best Communities for young people. Dr. Moore Received his B.S. in Organizational Leadership from Purdue University, an M.B.A. from Illinois State University, and his Ph.D. in Research Methodology from Loyola University in Chicago.

Jason Adkins, LCSW is a licensed clinical social worker who specializes in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and runs The Edge-a sports counseling practice in Atlanta, Georgia. He also serves as the Lead Consultant for sports therapy work with Gholson Consulting Group. Jason grew up in Chicago but earned his B.A. in Psychology from Clark Atlanta University in 1998. He then spent time traveling throughout Europe playing professional basketball. Jason returned to earn his Masters of Social Work from the Whitney M. Young School of Social Work at Clark Atlanta University in 2005 and completed his licensure in 2006 and again in 2012. Jason practices as a psychotherapist and sports therapist to assist clients in reaching their full potential. He lives in Miltion, Georgia and is the proud father of three awesome sons.