Center for Developmental Play and Learning
Established in 2007
Serving Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties
Our Staff
Jeanne Bracker White
Jeanne Bracker White, LMFT
Director, Lantern Therapy Practice
Doctoral Candidate, Southern California University
of Health Sciences, Reiss-Davis Doctoral Program
For over 25 years, Jeanne has worked with families and their children to help them achieve their highest developmental and emotional outcomes. Jeanne is a licensed MFT who has also worked in private practice and worked with child development specialist teams providing services to young children with autism. In addition, Jeanne was Program Director for a children's mental health program called A Childs Path which provided therapeutic support and case management for extremely high-risk children and their families. Since 2007, Jeanne has been a Founder and Director of CDPL, and is DIR® Affiliate Faculty through Profectum organization.
Most recently, in February of 2021, Jeanne became the sole Director of the Center for Developmental Play and Learning. Jeanne and the entire staff at CDPL are inspired by Patricia's legacy and lifelong work to carry on the important developmental work of CDPL in her honor.
Kendra Wessling
Kendra Wessling, M.S.
Director, DIR/Floortime
Kendra Wessling has worked with children and families affected by autism and related developmental delays for the past 10 years. Because she values partnering with parents and families, she pursued her master's
in clinical pyschology ('09). This has allowed her to work with many different children, such as at-risk youth, foster children, and other emotionally/socially impacted children. She has undergone training in a variety of methodologies for children and has found DIR/Floortime to be an integrative, family-centered, individualized approach that can be
applied to a wide array of neurodiverse populations! She is pleased to have been part of the CDPL team since 2011, soon after she moved to Santa Barbara. Currently Kendra is the Assistant Director of CDPL, assisting in all aspects of the administration of CDPL's program, training of staff, presentations and outreach. Kendra is a DIR Clinical Supervisor.
Greta Wright
Greta Wright, M.A.
Director, Early Birds
Greta rejoined the CDPL team in June 2022 to manage their new early intervention program. Greta has worked with young children and their families in Santa Barbara County for over 25 years as a child development specialist. She has extensive experience working with infants and toddlers with developmental differences and believes in working collaboratively with parents to discover their child’s strengths and challenges to create individualized and family-centered goals and strategies to support their growth. Greta received her DIR certification through the International Council on Developmental Learning in 2010 and uses many DIR principles in working with toddlers and their families. She focuses on helping families strengthen their child’s foundational developmental milestones of regulation and shared attention, engagement, and reciprocity through child-led, play-based interactions and during everyday family routines. Greta received her B.A. degree in psychology and sociology from UCSB and is currently pursuing her M.A. degree in counseling through Palo Alto University with the goal of being a licensed therapist providing neurodiversity-affirming mental health support to children and families.
Becky Todd
Staff Mentor and Senior Child Development Specialist
Becky joined the CDPL team in 2009. She was an Early Childhood Educator before working for the Learning Enrichment Autism Program (LEAP) for the Santa Barbara County Special Education Office. This is where she had the opportunity to be trained in the DIR/Floortime Model by Pat Marquart. She continues to work in the Early Start Infant and Preschool Plus programs for SBCEO, where she is able to use the DIR Model in her work with children ages 0-6. She is a co-facilitator for our CDPL Summer Playgroup Program. Currently Becky is providing services to CDPL families and is mentoring newer practitioners in the methods of DIR/Floortime.