Established in ​2015

Bright Ideas Continuing Education is approved to provide continuing education for licensed social workers by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB), New York State Education Department's State Board for Social Work, and Maryland Board of Social Work Examiners.

Our Goal

Our goal is to empower social workers and other mental health professionals by providing them with the tools and knowledge they need to develop and succeed as professionals.

Our Team

Bracha Poliakoff, LCSW-C
Founder and Continuing Education Director

Bracha Poliakoff, LCSW-C is the founder and director of Bright Ideas Continuing Education as well as a clinical social worker. She has experience conducting psychological assessments and providing individual and group counseling to children, adults, and older adults in a variety of settings including school-based, outpatient, partial hospitalization, and long-term care.




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Tamar Livingstone, LGSW
Social Work Consultant

​Tamar received her Master’s in Social Work from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. She interned at Jewish Child & Family Services where she helped train staff at schools, synagogues and camps in mental health awareness and abuse prevention, and put in policies and procedures to keep these environments healthy and safe. She also worked as a High School Social Worker where she supported the social and emotional development of the student body, did crisis intervention, and improved collaboration between the staff and parent body. After relocating to Baltimore, she joined the wonderful staff at Shalom Tikvah as a clinical therapist where she  works with children, adolescents and adults. 

Tova Jussim
Presenter

 Jussim, LCSW-C, has spent 20 years helping people to age-in-place, guiding them towards advanced care planning and  long-term and short-term care planning. She has facilitated family meetings, caregiver support, and counseling for grief and bereavement. She is a recognized expert in her field, regularly teaching classes to other professionals about how to help people in medical crises.  She is a coach who uses a holistic approach to provide clients and families help with physical, emotional and spiritual support.  Tova is an Aging Life Care Manager and owner of Care Matters for You.  You can learn more about her practice at CareMattersForYou.com.

Staci Martin, Ph.D.
Presenter

Staci Martin, Ph.D., is a licensed psychologist at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and the Clinical and Training Director of the Health Psychology and Neurobehavioral Research Program at the National Institutes of Health. She is Past President of the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of ACBS, and serves on the board of directors of several other ACBS Special Interest Groups. At the NIH, Dr. Martin conducts clinical interventions with patients with medical illnesses ranging from children to adults. She has published dozens of articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals and presented at national and international conferences on her research in health psychology. Currently, she is the Principal Investigator of studies examining the effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for adolescents and adults with chronic pain, and a mindfulness-based intervention for children with brain tumors and their caregivers. She also is an associate editor of the Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science (JCBS). She regularly conducts ACT trainings with mental health professionals, medical professionals, and medical patients.
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Candace Ogelsby, LCPC
Presenter

​​Candace Oglesby, LCPC, is a psychotherapist in group private practice, at Gladstone Psychiatry and Wellness, located in Columbia, MD. She specializes in working with adult populations who present with substance use addiction and trauma like symptoms. Candace is an Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR) trained clinician but has also had training in Internal Family Systems (IFS). Not only does she work in group private practice, she is also an auditing consultant for a crisis response agency, board certified supervisor, and board member of a non-profit organization that helps mentor girls of color ages 10-15.​

Marina Nellius, LCSW-C
Presenter

Marina Nellius, LCSW-C, is a clinical social worker with 20 years of experience in providing intensive case management, psychotherapy, and administrative leadership in private, nonprofit, and academic settings.  Marina is currently the regional social work manager for the Mid-Atlantic South market at Landmark Health, one of the nation’s largest home-based medical providers of medically complex individuals. At Landmark Health, Marina provides oversight and acts as the subject matter expert for the behavioral health division of its Maryland, Virginia, and New Jersey markets. Beyond patient care, Marina participates on both local and national platforms to tackle systemic barriers impacting the overall health of older adults. Marina is an elected member of the board of directors for the American Academy of Home Care Medicine, a Commissioner for Howard County’s Commission on Aging, and board president of the Maryland Gerontological Association. In 2020, she was awarded the National Association of Social Workers, Social Work Month award for her exemplary work related to advocacy, service, and support of communities, programs and/or systems within the State of Maryland. Marina is a sought-out speaker on mental health-related conditions and the influence of the health care system on ‘hard-to-reach’ populations. When Marina is not advocating, she can be seen with her husband and two girls walking their beloved Boykin Spaniel in Ellicott City, Maryland. 

Shoshana Lewin, Psy.D.
Presenter

Shoshana Lewin, Psy.D. is a clinical psychologist in private practice in Baltimore, MD. She treats patients with a variety of clinical diagnoses. In her work as staff psychologist in Jamaica Hospital Medical Center in Queens, NY, she treated patients on an inpatient unit as part of a clinical team, and provided training to clinicians from multiple disciplines.
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Bonnie Weiss, LCSW
Presenter

Bonnie Weiss, MA LCSW is a teacher of the Internal Family System Method in online classes and workshops.  She has taught internationally in Australia, Israel, Germany, and Ireland. She is the former Director of the Gestalt Center of Long Island, and The Long Island Center for Eating Disorders. Her books include, Self-Therapy Workbook: An Exercise Book for the IFS Process and Freedom from Your Inner Critic and Letting Go of Perfectionism  with Jay Earley. She lives and maintains a private practice in the Bay Area, CA.


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