Anna Housley Juster, PhD, LICSW is a licensed child and adolescent mental health clinician, education consultant, and award-winning author with over twenty-five years of experience supporting children and families.
Dr. Housley Juster began her career as a Head Start teacher and spent many years working in curriculum development across formal and informal contexts including schools, museums, libraries, and children’s educational media.
For several years, Dr. Housley Juster served as director of content at Sesame Workshop overseeing curriculum development for the Sesame Street series and product development across the brand. Building on her commitment to closing the experience gap and supporting access to play, she co-founded the U.S.-based component of the nonprofit organization Pop-Up Adventure Play, increasing children’s access to self-directed play in communities of supportive adults, and served as senior director of child development and community engagement at Boston Children’s Museum.
Today, after several years treating children and families at an outpatient community-based mental health center, Dr. Housley Juster runs a private practice combining expertise in mental health, developmental psychology, education, and play and supports teacher trainings focused on trauma-informed practices and increasing self-regulation skills in the classroom. Her first picture book, the award-winning How to Train Your Amygdala (Free Spirit Publishing) was released in February, 2024.
Education
Dr. Housley Juster holds a BA in Child Development and English from Tufts University with early childhood teaching certification, an MA in Developmental Psychology from Columbia University, a PhD in Early Childhood and Elementary Education from New York University, and an MSW in Clinical Social Work from Boston College.