In the late 80s, Steve Gross, MSW, began running playgroups for homeless children in Greater Boston. His only goal was to help our most vulnerable kids.

His focus on play, joy, relationships, and environment caught the attention of trauma response experts. By the early 90s, Steve was called upon to lead widespread healing efforts for communities impacted by war, natural disaster, gun violence, poverty, addiction, and illness.

Following his field experience, Steve and a trusted team of researchers and colleagues developed the Playmaker program - a series of transformative workshops, retreats, and tools that serve more than 16,000 teachers and early childhood educators and help more than 1 million kids overcome trauma every year.

Today, Steve inspires audiences with true stories of how optimism can be harnessed to overcome adversity, and how early childhood educators can cultivate a more optimistic disposition to insulate children against toxic stress and create life-changing relationships to help them heal, learn and grow.