Lisa M. Justis, LCSW, CTS is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker for the Children's Hospital Emergency Department and Trauma Service. She is also the Clinical Coordinator of the Kempe Child Protection Team at The Children's Hospital. Ms. Justis provides clinical social work services for this multi-disciplinary team, which evaluates over 1,000 cases of suspected child abuse and neglect a year. In her work with the trauma program, Ms. Justis provides acute intervention for families of children brought to the hospital with life-threatening or fatal injuries. Ms. Justis works closely with law enforcement and human service agencies, as well as other professionals; and has provided expert witness testimony in both civil and criminal courts. She has given numerous professional presentations on issues related to Child Abuse and Neglect, as well as Secondary Trauma. Ms. Justis is a member of numerous Professional organizations. She is also a Certified Trauma Specialist.

Joan M. Phillips M.D. FAAP, is currently the Co-Director Child Advocacy Center-Children’s Medicine Center CAMC and the Clinical Director of Children’s Services –Women and Children’s Hospital. Dr. Phillips is currently a member Academy of Pediatrics Section of Child Abuse and Neglect and President of West Virginia Chapter of American Academy of Pediatrics.

Elizabeth Frisch Yennie, MS, Education Director, has been working as a violent prevention educator at The Retreat Inc for five years. During the past year, she has presented the Retreat’s Violence Prevention program to over 1700 students on eastern Long Island. In addition to teaching, Ms Yennie has worked with youth as a coach, tutor and camp director. She has served as PTA and PTSA and worked on revamping the AIDS curriculum in the Sag Harbor School District.
Ms. Yennie received her BA in Psychology and Elementary Education from SUNY Potsdam in 1982 and a MS in Education from Long Island University in 1995. After spending seven years as a full time substitute and a special education teacher, she began working at the retreat in 2002.

David Hickey has over 20 years of experience training and consulting on computer and internet technology and has held senior roles with Fortune 500 companies. He has conducted training and research studies in identity management, security and internet privacy for leading companies in health care, technology, retailing, marketing communications, media and other sectors.

Barbara Becker-Cottrill, Ph.D., received her doctorate in education from Teachers College, Columbia University. She has been in the field of education and developmental disabilities for the past 27 years. She has served as the Executive Director of the statewide West Virginia Autism Training Center at Marshall University for the past 17 years. Dr. Becker-Cottrill is also an adjunct graduate professor at Marshall University, co-teaching courses related to autism and is a national speaker on a variety of topics related to autism spectrum disorders. She has served as the principle investigator for the West Virginia Autism Monitoring Project studying the prevalence of autism in West Virginia,and the Family Focus Positive Behavior Support project . Both grants were funded by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). She has also been active in the CDC’s “Learn the Signs – Act Early” Campaign. Dr. Becker-Cottrill is a member of the Autism Society of America Panel of Professional Advisors and serves on the Board of the Autism Society of West Virginia.

Dr. Jennifer McFarland-Whisman, Ph.D., is the Associate Director/Training of the West Virginia Autism Training Center and an Adjunct Associate Graduate Professor at Marshall University where she co-teaches three courses on autism. She has been in both positions for the past 16 years. Dr. McFarland-Whisman provides workshop training and lectures related to autism throughout West Virginia and the nation. She is on the West Virginia Positive Behavior Support State Network Leadership Team and won the TASH Positive Approaches Award, as well as the Professional of the Year award from the West Virginia Autism Society. She recently co-authored the book Autism: A Primer for Educators, with colleague Dr. Barbara Becker-Cottrill. Dr. McFarland-Whisman is interested in all aspects of Positive Behavior Support, especially the areas of systems change, family and school support, and team planning.

Anita Horner, BA, is the Manager of Practice Advancements within Children’s Services and the National Center on FGDM. Her primary responsibilities include community consultation, mentoring, curricula development, training and technical assistance. Anita joined American Humane following a four-year period as a child welfare supervisor at the Arapahoe County Department of Human Services. Her responsibilities included supervision of the Family Group Conferencing program Child Specific Recruitment, Recruitment/Retention of Foster and Adoptive Homes, Adolescent Ongoing, Parent Education, Kinship Support, and Case Aide Services In addition, Anita played a key role in the development and implementation of the Child Specific Recruitment Program. From 1996-1999, Anita was a family group conference coordinator with Arapahoe and Denver counties, CO. Prior to joining the Departments of Human Services, Anita was employed for ten years as a mental health counselor at inpatient adolescent psychiatric/dual diagnoses units, residential treatment centers, and residential child care facilities.

Denise Holtz has been a special agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation for more than ten years. She is a 1994 graduate of Northern Kentucky University where she obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting. Denise is currently the Crimes Against Children Coordinator and the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crimes Coordinator for the Pittsburgh Division of the FBI as well as the Crimes Against Children Task Force Coordinator for Western Pennsylvania. She is also a certified FBI instructor.

Ron Smith is a Captain with the Winfield Police Department in West Virginia. He has more than 20 years of law enforcement experience. Captain Smith was one of the first Prevention Resource Officers in the state and was instrumental in establishing PRO guidelines and procedures for the PRO program. Captain Smith has received training from Clemson University and Marshall University. He is currently the state liaison for the PRO program and the West Virginia Division of Criminal Justice Services.

Tessa Cooper has been one of 112 FBI Victim Specialists from across the country since 2002. She is a native of Lincoln County, West Virginia who received her Master’s Degree in Social Work and Public Administration from West Virginia University. Tessa works out of FBI’s Pittsburgh Division.

Brad Bryant is a Supervisory Special Agent (SSA), and works out of the FBI's Critical Incident Response Group (CIRG), National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime (NCAVC), Violent Criminal Apprehension Program (ViCAP) Unit located in Quantico, Virginia.

Marianna Footo Linz, Ph.D., I am a professor of psychology at Marshall University and also am the director of the doctoral program (Psy.D.) in clinical psychology at Marshall.  I am a developmental psychologist and received my Ph.D. at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.  I also competed an internship at Columbus Children’s Hospital in Columbus, OH.  My areas of expertise are cognitive development, the development of children with disabilities, and issues affecting Appalachian children and families.  In addition to working at Marshall, I have also provided mental health consultation to local Head Start programs for the last several years.

Julie Rosof-Williams, MSN, APRN, BC-FNP, SANE-A, is the Assistant in the Department of Pediatrics at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and the Course Coordinator for Forensic Nursing Program at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing.

Catherine Munster, graduated with her doctorate of Jurisprudence Degree from West Virginia University College of Law, 1984 and her Master's Degree in Human Development Department, Institute of Child Study, University of Maryland, 1975. Concentration in Counseling and Group Process. Since then she has been a strong advocate for children’s justice issues throughout the state of West Virginia.

Phil Arkow , Interim Director for the American Humane Association’s Human-Animal Bond center, chairs the Animal Abuse & Family Violence Prevention Project for The Latham Foundation, where he has written three training manuals on the links between animal abuse, child abuse and domestic violence. He is an internationally renowned authority and lecturer on the human-animal bond and its therapeutic applications. He teaches a course on Animal-Assisted Therapy at Camden County College in New Jersey and a Distance Learning course on AAT through Harcum College in Pennsylvania, and wrote a biweekly newspaper column on pet care for the South Jersey Courier Post. He serves on the Board of Directors of the American Association of Human-Animal Bond Veterinarians.

Jim Kaplan, MD is the Chief Medical Examiner for the state of West Virginia.

Talia Divita is a trooper for the West Virginia State Police and is currently assigned to the Child Protection Unit.

Angie Scott, JD, is a Forensic Interview Specialist, National Child Protection Training Center. Angie oversees Half a Nation by 2010 and Finding Words. Prior to coming to the National Center, Angie was a forensic interviewer at the CASIE Center in South Bend, Indiana. At the CASIE Center she interviewed over 600 children. She was also a faculty member for Finding Words Indiana. Angie received her B.A. in sociology from The Ohio State University and her J.D. from the University of Notre Dame Law School.

Karen Blackwell, Lead Forensic Interviewer
Karen Blackwell leads DCAC’s Forensic Interview Program. She has played a key role in organizing the multi-disciplinary team to ensure a prompt and coordinated response to crime victims. Karen holds a master’s degree in social work from the University of New England and is a licensed clinical social worker. For the past 12 years she has worked in various capacities on the investigation of child sexual abuse, forensic interviewing, and sexual abuse assessment and treatment for children and families. She also has considerable experience on working with adult victims and child witnesses to domestic violence and serves on the board of the Denver Domestic Violence Coordinating Council. Karen is the recipient of the prestigious “2002 Excellence in Practice Award” presented by the Colorado Department of Human Services, Division of Child Welfare.

Debi Gillespie received her Master of Social Work from West Virginia University and her Bachelor of Social Work from California University of Pennsylvania, California, PA. She is currently the Diagnostic Director; Donald R. Kuhn Juvenile Diagnostic & Detention Center for the West Virginia Division of Juvenile Services.