Author Index |
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| Dan Abreu has been employed as the Associate Director of the SAMHSA National GAINS Center since June 2005. As Associate Director, he provides technical assistance to communities and states on mental health and criminal justice collaboration across the criminal justice spectrum and assists the Director in the planning and development of expert meetings that address various issues relating to justice involved persons with mental illness. He has provided Strategic Planning and Sequential Intercept Model (SIM) Cross Systems Mapping for SAMHSA Transformation State Incentive Grant (TSIG) states and SAMHSA funded Jail Diversion sites, to insure integration of mental health and criminal justice objectives. He has also provided Strategic Planning Workshops and SIM Mapping for several other states and communities. Mr. Abreu is former Associate Director of Operations at Central New York Psychiatric Center (CNYPC) and in his capacity of Associate Director oversaw reentry planning activities for individuals with mental illness, returning to the community from prison and oversaw the development of the Sing Sing CORP Re-entry Program. He formerly held positions with CNYPC as Regional Supervisor and as Chief of Mental Health Service at Sing Sing C.F. and Bedford Hills C.F., the only female maximum security prison for women in NYS. Prior to employment with CNYPC, Mr. Abreu coordinated jail mental health services in Albany and Rensselaer counties in New York State. Charles Amrhein is the clinical director of the Bronx TASC Mental Health Court Program, the service provider for the operations of the Bronx Mental Health Court. He trained in clinical psychology at the Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology of Yeshiva University. He completed a post-doctoral fellowship in the treatment of people with severe mental illness, with a major forensic focus, at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and the Bronx Psychiatric Center. He is active in training doctoral students in clinical psychology at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice and forensic psychiatry fellows at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He has worked with the Bronx Mental Health Court since its inception in 2002. The program has been recognized by the Bureau of Justice Assistance as one of fi ve national learning sites that support the development of new mental health courts. Dr. Amrhein is a consultant for the Council of State Governments Justice Center, a member of the National TASC Board of Directors, and has consulted widely on the development of mental health courts and jail diversion programs. Virginia Barber-Rioja, Ph.D. Dr. Virginia Barber-Rioja earned her doctoral degree in clinical forensic psychology from John Jay College of Criminal Justice (City University of New York). She completed her pre-doctoral internship with a forensic focus at Bellevue Hospital Center. Originally from the Canary Islands, Spain, she attended undergraduate school and also earned a master’s degree in Clinical Psychology in Madrid, at the Universidad Pontifi cia Comillas. For two years Dr. Barber-Rioja was the clinical director of the Queens TASC Mental Health Diversion Program, which works in collaboration with the Queens Mental Health Court. She is currently a psychologist in the Division of Forensic Psychiatry at Bellevue Hospital of New York University School of Medicine. She is also an adjunct professor of Psychology of Violence at New York University’s master program. Dr. Barber-Rioja has published several articles in peer-reviewed journals, has co-authored a chapter on jail diversion models published by Springer, and has presented in numerous national and international conferences. Her research has focused on the factors that predict success and failure in diversion of people with mental illness, along with an emphasis on risk assessment. Gray Barton is the Executive Director for the Offi ce of Problem-Solving Courts in Annapolis, Maryland. In this position Mr. Barton oversees the planning and administration of various types of drug and DUI courts, mental health courts, truancy courts, and other problem-solving court programs for the Maryland Judiciary. Mr. Barton began counseling emotionally disturbed adolescent males at New Dominion Wilderness Program in Cumberland, MD. He later took an Addictions Specialist position with the State of Maryland, diagnosing and treating adolescent males with chemical dependency issues. He held the Treatment Supervisor position at The Abraxas Foundation of Ohio before becoming the Treatment Court Coordinator for the Mansfi eld Municipal Court and assisted the court in developing one of the fi rst municipal drug courts in the State of Ohio. Then as the Treatment Coordinator of the Richland County Drug Court, Mr. Barton was involved in the implementation and continuation of regional municipal and common pleas drug courts in several counties, assisting in the planning and implementation of drug court programs in these jurisdictions. Marlene Beckman currently serves as Counsel to Laurie Robinson, Assistant Attorney General, Offi ce of Justice Programs (OJP), U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), and covers a broad spectrum of criminal justice issues, including primarily sentencing and corrections. She held that same position in OJP during the eight years of Janet Reno’s tenure as Attorney General. Ms. Beckman has also served in a variety of other components of DOJ, including the National Institute of Justice, the Criminal and Civil Rights Divisions, the Federal Bureau of Prisons, and the U.S. Parole Commission. Ms. Beckman is a 1985 graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center. She also has a Masters Degree in Counseling and an undergraduate degree in Criminal Justice from the University of Maryland. As a volunteer, she sits on her local Criminal Justice Coordinating Council and mentors people reentering from jail and prison. Justin Breaux: Karen Chapple: Ms. Chapple graduated with a master’s degree in counseling from the University of South Florida and is a Certifi ed Criminal Justice Addiction Professional. She has over thirty years of non-profi t management experience. Ms. Chapple is the Executive Vice President of Operations of Coastal Horizons Center in Wilmington. Coastal Horizons Center promotes choices for healthier lives and safer communities by providing professional assistance to those in need of prevention, crisis intervention, criminal justice alternatives, community outreach, substance abuse and mental health treatment services. The agency provides services in fi fty-three counties in North Carolina. Ms. Chapple is a past President of the National TASC Board. She also serves on the State Community Corrections Advisory Board and the Our Children’s Place Board. Ms. Chapple has received several awards during her career including the President’s Service Award, the National Improvement of Justice Award and the Cape Fear Woman of Achievement Award for Public Service. She has conducted presentations nationally and she has had multiple publications in professional journals and books. Foster Cook: Mr. Cook is Associate Professor and Director of the Substance Abuse Programs in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). UAB provides adult and adolescent treatment services, prevention services and an array of programs and services within the criminal justice system. He is Director of the nations’ oldest TASC program, (Treatment Alternatives for Safer Communities), which administers four drug courts, two mental health courts, a restitution drug court for property offenders and the electronic monitoring services for the county’s court system. In addition, TASC is the designated Community Corrections Program for Jefferson County, providing sentencing alternatives for non-violent offenders and reentry programs for inmates returning from prison. He is Past President and serves on the advisory board of National TASC. He is a former board member of the National Association of Drug Court Professionals. He currently serves on the boards of the Alabama Association of Drug Court Professionals; Alabama Community Corrections Association; the Alabama Foundation for the Mentally Ill and the Independent Presbyterian Church Foundation. He has been a consultant to numerous states on TASC programming, drug courts, community corrections and criminal justice policy. He has served on the faculty of numerous training conferences and schools including the National Judicial College; the New York, Florida, Alabama, and Texas Schools of Alcohol and Drug Studies; the Northeast States Judicial Training Consortium; the Washington State Substance Abuse Training Consortium and national and state conferences sponsored by Drug Courts (NADCP), TASC, the Department of Justice, and International Community Corrections Association (ICCA). He has been a consultant to the Department of Justice, National Institute of Drug Abuse, Alabama Sentencing Commission, Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration; White House Drug Policy Offi ce and the Offi ce of National Drug Control Policy. Hilary Curtis: Hilary Curtis Ph.D., LMHC received her B.A. from Cornell University in Psychology, Sociology and Anthropology; her Ed.M. in Counseling and Consulting Psychology from Harvard University; and her Ph.D. in Counseling and Developmental Psychology and Research Methods from Boston College. Dr. Curtis is currently the Program Director for the Ayer and Concord Drug Court program (ACDCP) in Ayer, Ma. and the Project Director for three SAMHSA and BJA grants for Adult Treatment Drug Courts. ACDCP is a program of Advocates Community Counseling (ACC), a private, non-profi t clinic that provides outpatient mental health and substance abuse counseling, educational and outreach services to individuals and families. Barbara Darbey, MPA: Barbara was appointed as the fi rst Executive Director of the National Association of
Douglas K. Kramer, TASC Chief Operating Officer: Mr. Kramer has over 23 years of experience in the fi eld of Drug Screening and Confi rmation techniques as related to forensic drug testing and over 15 years as the technical supervisor of the TASC Laboratory, supervising the technical staff. Mr. Kramer oversees the technical operations and research and development at TASC, Inc. Mr. Kramer actively serves as an expert witness for the Attorneys General and Public Defenders offi ces, aiding counsel in both prosecution and defense in matters of forensic drug testing. For over 15 years Mr. Kramer has been involved in the preparation of various types of training materials, as well as presenting to various audiences, such as probation and parole staff, attorneys, judges and other court staff as well as private companies. Mr. Kramer has been Database Administrator for 12 years, designing as well as deploying and continually managing our Laboratory Information System for TASC as well as our secure internet reporting system for contract users throughout the United States. Mr. Kramer has a B.S. in Microbiology, with extensive post-baccalaureate studies in Biochemistry. Associations: College of American Pathologists (CAP), FUDT Laboratory Inspection Team Leader, Society of Forensic Toxicologists (SOFT), American Association for Clinical Chemistry, American Chemical Society. Nancy La Vigne: Nancy G. La Vigne is director of the Justice Policy Center at the Urban Institute, where she leads a staff of over 35 researchers and oversees a research portfolio of more than three dozen active projects spanning a wide array of crime, justice, and public safety topics. Before being appointed as director, Dr. La Vigne served for eight years as a senior research associate at the Urban Institute, directing projects on prisoner reentry, crime prevention, and the evaluation of criminal justice technologies. Prior to joining the Urban Institute, Dr. La Vigne was the founding director of the Crime Mapping Research Center (since renamed the Mapping and Analysis for Public Safety program) at the National Institute of Justice, the research, technology, and evaluation arm of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). She later served as Special Assistant to the Assistant Attorney General for the Offi ce of Justice Programs within DOJ. She has held positions as research director for the Texas sentencing commission, research fellow at the Police Executive Research Forum, and consultant to the National Council on Crime and Delinquency. Her research interests focus on criminal justice evaluation, prisoner reentry, crime prevention, and the spatial analysis of crime and criminal behavior. She has published widely on these topics, appearing in a variety of scholarly journals and practitioner publications. Dr. La Vigne holds a B.A. in Government from Smith College, a Master’s Degree in Public Affairs from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas-Austin, and a Ph.D. from the School of Criminal Justice at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. Renee Y. Lee has over 25 years of clinical and administrative experience in the fi eld of social services working with developmentally disabled adults, dual diagnosis and chemically dependent populations as a vocational manager, pastoral counselor, clinician and program manager. She teaches and facilitates staff retreats for organizations to promote a spirit of excellence and team building. She is a program director for The Women’s Treatment Center Recovery Home and Offender Reentry Programs. Renee holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Substance Abuse Treatment from Northeastern Illinois University, MSW candidate at Loyola University, Illinois State Certifi ed Alcohol and Drug Counselor and earned certifi cates for 40 hours domestic violence training and advanced total quality management. Renee is committed to the empowerment of women and families and a strong advocate for family based treatment and alternative sentencing. She serves as an advisory board member for the Chicago Sacred Authority Chapter of the Rebecca Project for Human Rights and member of the Illinois Coalition of Treatment Providers and Allies along with several other professional organizations. Veronica Lewis, MPA is Division Director for the Homeless Outreach Program Integrated Care System (HOPICS) at Special Service for Groups in Los Angeles. HOPICS Division is comprised of 60 staff located at seven offi ces throughout LA County. The division provides mental health; substance abuse assessments, referral and outpatient treatment; case management; housing and homeless services; and reentry services to 4,000 individuals and families annually. She has been a key leader in the City of Los Angeles’ effort to comprehensively address employment and other reentry needs of ex-offenders through public-private partnerships; and by leveraging and enhancing existing systems. In 2007, she led a six-organization collaborative dedicated to serving the re-entry population in South Los Angeles with the launch of the Re-Entry Options Demonstration Project (REEOP). The REEOP Project became a contributing model for the State of California’s New Start Program serving ex-offenders. Veronica was honored by the City of LA Community Development Department in 2009 for creating career empowerment for parolees and persons with felony convictions. Yasemin T. Lipscomb is the Program Administrator of the Jefferson County Drug Court through the University of Alabama at Birmingham TASC Program. Yasemin has been at TASC since January 2004 and is responsible for the administration of the largest drug court program in the State of Alabama with an average of 450 participants. Yasemin has been a member of the National TASC Board of Directors since September 2009. She has a background in the behavioral health fi eld and holds a Master of Public Administration and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Social-Psychology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Brian Lovins is the Associate Director of the Corrections Institute for the University of Cincinnati, School of Criminal Justice. Mr. Lovins holds a Masters of Social Work and is an independent licensed social worker in the state of Ohio. His work at the School of Criminal Justice has included developing a state-wide juvenile risk assessment (Ohio Youth Assessment System: OYAS) and adult risk assessment (ORAS), as well as redesigning juvenile and adult correctional programs to meet evidence-based standards. Mr. Lovins routinely trains agencies in the principles of effective intervention, risk assessment, and the delivery of cognitive-behavioral interventions. Recent publications include “Validating the LSI:R and the LSI:SV with a sample of probationers,” “Applying the risk principle to sex offenders: can treatment make some sex offenders worse?” and “Cognitive behavioral interventions-Tools for working with youthful offenders.” Linda Mellgren is a senior social science analyst (1985 – present). Since 1985 she has been responsible for oversight of child support policy, evaluation and research. From 1995 to 2000 she was also staff coordinator for the DHHS Fatherhood Initiative, established to promote opportunities for fathers, children and families by improving research, evaluation, policy development and program support for fatherhood. Since coming to ASPE in 1977, she has also worked on issues relating to teen pregnancy, domestic violence, and Native American health and social welfare. From 1969 to 1976 she worked for the Social Security Administration and the Offi ce of Child Development/Head Start in the Chicago Regional Offi ce of DHHS. She has a B.A. in psychology from the University of Minnesota and a M.P.A. from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. Linda’s current areas of policy and research work include child support, fatherhood, family structure, including healthy marriage, and the intersection of human services and criminal justice populations. She is managing the implementation and impact evaluation of the ACF responsible fatherhood marriage and family strengthening grants for incarcerated fathers and their families and co manages with the Hispanic healthy marriage implementation evaluation. She is Senior Staff Advisor for the ASPE-funded National Center for Marriage and Family Research. In collaboration with the Offi ce of Child Support Enforcement, she is developing collaboration strategies with the Departments of Veterans Affairs, Defense, Labor and Justice on child support and family strengthening initiatives. She also manages HHS staff support for the cabinet level Federal Reentry Council convened by Attorney General Holder, serving as chair of the benefi ts access sub-committee, and participating in the child support, research, federal prisoners, and women and reentry subcommittees. Steven McCullough has been the Chief Operating Offi cer of the Safer Foundation since 2010, which is dedicated to helping individuals with criminal records re-enter society successfully across the State of Illinois. Safer has sharpened its focus by targeting its annual budget of over $26 million and over 300 employees to deliver quality job placement, retention, education, and other supportive services strategies for over 12,000 clients annually. Steven McCullough began his career in operations management at The Quaker Oats Company and then moved to supply chain consulting at Accenture. After ten years in the private sector, McCullough switched gears and moved into community development work. He was the Director of Finance and ultimately served as Executive Vice President at the Chicago Association of Neighborhood Development Organizations (CANDO). Steven was most recently the President & CEO of Bethel New Life, a faith-based community development corporation and served Bethel for ten years. McCullough is active in the Chicago community where he is a board member of the Center for Neighborhood Technology, Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago, Greater Chicago Food Depository and The Center for Leadership Innovation. He is an Annie E. Casey Foundation Children and Family Fellow, a British American Project Fellow, and a Leadership Greater Chicago Fellow.Steven McCullough holds a Bachelor’s of Business Administration degree from Loyola University of Chicago and a Master’s of Business Administration from the University of Chicago. Marta Nelson, the Executive Director of the Center for Employment Opportunities’ New York City offi ce, leads CEO’s programs and operations in its fl agship location, where upwards of 2500 men and women with recent criminal convictions enroll each year to take part in CEO’s immediate and comprehensive employment programming . Ms. Nelson joined CEO in 2005, and oversaw development of policy and new projects and partnerships. Before CEO, Ms. Nelson worked at the Vera Institute of Justice on a variety of projects to improve systems to help men and women leaving prison and jail. Ms. Nelson was also a lawyer at the Brennan Center for Justice and the Prisoners’ Rights Project of the New York Legal Aid Society, where she worked to improve access to education for young people incarcerated in New York City jails. Ms. Nelson holds a law degree from 29 the University of Michigan and a B.A. from Brown University. Jewell Oates, Ph.D: Dr. Oates joined The Women’s Treatment Center in 1991 as its fi rst Executive Director. She is the visionary and primary architect of many of the programs and support services that provide a comprehensive continuum of care for women and their children at the Center. Dr. Oates is recognized as one of the nation’s foremost experts in substance abuse treatment programs for women and children. Her advice is sought by agencies around the country and she has been a presenter and featured speaker at major Substance Abuse conferences. Dr. Oates also sits on a federal government standing review committee that evaluates grant applications for substance abuse programs throughout the nation. She leads with unwavering dedication, passion and compassion and is continually motivated by the impact the Center has on its clients. “The Women’s Treatment Center is a window of opportunity for women to change their lives for the better-- and the lives of their children. I tell our clients to take full advantage of this opportunity, and many of them come back to show me that they did! It’s very exciting!” Dr. Oates said. She was a 2002 recipient of the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois’ prestigious Women with Vision award. In 2010, she received recognition from the Illinois Department of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Women’s Committee for her commitment to the advancement of the field of women’s treatment services in Illinois. Dr. Oates has a wide range of professional experience that is uniquely suited to The Women’s Treatment Center. Formerly an educator and school principal, she also brings to her job expertise in Chemical Dependency, Mental Health and Social Services. She holds a doctorate degree in Administration and Policy Studies from Northwestern University’s School of Education. Andrea Paventi is currently the Executive Director for Mahoning County TASC Inc. where she has been employed since June 1999. Mahoning County TASC specializes in assessment, case management and drug testing for all drug court participants and court ordered clients. TASC is a private non-profi t grant funded agency and is certifi ed as an outpatient treatment provider by the Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services Board. TASC also offers a relapse prevention group, and low intensity drug and alcohol education groups. Ms. Paventi is a graduate of Canfi eld High School and went on to obtain a Bachelor’s of Science in Applied Science degree from Youngstown State University followed by a Master of Science degree in Criminal Justice. Ms. Paventi wrote her graduate thesis on the Common Pleas Drug Court program. She is also a Licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor III (LCDCIII). Ms. Paventi was the fi rst case manager hired at Mahoning County TASC in 1999 when the agency was created. She was hired to develop the case management portion inclusive of operational policies, case management forms, developing a comprehensive assessment and designing the case fi le layout. She was the fi rst drug court case manager with the Common Pleas Drug Court and was a member of the team when the court was named a national mentor court. She is a trustee with the Ohio Justice Alliance of Community Corrections Association representing all Ohio TASC programs. Ms. Paventi has been a member of the National TASC Board of Director’s since October 2007 and is currently serving as the Secretary. She is also this year’s National TASC conference co-chair. Harold Perl: Dr. Harold Perl joined the Center for the Clinical Trials Network (CCTN) at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) in 2005 to serve as Senior Lead for Behavioral Research, Dissemination and Training. The CCTN oversees the operation of NIDA’s National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network. Between 1989 and 2005, he served in various capacities at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), culminating as Chief of the Health Services Research Branch, with responsibility for developing and managing programs that focused on alcohol treatment research, health services research, and the dissemination and implementation of science-based substance abuse treatment practices. Prior to that, Dr. Perl served as Program Director for the Prevention Research Center in the Department of Mental Hygiene at the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health. He has provided technical assistance and training in grant development in dozens of individual, small workshop, and national conference formats. Dr. Perl earned a PhD (1987) and an MA (1981) in Clinical/Community Psychology from the University of Maryland and a BA in Psychology from the University of Rochester (1974). Dr. Perl was named a Fellow of the American Psychological Association (APA) in 2009 and was honored with the APA Association Meritorious Research Service Commendation in 2011. He has maintained an independent practice in clinical psychology since 1988. Tania Peterson Chandler, Esq.: Tania Peterson Chandler, Esq. is currently the Regional Director for the Education & Assistance Corp. (EAC). Founded in 1969, EAC is a not-for-profi t human service agency with a network of 66 programs throughout Long Island and New York City. Last year EAC helped over 65,000 people of all ages. EAC has been operating TASC programs in New York since 1978 and currently maintains TASC programs servicing the substance abusing and mentally ill criminal justice population in Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens, Staten Island, Nassau, Suffolk and Rockland Counties. Tania began her career in the human services fi eld shortly after graduating from John Jay College of Criminal Justice with a degree in Legal Studies. She worked as a Court Advocate for an alternative-to-incarceration program for youth ages 16-19 facing felony charges. The program combined a strengths-based, youth development focus with accountability to the courts. She joined EAC in 1997 as a Court Liaison and rose through the ranks to her current position of Regional Director for EAC’s New York City Services. As Regional Director Ms. Peterson Chandler is responsible for overseeing the operation of 20 Community Justice Programs throughout New York City and manages over 100 employees. She liaises with various partners, community based organizations, treatment providers, City, State and Federal offi cials and funding agencies; serves as Project Director/Senior Advisor for several SAMHSA and BJA federal grants; oversees program budgets and expenditures; initiates grant opportunities, establishes linkages, tracks compliance, compiles reports, reviews research and develops public materials including a monthly online newsletter. She reviews and negotiates contracts and submits city, state and federal re-funding applications as well as develops information systems to conform to grant and other funding requirements. Ms. Peterson Chandler also answers subpoenas and legal correspondence and collaborates with outside Counsel. Since joining EAC Ms. Peterson Chandler has initiated and enhanced a wide range of human service programs benefi ting thousands of vulnerable people each year. These include EAC’s Substance Abuse and Mental Health Alternative to Incarceration programs, HIV and Hepatitis C Prevention and Treatment programs, an Alcohol Education program, an Enhanced Employment Initiative and a Batterers Intervention Program to name a few. She has also coordinated the development of several federally-funded programs. While working fulltime at EAC, Ms Peterson Chandler earned her Masters Degree in Public Administration from John Jay College of Criminal Justice with a concentration in Criminal Justice Policy and Planning and earned her Juris Doctorate from Rutgers School of Law-Newark. Ms. Peterson Chandler is a member of both the New Jersey and New York State bars. Carrie Petrucci, MSW, Ph.D. is a Senior Research Associate at EMT’s Los Angeles offi ce with 10 years of experience in evaluation research with local, state, and federal agencies. Content areas of expertise include program development, practice-based collaborative evaluation, and use of mixed methods in criminal justice and social welfare settings. She has been the Lead Evaluator for several SAMHSA CSAT/CMHS local service grants including Assertive Adolescent and Family Treatment, Offender Reentry Programs, Services in Supportive Housing, Treatment for Homeless, and Targeted Capacity Expansion for HIV and Substance Abuse treatment. She has a masters and a doctorate degree in social welfare. Dwight Pope: Dwight Bernard Nippert Pope is a research assistant at the Urban Institute’s Justice Policy Center. Mr. Pope works on a variety of research and evaluative projects concerning the criminal justice system. He currently contributes to several projects, including a scan of practice and impact evaluation of collecting DNA at arrest, an assessment of evaluative literature concerning the criminal justice reentry population, and an evaluation of the quality and impact of technical assistance provided to local jurisdictions seeking to apply evidence-based practice at multiple criminal justice decision-making points. Prior to joining the Urban Institute, Mr. Pope earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology with a secondary focus in health policy at Harvard University. Scott T. Powers, LCSW CAC III is the Director of Clinical Services for Intervention, Inc., and has over 22 years experience working with offenders. He is responsible for the administration of clinical programming for the company and oversees seven licensed treatment centers that provide Mental Health and Addictions Treatment to offenders in the State of Colorado. He coordinates and conducts trainings for Intervention, Inc. and is certifi ed as a state trainer for the Colorado Division of Criminal Justice. Scott is heavily involved in public relations and education in the clinical community, and is a member of the Colorado Legislative Sub-Committee to address Medication, Health Care, and Public Benefi ts, the Jefferson County Sub-Committee on Mental Health and Substance Abuse, and the Chairman for the Mental Health and Substance Abuse Re-Entry Committee. He has authored a number of Federal and State Grants to include SAMHSA and Bureau of Justice Assistance Grants. Scott has his Masters Degree in Social Work from Denver University, and is licensed in the State of Colorado as a Clinical Social Worker and Senior Certifi ed Addictions Counselor Level III. Peg Rider, Ph.D. is the Project Director of the SAMHSA ORP grant of Intervention Community Correction Services (Denver, CO). She has a doctorate in public policy (The Union Institute, Cincinnati, OH) as well as a master’s degree in criminal justice (Xavier University, Cincinnati, OH). Dr. Rider has over 37 years experience as a program developer and has created a number of inter-disciplinary projects in the fields of criminal justice, alcohol and other drug prevention, treatment and recovery support services, education, and mental health. Her decades of work with local, state and federal government agencies and community-based organizations have often focused on African American, Hispanic and Native American communities. She has been a clinical director of a residential treatment program in Cincinnati where she created a women’s focused component. She has also worked in a SAMHSAfunded women’s program in Chicago. Ken Robertson is the Team Leader for the Criminal Justice Programs grant portfolio at the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) within the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. He oversees a team of government project offi cers, who manage the Offender Reentry Program, the Adult Criminal Justice Treatment Program as well as the Adult, Juvenile, and Family Drug Court portfolios. These are discretionary grant programs designed to reduce the gaps in the nation’s substance abuse treatment services for criminal and juvenile justice populations, and to address emerging drug trends at the State and community level. The current budget for these discretionary grant programs is over $67 million. Mr. Robertson is CSAT’s lead program offi cer on numerous inter-agency criminal justice initiatives including the Inter-agency Workgroup supporting the Attorney General’s Reentry Council, the NIDA Criminal Justice Drug Abuse Treatment Study, the Federal Consortium Addressing the Substance Abusing Offender as well as joint SAMHSABureau of Justice Assistance drug court and offender reentry efforts. He was the lead programs offi cial on previous SAMHSA-BJA initiatives including the President’s Prisoner Reentry Initiative Grant Program and the Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative. He also served as a CSAT Public Health Advisor with the Criminal Justice Systems Branch from 1993-1997, developing criminal justice-substance abuse treatment linkage programs, and monitoring the grants awarded under these program initiatives. His career spans over thirty years with nineteen years of federal service, and fi fteen years previous experience in the criminal justice fi eld. Prior to his federal career, he headed the National Consortium of Treatment Alternatives for Safer Communities (TASC) Programs, was program manager of a Department of Justice drugs and crime technical assistance contract at the National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors (NASADAD), and held several administrative and institutional corrections program positions with the North Carolina Department of Corrections, Division of Prisons. Pamela F. Rodriguez is president of TASC, Inc. of Illinois, a statewide, nonprofi t agency that provides independent case management for people with substance use and mental health conditions. TASC serves approximately 20,000 adults and youth each year who are referred by Illinois courts, corrections, and child welfare systems. Ms. Rodriguez has nearly 30 years’ experience in managing service delivery within complex service systems. She was appointed in 2007 to serve as a practitioner member of the Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, an independent organization in the U.S. executive branch. She also served as board member of National TASC, a membership association of TASC programs across the country. She is a member of the oversight board for Redeploy Illinois, which promotes local efforts to offer community-based alternatives to incarceration for juvenile offenders. She is also an advisory panel member of the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) Jane Addams Substance Abuse Research Collaboration, president of the Chicagoland Childcare Services Network, and member of the Juvenile Justice Commission and the Criminal Court of Cook County Principal Committee and Disproportionate Minority Confi nement Committee. Ms. Rodriguez earned her master’s degree in Social Service Administration from the University of Chicago. Merrill Rotter: Merrill Rotter is a forensic psychiatrist working at Albert Einstein College of Medicine where he is Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Director of the Division of Law and Psychiatry for the Department of Psychiatry. Dr. Rotter received his B.A./M.D. from the Boston University Six-Year Combined Liberal Arts Medical Education Program. Trained in clinical psychiatry at Columbia and in forensic psychiatry at Yale, Dr. Rotter leads a program of teaching, research and clinical service for Einstein as well as the New York State Offi ce of Mental Health. In his OMH role, Dr. Rotter is Director of the Division of Forensic Services at Bronx Psychiatric Center and Senior Consultant to the Division of Forensic Services. In addition, Dr. Rotter is the Medical Director of the EAC/ NYC TASC Mental Health Programs which provide the clinical arm of the Queens and Bronx Mental Health Courts; and he is Project Director of SPECTRM, a research, training and treatment program aimed at helping to meet the needs individuals with mental illness who have a history of incarceration. In 2009 Dr. Rotter received the award for Best Teacher in a Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship from the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law. Mark E Saferite has been the Director of the Maricopa County Attorney’s Offi ce / TASC Adult Deferred Prosecution Program since 2000. He was also the Program Director for Phoenix TASC in the early 1980’s, taking an active role in the early development of TASC pretrial diversion programming in Maricopa County. Mr. Saferite has over 15 years of criminal justice / human services experience in the US and ten years of international legal experience in Southeast Asia. In addition to his work with TASC, Mr. Saferite has worked in juvenile programs with the Arizona Department of Corrections and other public and private organizations. He has also managed programs with the Area Agency on Aging and the International Rescue Committee. He received his Master of Arts from Northern Arizona University and his Juris Doctorate from Santa Clara University with international legal studies in Singapore, Thailand, France and Switzerland. Mr. Saferite has been a National TASC Board member since 2004. Kath Schilling, M.Ed., CAS, LADC I: Kath Schilling is currently employed by the Institute for Health and Recovery as Project Director of RENEW, a 3-year federal project providing trauma-informed substance abuse and re-entry services to women returning to the community from incarceration. She also serves as a Trauma Integration Specialist and the trauma consultant to a SAMHSA/CSAT/CHAB grant serving homeless women in Boston. Ms. Schilling was the director of Project WAVE (Women Achieving Vital Empowerment), a SAMHSA/CSAT targeted capacity expansion grant to place substance use/ co-occurring disorders screening, outreach, engagement, assessment and care coordination to women seeking services from the two primary domestic violence agencies on Cape Cod. Ms. Schilling has also been the trauma consultant to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health/ Bureau of Substance Abuse Services on their All-Hazards Disaster Preparedness Response initiative. Previously, she was the lead facilitator for the Institute for Health and Recovery’s WELL Project at Gosnold on Cape Cod, which was one of the Women, Co-occurring Disorders and Violence Study sites. She also developed and has piloted an Internalized Cycle of Abuse in multiple settings in both the substance abuse and mental health arenas and has presented at conferences and workshops in Massachusetts, New York, Wisconsin, Texas, Florida, New Hampshire, California, Michigan, Ohio, Maryland and Washington, DC. Wes Stewart, MSW TASC RCE Director - Region 1 Wes Stewart oversees the operations of all of Coastal Horizons Center’s TASC programs in Region 1. Wes joined Costal Horizons in February, 2004, following divestiture of the TASC RCE from Neuse Mental Health Center. He has directed the RCE since its origination. Prior to becoming the RCE Director Wes was the TASC Director for Craven, Carteret, Pamlico and Jones Counties. Wes was involved in the development of Judicial District 3B’s Close Watch Court under the Honorable James Ragan. Wes has worked as a Criminal Justice Partnership counselor in Craven, Pamlico and Lenoir Counties as well as a counselor at the DART-Cherry inpatient facility. Wes currently is a member of the Board of Directors of National TASC and is a member of the NC Substance Abuse Federation Committee. Additionally, Wes brings a very client driven perspective to recovery as he looks forward to his 34th year of sobriety. Wes is married to Becky and they have three children and two grandchildren and reside in New Bern, NC Maxine L. Stitzer: Dr. Stitzer is Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and heads the Mid Atlantic Node of the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network. Her research combines pharmacological and behavioral approaches to the treatment of substance abuse including seminal work on contingency management approaches in substance abuse treatment. She has published over 200 scientifi c papers, co-edited a book on methadone treatment and received several awards acknowledging her research contributions. LaQuita Suggs, LCSW is currently the Clinical Director for Adult Outpatient Programs for the Homeless Outreach Program/Integrated Care System (HOPICS) at Special Service for Groups in Los Angeles. She has been in private practice for the past fi ve years with specialty focus areas of grief and traumatic recovery. Prior to working with the Homeless Outreach Program she held many positions within Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health/ Probation/Children and Family Services/Health Services and Public Social Services. Mrs. Suggs experienced her own personal trauma with the murder of her mother in 2007. As a result she began working with the local victims of crimes offi ces in the Greater Los Angeles Area and was recognized in 2008 by the State of California Victims of Crime Offi ce for assisting individuals and families that have suffered from a crime. Faye Taxman: Faye S Taxman, Ph.D. is a University Professor in the Criminology, Law and Society Department and Director of the Center for Advancing Correctional Excellence at George Mason University. Dr. Taxman has over 30 years of experience in conducting research in the areas of sentencing, courts, corrections, and organizational change. She is recognized for her work in the development of the seamless systems of care models that link the criminal justice with other service delivery systems as well as reengineering probation and parole supervision services, and organizational change models. Her most recent work concerns the best strategies to advance the implementation of evidence-based practices in correctional, particularly probation settings. She has published over 120 articles including translational work such as the Tools of the Trade: A Guide to Incorporating Science into Practice, a publication of the National Institute on Corrections that provides a guidebook to implementation of science-based concepts into practice. She is a Fellow of the Academy of Experimental Criminology and a member of the Correctional Services Accreditation Panel (CSAP) of England. In 2 0 08, the American Society of Criminology’s Division of Sentencing and Corrections recognized her as Distinguished Scholar. With Steve Belenko, she has written a book on Implementation of Evidence Based Practices in Community Corrections and Addiction Treatment Agencies (Springer, 2011). Matthew Taylor, Ph.D. is an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Missouri-St. Louis with over a decade of experience in multicultural psychology, diversity training, research, public policy analysis and evaluation. He has performed evaluation activities in a variety of settings, from university-based public policy centers, to school districts and community mental health agencies. Nationally, he has been commissioned by the National Academy of Science to present a paper of alcohol use and prevention in African American communities; and has also been a long-time grant reviewer and chairperson for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Dr. Taylor has a doctorate in clinical psychology. Cara Thompson is a research associate with the Corrections Institute for the University of Cincinnati, School of Criminal Justice. Miss Thompson holds a Masters of Criminal Justice from the University of Cincinnati. Her work at the School of Criminal Justice has included evaluations of prison programming and community corrections agencies, training agencies in the Effective Practices in Community Supervision (EPICS) model, and managing and coaching multiple EPICS sites across the county. Her academic interest areas include applying the principles of effective intervention to community settings and institutional programming. Eve Weinberg, MS Ms. Weinberg has more than 25 years experience working in substance abuse fi eld doing direct service, operations’ management as well as management of support functions such as policy and program development, quality assurance, training and human resources. As the Manager of Internal Training, she is responsible for directing the training of all TASC staff to ensure they have the clinical knowledge necessary to provide high quality client services. She has provided training, technical assistance and consultation around the county to a variety of groups including direct service personnel, administrators, judges, probation offi cials, and other juvenile and criminal justice system personnel on topics including: substance abuse, addiction, treatment, recovery, managed care, confi dentiality, drug testing, assessment, AIDS and HIV, various management topics, employment law and others. Before joining TASC, she worked in community corrections and in the fi eld of HIV and AIDS. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota and a master’s degree in Public Services Management from DePaul University in Chicago. Dr. Harry Wexler: Dr. Wexler has acquired a national reputation in the areas of substance abuse policy, treatment and research during the last 45 years. He is widely known for his landmark studies of the effectiveness of the therapeutic community in the community, prisons and aftercare. He has been engaged in prison reform since 1987 and lead up numerous federally funded national technical assistance projects that established prison treatment programs in 20 states. The California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation presented Dr. Wexler with a Pioneer Award in recognition of his role in expanding aftercare services for offenders and has chaired their Treatment Advisory Committee. Dr. Wexler was the Co-Chair of a Treatment Improvement Protocol, Substance Abuse Treatment for Adults in the Criminal Justice System (TIP 44), has written numerous articles, has co-authored a book on substance abuse treatment for women, and has edited several special issues of the Prison Journal. In 2005 he co-founded and served as the Co-director of the Center on Evidence-Based Interventions for Crime and Addictions at Treatment Research Institute in Philadelphia. In 2007 he was appointed as a member of the Governor’s Strike Team to help guide the process of reforming the California correctional system. In 2011 he completed a seminal Prison Journal Special Issue Reforming the Criminal Justice System: Issues and Recommendations for Corrections and lead a Congressional Briefi ng on criminal justice reform in November 2011. Currently, Dr. Wexler is an Assistant Professor at the NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Policy, Senior Research Advisor for Spectrum Health Systems, Senior Research Scientist Emeritus at National Developmental Research Institutes, Inc. (NDRI), lectures internationally and practices psychology in New York City and Laguna Beach California. Dale Willetts, CCJP, is the Director of the TASC Training Institute, at Coastal Horizons Center, Inc., providing criminal justice, substance abuse and mental health training focusing on basic and continuing clinical education, distance learning, and staff credentialing. Mr. Willetts previously served as Director of Criminal Justice Services of Coastal Horizons Center, where he administered TASC programs, Drug Treatment Court, the Day Reporting Center, and a variety of educational programs. Mr. Willetts served the North Carolina Division of Community Corrections as an Intensive Probation/Parole Offi cer and Correctional Instructor for over ten years. He is a member of National TASC, the American Probation and Parole Association, NAADAC, and the International Community Corrections Association. Mr. Willetts is a Member of the North Carolina Substance Abuse Professional Practice Board and is a Certifi ed Criminal Justice Addictions Professional. Barbara Zugor, Executive Director of TASC: Barbara Zugor has over 30 years of program management experience as she is the founder of TASC in Arizona and has continually administered TASC since its inception for both the counseling department as well as the forensic urine drug testing laboratory. Ms. Zugor has initiated and continually managed outpatient substance abuse/general mental health treatment/diversion programs for juveniles and adults referred from courts, probation, and corrections as well as private entities. Components include assessment, individual/ group counseling, family counseling, violence interruption, case management and drug and alcohol awareness. Ms. Zugor has over 30 years of experience in assessing, initiating and managing numerous programs, such as the adult pre-fi le felony diversion program which provides case management, treatment and urinalysis drug testing and the fi rst jail-based treatment program for female and male inmates in Maricopa county jail system. Ms. Zugor has a Bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice and a Master’s degree in Counseling. |
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