Cassandra Kisiel, Ph.D. is a Research Assistant Professor at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and serves as a Statewide Trauma Expert for DCFS as well as the Project Director for the CQI-Community Implementation of Trauma-related Services Initiative. In this capacity, she is responsible for overseeing and implementing trauma-focused training and dissemination plans related to best practices for child trauma assessment and treatment across the state; providing trauma-related consultation across DCFS agencies; and establishing training-related linkages with a range of local and national trauma experts and resources in order to meet the needs of diverse provider groups and service settings across DCFS. Previously, Dr. Kisiel served as the Training Director for the SAMHSA-funded National Child Traumatic Stress Network where she was responsible for directing, implementing and evaluating a range of training activities and dissemination methods for delivery and adoption of trauma-focused practices across a national Network of 70 trauma centers, including academic/university-based centers as well as community agencies representing 39 states across the country. She has also served as the Associate Director of Child Research at the Trauma Center, Boston University Medical School where she was responsible for the design, direction, and implementation of child trauma intervention and youth violence prevention programs and the development and dissemination of child trauma assessment tools. She has served as a research scientist at the Wellesley Centers for Women at Wellesley College where she designed and implemented research studies focused resiliency and protective factors among traumatized children and families in community settings. Dr. Kisiel’s research has focused on developing and testing child trauma assessment strategies in clinical settings, and spirituality and creativity as protective factors for child trauma. She has developed and refined decision support and outcome management tools for child mental health and child trauma. In particular, she designed the trauma modules for the Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths (CANS) and has trained several hundred community providers, child welfare workers, and school-based personnel in the reliable use of these tools in standard clinical care. Dr. Kisiel completed her doctoral degree in clinical psychology at Northwestern University Medical School, her internship at Cambridge Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and two postdoctoral fellowships at the Cambridge Hospital and the National Violence Against Women Prevention Research Center at the Stone Center of Wellesley College.

David V. Carrillo has been a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Instructor and Psychotherapist for over 30 years, working with individuals, children and couples who have a range of difficulties. His complete career has been aimed to a set of objectives: helping people reach their full potential, resolve problems and develop as individuals. He has had experience in Child Welfare, Clinical Training and Supervision, Community Education, School Social Work, and Staff Developer/Trainer in areas of child development, cultural diversity, behavior management, crisis intervention, TEAM development and other business, clinical and education related topics. He has worked in the areas of prevention and with individuals and families coping with the problems of alcohol and substance abuse. Most recently he has been involved in the training of professionals in the areas of cultural competency and diversity, education related topics including Life Space Crisis Intervention and specifically training in the area of Hispanic and Latino culture. He lives and practices in Palatine, Illinois.

Debra Manners is the Executive Vice President for Programs. She is a licensed clinical social worker and has been working at Hathaway-Sycamores since 1987. She was born in Tacoma Washington and attended college at the University of Washington where she received a Master’s Degree in Social Work. Her professional career has been dedicated to working with children and families. She began working in a children’s shelter in 1972. There she became interested in understanding the effects of abuse, neglect and abandonment. She has worked in residential and community programs all of her career. She is also a consumer by way of her daughter who suffers from a chronic mental health issue. This experience has shaped her view of the practice to include family and consumer driven care provided in non-traditional ways.

Don Quick took office as the District Attorney for the 17th Judicial District in January, 2005. Colorado’s 17th Judicial District includes Adams and Broomfield Counties and has a population of nearly 500,000 residents. Each year the office handles over 30,000 traffic and misdemeanor cases, 1,200 juvenile cases and 3500 felony cases. Don Quick has nineteen years of prosecution experience with the District Attorney’s office and the Colorado Attorney General’s office. Don Quick tried over 100 jury trials and has argued and won cases before the Colorado Supreme Court. Don Quick presently serves as the President of the Colorado District Attorney’s Council. He is also a past President of the Adams County Bar Association and served on the Board of Governors for the Colorado Bar Association. Don Quick previously served as both the Chief Deputy and Deputy for Criminal Justice for Attorney General Ken Salazar. As the Chief Deputy, Don supervised the 330 attorneys, investigators and staff of the Attorney General’s Office. As the Criminal Justice Deputy Don supervised all of the prosecutions within the Attorney General’s Office, oversaw the statewide grand jury, and supervised the Criminal Appellate Division. Finally, he assisted in the formation of the Attorney General’s initiatives concerning criminal justice in areas such as peace officer standards and training, youth and gang violence, domestic violence, victim services, and environmental crimes. Don Quick has served on a number of state committees involving Witness Protection Funds, Victim Services, Juvenile Justice Grants, Safe2Tell (a statewide school safety hotline), Domestic Violence Policies, and Mental Illness and Substance Abuse Policies. Governor Ritter appointed Don to serve on his transition team. Governor Owens appointed Don to serve on the Columbine Review Commission, the Governor’s Advisory Team on the Jon Benet Ramsey case, and the Sex Offender Registry Task Force. Don represented the Attorney General’s Office on the Joint Anti-Terrorist Task Force. Don was selected to serve as a member of the Secretary of State’s Blue Ribbon Election Panel. Don has been a trial advocacy instructor for numerous National Institute of Trial Advocacy programs and at the University Of Colorado School Of Law. He has served on the boards of non-profit organizations serving the homeless and senior communities, as well as boards and committees serving local school districts.

Judge Linda Tucci Teodosio is a graduate of The University of Akron with a B.S. in Education Summa Cum Laude. She received her Juris Doctor from the University Of Akron School Of Law in 1982. Judge Teodosio has served as an attorney in private practice, a Staff Attorney for the Ninth District Court of Appeals in Summit County, Ohio, and as a Magistrate in the Akron Municipal Court. Judge Teodosio was elected to the Cuyahoga Falls Municipal Court in 1997 and to the Summit County Court of Common Pleas Juvenile Division in 2002. Judge Teodosio has served on the Boards on numerous community organizations including the Summit County Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board and the Summit County Social Services Advisory Board. In 2003, Judge Teodosio instituted the Crossroads Program at the Summit County Juvenile Court. The Crossroads Program is a diversionary intensive probation program which deals with youth with the co-occurring disorders of a mental health diagnosis and substance dependence.

The challenges of navigating the behavioral health system and other child-serving systems while raising a child with severe behavioral health issues was Jane’s inspiration to become a national advocate for children’s issues, community spokesperson and systems transformation leader in Arizona and nationally. A former Corporate Systems Development Manager, Jane became focused in 2000 on Arizona’s Vision to transform its behavioral health system based on meaningful collaboration with families, and eleven additional principles stemming from Arizona’s “Jason K” class action lawsuit settlement agreement. First hired as the sole family representative to shape the statewide effort, Jane applied her family perspective and expertise on systems navigation as one of four pioneering Systems Developers (the others coming from Child Welfare, Behavioral Health and Juvenile Justice systems). This initial team led Maricopa County’s “200 Kids Project” to demonstrate how to bring to life Arizona Vision, by developing a Child & Family Team (wraparound) process as a central mechanism within the state’s emerging system of care. She was invited as first family representative to sit on the statewide Arizona Children’s Executive Committee, the cross-agency executive group overseeing implementation of the “Jason K” settlement. Demonstrating the importance of bringing family representatives to the service delivery workforce, and as advisors to public systems’ transformation activities, Jane saw the need to establish the Family Involvement Center (FIC) in 2002, a family-run, non-for-profit organization, to operationalize the integration of family involvement at all levels from service delivery to program and policy development to practice improvement. In the last 5 years the Family Involvement Center has been recognized as a pioneer family-run organization in developing a highly successful model for building family participation, family leadership programs and family professional partnerships at both the state and local levels to support these goals. Through the efforts of the FIC, and its sister agency, MIKID, Arizona families today are pervasively involved in federal, state and local policy and program development, staff education and consultation, service delivery, and quality management. Targeted activities are increasingly bringing Jane and FIC to help address the needs of families in the child welfare and juvenile justice system and expand integration of family voice within those systems.

Research on culture, families and mental health has the overarching goal to operationalize cultural and family factors that bear positive mental health outcomes. Dr. Ramirez and his colleagues are studying family factors and course of schizophrenia in Latin American and European American samples. We are drawing on the social support and stress-coping literatures to operationalize family caregivers' supportive and coping behavior that correlate with desirable mental health outcomes. We utilize both quantitative and qualitative techniques to conceptualize these constructs cross-culturally. This line of research has been sponsored by an NIMH National Research Service Training Grant, a UCLA-Mexican Institute of Psychiatry NIH Fogarty International Research Training program, and a grant from Paso del Norte Health Foundations' Center for Border Health Research. A second line of studies focuses on the interrelation between familial and acculturation contexts, and the psychosocial development of Latino youth. The overarching aim of these studies is to advance our understanding of both the embededness of familial and sociocultural contexts and their relation to both clinical and favorable adolescent outcomes. A mixed method approach is also being utilized in this line of research. Dr. Ramirez also studies other aspects of the community adaptation of the seriously mentally ill. One set of studies has examined the predictors of psychiatric rehospitalizations and hospitalizations. Another set of studies examined the predictors of medication intake by the seriously mentally ill. Ethnocultural factors in successful engagement in mental health services will be the topic of future studies as well as the integration of social networks, including family / community members, and professional and para-professional service providers.

Maureen Lowry-Fritz is an attorney licensed in Illinois. She currently operates a special education law consulting practice in Naperville, IL. She is an honors graduate of Loyola University School of Law in Chicago. In 1999, she won the Illinois State Bar Association Moot Court Competition. She also holds a Masters in Administrative Management from University of Maryland Overseas Graduate Program in Heidelberg, Germany. Maureen is the mother of four young children, two of whom have received special education services in school. In her legal consulting practice, Maureen supports a cooperative relationship, rather than an adversarial stance, between family and school. She teaches parents and professionals how the federal special education laws affect children with special needs. She also conducts special education law seminars for parents and professionals. Maureen hosts a free website (www.specialedmoms.com) which provides valuable legal information regarding special education law. Maureen has conducted seminars for such organizations as the Autism Society, Options and Advocacy, the Arc, the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, the Epilepsy Foundation of Greater Chicago, and the Illinois Branch of the International Dyslexia Association. Maureen is a member of the Epilepsy Foundation of America Legal Defense Fund and serves as the family representative on the Council for Exceptional Children, Division for Early Childhood. She has also authored a book entitled, “Your Child’s Special Education Rights: Use IDEA to Advocate For Your Special Needs Child.”

REALITY Theatre - Drawing from personal experiences and situations existing in schools, our teen ensemble members develop original theatrical productions that are real and relevant for the audience. The plays, both humorous and serious, are presented in a language that both youth and adults can relate to and that offer alternatives to unhealthy behavior. The ensemble promotes effective communication and healthy conflict resolution skills. REALITY shows choices and reveals consequences. The themes presented in REALITY reflect the current trends and challenges at schools across the country. Since 1994, REALITY annually premieres original theatrical productions written and performed by youth for youth. We also offer post-performance classroom discussion led by the teen actors and workshops for students and educators using the "REALITY" method of drama as a tool for creativity, communication, and conflict resolution. Our plays change regularly to best represent the current topics and issues effecting today's youth. DIRECTOR – Kim Hort, M.A., DTR, is a registered Dance/Movement Psychotherapist, Drama Specialist Prevention Specialist and director of REALITY Theatre with OMNI Youth Services in Buffalo Grove, IL. In addition, Kim is a teacher/trainer with The Chicago Comedy Company, Comedy With A Cause/Join Forces, Adler Danztheatre Kids Project and Just Say It! Since 1994, Kim has been facilitating workshops nationally and internationally on exploring methods of improvisation, dance, drama, storytelling and creative writing for education, creative empowerment, leadership development and therapeutic purposes. Focus on using the creative arts in education, programming and in treatment for youth, special populations, colleges, conferences and corporations. ASSISTANT DIRECTOR – Emily Labbe is a third year Psychology Major/Theatre Studies Minor at DePaul University. Emily was a four-year REALITY member from 2001-2005, and a directing intern with REALITY from 2005-2007. She presented at the American Alliance for Theatre and Education Conference 2006 with REALITY director Kim Hort, and performed with REALITY at the Association for Experiential Education Conference 2006.

Patricia Miles lives in Gresham, Oregon and has been involved in a variety of community development and human service enterprises including starting a battered women’s shelter, running a youth employment program, directing a residential treatment center that turned itself inside out to do community-based work, and managing the start-up of a large scale implementation of wraparound in Columbus, Ohio. She is the co-author of many of the articles that have appeared on this website over the years, has been a leader in developing a consistent and reproducible model for strength-based, needs-driven facilitation of child and family teams, and has developed the Directive Supervision model for practical and effective staff support in human services agencies

Sean M. Hoyer has been employed by OMNI Youth Services since 1996. In his capacity as a counselor and treatment specialist, he provided leadership in the areas of community based adolescent substance abuse and delinquency treatment. As the Coordinator of Experiential & Wilderness Therapy Services since 2000 he has guided a vibrant program to national recognition as the Association for Experiential Education 2005 Organization of the Year. As an International, National, and Regional presenter and trainer, he specializes on the integration of clinical theory, adventure based counseling techniques, and experiential and wilderness therapy. His has published on theory based practice of wilderness therapy. Mr. Hoyer received his BSW from Valparaiso University and his MA in Social Service Administration from the University of Chicago. He is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW), Certified Drug and Alcohol Counselor (CADC) in the state of Illinois, and Wilderness First Responder (WFR).

Shawn Thiele, Assistant Vice President of Wraparound Services, has a BA in Psychology and an MSW with a dual concentration in Clinical and Organizational Systems. She has been working in the field for 14 years. She is licensed in the State of Michigan and is in the licensure process for the State of California. Shawn has been with Hathaway-Sycamores for 5 years overseeing the Wraparound and System of Care Programs, however she has 8 years experience in Wraparound as a Facilitator, Supervisor, Director and currently Assistant Vice President. Her other experience supports the concept of family partnership through Systems of Care processes and the integrating of Wraparound and Residential Treatment. That experience includes working with adolescent girls and their families through homeless shelter independent living program; working towards anti-gang activity and involvement with youth and their families in Southwest Detroit, MI; and running a peer mentoring program with girls ages 5 – 17 and their families also in Southwest Detroit where she helped to design and implement multiple summer day camp programs. Shawn also has an extensive amount of experience as a trainer and consultant over the duration of her career. She worked as a contractual consultant for a Wellness Program in the Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana region with Ceridian. She has worked as a certified Nonviolence Crisis Intervention Trainer and Certified Domestic Violence Counselor. She has also and continues to present at numerous National Conferences on the topics of Wraparound, Family/Professional Partnership, Cultural Diversity, Changing Role of Clinical Work, Policy Development and Public Partnership. As part of her work at the Hathaway-Sycamores Child and Family Services, Shawn has also participated as a trainer and consultant for the Los Angeles Training Consortium. Lastly Shawn has great passion for work around system development and change. She worked for the Detroit City Council President where she was instrumental in the redevelopment of the city’s recreational facilities. She has sat on County, State and National committees such as The Michigan State Juvenile Justice Task Force, Southeastern Michigan Council for Diversity, National Wraparound Initiative, Southern California Wraparound HUB and LA County Wraparound Meeting tables such as Local Interagency Operations Network and the Lead Wraparound Agency Meeting to help with growth and development of Wraparound and the integration of Wraparound with Residential Treatment.