Maine/New Hampshire Victim Assistance Academy, March 20 25, Presenter Biographies

Transcription

1 Maine/New Hampshire Victim Assistance Academy March 20 25, 2011 Cyndi Amato, MSW has worked in the victim advocacy field for the past 19 years. She began her career as an advocate on the 24 hour crisis and support line at Sexual Assault Response Services of Southern Maine (SARSSM). After receiving her Masters in Social Work from the University of New England she was hired as the Executive Director of the Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault. In 1999, she furthered her career as the Executive Director of SARSSM and has continued in that capacity since then. In collaboration with local and statewide partners, she helped bring the Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) and Sexual Assault Forensic Examiner (SAFE) programs to Maine. Current focus of her work at SARSSM includes developing services to meet the needs of underserved populations including the homeless, street involved youth, and those who are incarcerated. She began practicing yoga in 2001 and recently completed a yoga teacher mentorship at Pure Movement Portland where she now teaches a Baptiste inspired vinyasa flow class and healing yoga class. She sees the intersection of victim advocacy, social work, and yoga as a way to bring healing and balance to life. Thomas Baran is a Patrol Sergeant with the York Police Department and has been an officer there for 28 years. He is a certified instructor with the Maine Criminal Justice Academy and teaches officers the proper handling and investigation techniques for domestic violence cases. He is the coordinator of the York Police Department s Domestic Violence Proactive Response Team. This team is responsible for making weekly checks on victims to check their well being and to see if the offender is violating bail conditions or protection orders. This program seeks out the offender holding them responsible for obeying all conditions and restrictions set forth by the court. Sgt. Baran was named Community Policing Officer of the Year by the Maine Chiefs of Police Association in 1998 for his involvement in community programs. He has a Bachelors Degree from the University of Southern Maine and lives in Kittery with his wife Linda and their two sons.

2 Polly Campbell, RN, BS, BA, is Director of the Sexual Assault Forensic Examiner Program, Maine Office of the Attorney General. She has been in this position for over eight years. She is responsible for program oversight including training of Sexual Assault Forensic Examiners (SAFE); technical assistance for SAFEs, health care providers who care for patients who have been sexually assaulted, and Sexual Assault Response Teams; promoting community awareness of sexual violence issues; and working with community partners to improve the community response to victims of abuse and violence. She currently sits on the Maine Domestic Violence Homicide Review Panel and Elder Death Anaysis Review Team; and is a member of the International Association of Forensic Nurses (IAFN) Board of Directors. Prior to her tenure at the AG s office she worked in clinical nursing for a decade and has spent the last 25 years working in the fields of domestic violence, sexual assault, and child abuse and neglect first at the Family Crisis Services in Portland as Community Response Coordinator, and later at the Muskie School of Public Service, University of Southern Maine. In addition to direct service with victims of abuse and violence, she coordinated statewide training and service programs that brought together professionals from various disciplines to better meet the needs of adult and child victims of violence. Marilyn DiBonaventuro is a Victim Witness Specialist in the United States Attorney s Office. Marilyn coordinates services to victims and witnesses of federal crimes. She provides support services, notification of court events and the victim s right to impact this process, notice and support of federal rights afforded to victims, support during legal proceedings and testimony and coordination of the response to witness and victim safety concerns. Her work includes coordination of cases, trial assistance, development and implementation of statewide & multi state conferences, and participation in various national and statewide task forces and committees. She also trains community & law enforcement agencies about federal laws, such as the Violence Against Women Act and the federal response to the sexual exploitation of children. Linda Douglas is the Trauma Specialist for the New Hampshire Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence working to enhance the capacity of member programs of the coalition, and local communities, to address the affects of trauma and the complex needs of victims with mental health and substance abuse problems. She has provided training to crisis center staff on the issues of domestic violence, substance abuse and mental health over the past year using trauma informed materials. Linda has also been providing training to the Department of Children, Youth and Families and the Department on Homelessness. She has her M.S.Ed. in Counseling from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia and has worked in the area of substance abuse and domestic violence since the mid 1990s when she coordinated the implementation of the Women in Recovery program for the YWCA of South Hampton Roads. This program was one of the first domestic violence programs in the country that provided services to battered women who self medicated with alcohol and other drugs. Ms. Douglas also provided training and consultation regarding the connection between substance abuse and domestic violence to other domestic violence programs in Virginia before moving to New Hampshire in Up until the Spring of 2009, Linda was providing substance abuse counseling at Monadnock Family Services in Keene, NH. Ms. Douglas is a master licensed alcohol and drug counselor in the State of New Hampshire.

3 Sue Hall Dreher is the Executive Director of Sexual Assault Support Services of Midcoast Maine. In her capacity as ED, she provides training and technical expertise to organizations regarding the issue and impact of all forms of sexual violence. Ms. Hall Dreher has her BS in Community Health Education and her Masters in Human Services. She has done additional graduate studies in public health with a focus on prevention. Susan has 30 + years experience in the nonprofit sector. Susan sits on the Board of Directors of the Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault where she is the former Executive Chair; and serves on the Board of the Elder Abuse Institute of Maine and on the Board of Licensure for Alcohol & Drug Counselors. She is an adjunct faculty member at the University of Maine. Hope Flynn has been a prosecutor in NH for about 12 years now. She started at the Rockingham County Attorney s Office then moved to the Strafford County Attorney s Office where she has been for the last 10 years. She is the Deputy County Attorney and handles all types of felony cases. Denise Giles is a Victim Services Coordinator for Office of Victim Services at the Maine Department of Corrections. She is responsible for planning, coordinating, administering, and evaluating the Department's victim services program including notification of inmate release, restitution, and assistance with harassment complaints. She is responsible for the certification of batterer intervention programs and coordinates Impact of Crime classes at an adult minimum security facility. She developed a policy for victim/offender dialogue in a correctional setting for the department. Denise oversees the coordination of the sex offender safety planning and containment policies and participates on the domestic homicide review panel. She designed and implemented a staff training curriculum for victim's rights and services. Denise is a member of the National Victim Assistance Standards Consortium, and is a founding member of the National Association of Victim Service Professionals in Corrections. Lindsey Green has a Bachelor s Degree in Criminal Justice and Women s Studies. After college from she did a year of service through AmeriCorps Victim Assistance Program with her host site being Sexual Assault Support Services. Upon her year of completion with the program she was hired on as the Client Services Coordinator at SASS and continues in this position there. Lindsey graduated from the Victim Assistance Academy last Spring in Lindsey loves her work at SASS and assisting survivors of Sexual Assault. Dolgormaa (Dolly) Hersom is a Director of Language Access for New Americans (LANA) program at United Way of Greater Portland. LANA improves access to services for refugees and immigrants with limited English proficiency by improving the quality and increasing the quality of interpreters in Maine. Dolly has been working on language access issues in Maine over ten years and has taught many workshops on ethics and professional responsibilities to interpreters and service providers. She also works as a telephone Mongolian and Russian interpreter for Language Line Services. Dolly is a graduate of University of Maine at Farmington and Mongolian State University.

4 Allegra Hirsh, LCSW works as a licensed clinical mental health therapist for the FIRST (Family Intervention Response and Support Team) and SAT (Sexual Abuse Treatment) programs and as clinical coordinator for The Children s Initiative at Community Counseling Center. She received her Master s in Social Work from the University of Southern Maine. Allegra specializes in the treatment of child traumatic stress using the TF CBT (Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) evidenced based treatment approach. Allegra received her advanced TF CBT training from the developers of TF CBT and continues to work collaboratively with the National Child Traumatic Stress Network. Allegra s past experiences have also included working with the Partnership for Health, Healing and Community. In addition to TF CBT, Allegra is also trained in CBT and DBT. Kayce Hunton is the Client Services Manager at Sexual Assault Support Services of Midcoast Maine (SASSMM). In that capacity, she has served as a member of the Working Group on Family Violence in Sagadahoc County, and served on the Midcoast Collaborative for Access to Transportation. Ms. Hunton represented SASSMM as a core group committee member to revise the statewide sexual assault advocate training manual titled, Help In Healing: A Training Guide for Advocates. She received her BS in Rehabilitation Services from the University of Maine at Farmington and her MS in Organizational Leadership from Southern New Hampshire University. Fatuma Hussein is the founder of, and has been the Executive Director of United Somali Women of Maine for the past 9 years. She came to this country as a refugee teenager, attended high school and college, and began work as a community advocate, using all the lessons she had learned in overcoming the challenges of being a refugee teenager in a different culture. These lessons helped her to found the United Somali Women of Maine Women's Center, established in 2001, to promote self sufficiency and economic empowerment, and to prevent all types of violence and promote a non sexist, multi cultural environment that raises up the strengths of refugee and immigrant women and girls by serving as cultural brokers, barrier reducers, skill enhancers, and problem solvers. Ruth Jewell has been providing cultural information about the unique barriers and challenges that Native people face when facing domestic violence and sexual assault. She began her formal work in this about 7 years ago at Spruce Run in Bangor where she was the Penobscot Nation Advocate. It was during this time that she was elected to the Board of Director of the National Coalition against Domestic violence where she now serves as President of that Board. In 2009 Ruth moved into the position of Program Coordinator of the Penobscot Nation s new Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Services Program. In 2010 Ruth was nominated to and received an appointment to occupy the underserved community seat on the Maine Commission on DV and SA. Ruth has recently been invited and accepted the NE Regional seat on the Board of Directors for the National Indigenous Women s Resource Center. Throughout the past three years Ruth has been a part of the Cultural Diversity Panel presenting to audiences throughout Maine to create awareness and provide information to DHS, mental health organizations, family planning, the legal and judicial community as well as women studies and policy students at the university of Maine.

5 Sandra Matheson has been the Director of the State Office of Victim/Witness Assistance in the New Hampshire's Attorney General's Office, since She developed, implemented and supervises a 24 hour direct services program providing services and support in all of the state's homicide cases from death notification throughout the judicial process. Ms. Matheson serves as Chair of the Attorney General's Task Force on Child Abuse and Neglect, the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner Advisory Board, the Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Protocol and Conference Committees, was a founder of the Child Fatality and Domestic Violence Review Committees and is a partner of the AmeriCorps Victim Assistance Program. She has actively participated in the passage of crime victims' rights legislation including writing the New Hampshire Victims' Bill of Rights. In April of 1994 she received a National Victim Services Award by President Clinton for "Outstanding Service on Behalf of Victims of Crime." Darcie McAlwee is a native of Caribou, Maine. She graduated from Bowdoin College in 1995 and the University of Maine, School of Law in For the first four years of her legal career, Darcie served as an Assistant District Attorney for Penobscot and Piscataquis Counties in central Maine. Darcie currently serves as an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Maine. As the coordinator for Maine s Project Safe Neighborhoods and Project Sentry programs, Darcie prosecutes federal firearms, explosives and arson cases and engages in community outreach regarding domestic violence, offender intervention and juvenile and school gun violence. Peter Michaud is the Victim Services Coordinator with New Hampshire Department of Corrections. For 12 years, he has led efforts to inform, involve and promote safety for crime victims and survivors whose offenders are sentenced to prison or probation in New Hampshire. Mr. Michaud has 30 years experience in New Hampshire's juvenile and criminal justice systems. He is a member of the NH Domestic Violence Fatality Review Committee. He is a former member of the Board of Directors for the NH Coalition Against Domestic & Sexual Violence, the state s Batterers Intervention Standards Subcommittee, and the Belknap County Citizens Council on Children and Families. He spent 8 years as a domestic/sexual violence crisis line volunteer, and many years in other volunteer community activities. Mr. Michaud has trained nationally as a consultant with the U.S. Department of Justice, Office for Victims of Crime, the National Institute of Corrections, and the National Organization for Victim Assistance. He may be reached at (603) or pemichaud@nhdoc.state.nh.us. Rashida Mohamed is originally from Sudan. She worked at the International Institute of New Hampshire for two years, and then worked as Shelter Manager for the YWCA for 8 years. Rashida is now is the Victim/Witness Advocate for the Manchester Police Department. Heather Putnam is the Victim Witness Coordinator and Law Enforcement Coordinator for the United States Attorney Office. Her role and responsibilities include education and advocacy for the District of Maine regarding victim witness protection laws; provision of information/education, support and assistance to federal victims and witnesses, and coordination with Maine law enforcement regarding trainings, federal initiatives, and pending federal prosecutions. Prior to her work at the U.S. Attorney s Office, Heather worked for seven years at the Portland Police Department as their Victim Advocate, and spent over ten years working with at risk and homeless youth in the Greater Portland area.

6 Deborah Shaw Rice has been the Director of Maine's Crime Victims' Compensation Program in the Office of the Attorney General since Her responsibilities include: administrating and supervising the Program; providing training and outreach; coordinating services with other community and governmental agencies; monitoring or drafting legislation, rules, and opinions; and managing Federal grants. Ms. Rice served on the Legislative Commission to Propose an Alternative Payment Process for Sexual Assault Forensic Examinations. She is a member of the Department of Corrections Victims Advisory Group and the Maine Victim Witness Advocates Association, and she is immediate Past President of the National Association of Crime Victim Compensation Boards for which she has been a board member since After graduating from the University of Maine School of Law, Ms. Rice worked as a Legal Services attorney representing victims of domestic abuse and co drafted Maine's first protective order statute. Bette Jane Riordan is the Coordinator for the New Hampshire Victims Assistance Commission and the Victims Compensation Unit at the Department of Justice. Ms. Riordan has served in this position since 2004, and has been with the Department of Justice since 1997, previously working as a paralegal and volunteer coordinator in the Consumer Protection Bureau, assisting victims of consumer fraud and providing public education outreach for the bureau. For eleven years, Ms. Riordan worked in the juvenile justice field both as Juvenile Probation and Parole Officer and as Juvenile Justice Program Specialist with the Department of Health and Human Services, serving troubled youth and their families and worked closely with the courts, law enforcement and service providers. Ms. Riordan earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Regis College in Weston, Massachusetts and obtained her Juris Doctorate from Suffolk University Law School in Boston, Massachusetts. Pamela A. Roberts has been a Victim Witness Services Director since She was previously an elementary school educator, VISTA volunteer working with At Risk Youth, Juvenile Diversion Coordinator for 1st time youthful offenders and a Paralegal York County DA Office. Ms Roberts received her BA from George Washington University. Susan Roche, Esq. is the Supervising Attorney at the Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project (ILAP) in Portland, Maine, Maine s only nonprofit provider of immigration legal aid. Sue has specialized in immigration law since 2000, with emphasis on family based immigration, immigration consequences of crimes, removal defense, and noncitizen domestic violence and crime victims. She has co taught the Immigration Law Seminar at the University of Maine School Of Law, and has presented at local and national conferences on immigration issues. She is a graduate of the University of New Hampshire and Northeastern University School of Law, and is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

7 Jill Rockey has been with the New Hampshire State Police since 1994 and a detective since Trooper Rockey has investigated numerous cases of homicide, domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse. From December, 2006 through September, 2008 Trooper Rockey was assigned to the Sex Offender Registry. She assisted the registry in coming into compliance with New Hampshire s Sexual Predator s Act and worked towards meeting the requirements of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act. Jane Root has been the Director of the Maliseet Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Response Program for the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians in Northern Maine since the program's inception in She has been an advocate for battered women and their children for the past twenty one years. Jane served as the Project Coordinator for the Indian Health Service (IHS) /Administration for Children, Youth and Families (ACYF) Domestic Violence Pilot Project from She served on the United States Attorney General s National Advisory Committee on Violence Against Women from Jane developed and continues to facilitate the annual Wabanaki Women s Family Harmony Retreat that brings women from all five tribal communities in Maine together for a three day healing from, and learning about, domestic violence. Jane has served on the Steering Committee for the National Conference on Health and Domestic Violence since She is a member of the Maine Commission on Domestic and Sexual Abuse; and the Aroostook County Task Force on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault. Jane is a senior faculty member of the Indian Health Service (IHS)/Administration for Children, Youth and Families (ACYF) Violence Against Women Pilot Project and a member of the IHS Women's Health Advisory Board. She is a trainer/presenter on issues of violence against Native women on the national, regional and local level. Blanca Santiago is the Field Director of Tengo Voz/I Have a Voice, a southern Maine grassroots crisis response and leadership development organization empowering Hispanic women and their families. She served as President of El Centro Latino Maine and as Executive Director beginning in For the last 7 years, Blanca has worked almost exclusively with the immigrant, migrant and seasonal population of Maine largest minority group. She worked with adults living with a major mental illness for 13 years at Catholic Charities Maine and prior to that as Workfare Coordinator for the City of Portland s Department of Social Services. She holds a BS in Organizational Leadership from the University of New England and MHRT/Community Certification from the University of Southern Maine. Blanca is a qualified medical interpreter and a Spanish language translator. Jen LaChance Sibley received a bachelor s degree in Political Science from the University of Maine. She started working for Family Crisis Services in 2001 as an outreach advocate. The past six years, Jen has taken over as the outreach team coordinator. In this position, she oversees three outreach offices including: Portland, Midcoast and Bridgton, the incarcerated women s position and the enhanced police intervention collaboration program. Jen also served on the Attorney General s Anti Stalking Taskforce that has made recommendations for better services and laws for stalking victims. Jen has presented on the topics of domestic violence and stalking to many community groups, local agencies and social service providers statewide.

8 Dr. Romy Spitz received her Ph.D. from the University of California, San Diego. She is currently a consultant to Maine s Department of Health and Human Services with expertise in deafness, language development, and non traditional communication and Adjunct Professor of Linguistics at the University of Southern Maine specializing in the neuropsychology of language and communication. Francine Garland Stark has worked to end domestic abuse and violence since 1985, beginning as a volunteer on a domestic violence hotline, joining the staff of Spruce Run Association in Penobscot County as the Administrative Coordinator in During 23 years with that agency, Francine provided advocacy for people affected by domestic abuse and violence in addition to her responsibilities as a program administrator and public educator. She has articulated the problem of domestic abuse and violence through curriculum development and collaborative projects to educate individuals, to inform policy development, and to promote culture change to foster safe, healthy, and joyful families. As Executive Director of Hope and Justice Project in Aroostook County, she coordinates the services of three shelters for victims of domestic violence and three transitional housing sites that are located throughout the County as well as the project s 24 hour hotline, legal services, advocacy, support groups, school based prevention education, community education, and professional training programs. In 2010, Francine was honored to receive the Maryann Hartman Maine Woman of Achievement Award from the Women in the Curriculum and Women s Studies Program of the University of Maine. Holly Stover works for the Department of Health and Human Services, in the Office of the Commissioner and is serving as the interim Office Director for the Office of Multicultural Affairs. In her role, Holly provides leadership and represents domestic and sexual violence for the Commissioner s Office. She serves on the Maine Commission on Domestic and Sexual Abuse and the Maine Homicide Review Panel. Holly holds a Bachelor s Degree from Nasson College, has attended the Muskie School of Public Service, and completed the State and Local Executive Program at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in Allison Vachon is an Investigator at the New Hampshire Attorney General's Office in the Criminal Justice Bureau. She is a member of the New Hampshire Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force as well as the Attorney General's Task Force on Child Abuse and Neglect. Among the numerous cases she investigates are child exploitation, economic crimes, sexual assault and public integrity. She is also the Internet Crimes Unit Investigator within the Attorney General's Office and was part of the investigative team for the Attorney General's Diocese Task Force. Her past law enforcement experience includes police officer with the Concord Police Department.