Board & Advisors
Board of Directors
Father Paul Abernathy is an Orthodox Christian priest and the Director of FOCUS Pittsburgh, an Orthodox Christian non-profit focused on Trauma Informed Community Development located in the Hill District, Pittsburgh Pa. He has B.A. in International Studies from Wheeling Jesuit University, and holds a Master in Public and International Affairs from the University of Pittsburgh as well as a Master of Divinity from St. Tikhon’s Orthodox Theological Seminary. Since its inception in 2011, FOCUS Pittsburgh has distributed millions of dollars in food, clothing, furniture, transportation assistance, Identification, and emergency relief to the Greater Pittsburgh Community which includes a Back Pack Feeding Program that distributes food to 2,700 children every weekend during the school year. Father Paul is also the CEO of the FOCUS Pittsburgh Free Health Center which offers free primary, behavioral health, and dental care to Pittsburgh’s uninsured and underinsured. Under his leadership all FOCUS Pittsburgh programing has been developed as part of an overall initiative currently underway to address Community Trauma called Trauma Informed Community Development, to include a Trauma Response Team for acute stress as a result of homicides in Allegheny County (in partnership with the Allegheny County Health Department). In addition to his work with FOCUS Pittsburgh, Fr. Paul is and has been a member of multiple community boards and committees to include the PA State Parole Citizens Advisory Committee, Neighborhood Allies Grassroots Grant Making Committee, Allegheny County Health Department’s Violence Prevention Community Advisory Board, and is a Foundation of HOPE board member. A former Non-Commissioned Officer in the U.S. Army, Father Paul is a combat veteran of the Iraq War and has received community awards to include the rank of Eagle Scout, the New Pittsburgh Courier’s Fab 40 award, Larry Richert’s Hometown Hero Award, Pittsburgh Magazine’s 40 under 40, and Wheeling Jesuit University’s Fr. Pedro Arrupe Distinguished Alumni Award. Fr. Paul is the pastor of St. Moses Orthodox Christian Mission also located in the Hill District.
Paul Abernathy, MPIA, MDiv
Christina D. Bethell, PhD, MBA, MPH Dr. Bethell is a Professor at Johns Hopkins University in the Bloomberg School of Public Health, where she advances a new integrated Science of Thriving to promote early and lifelong health of children, youth, families and communities.
With roots in culturally-competent, community-engaged approaches to assessing and improving population health, she is the founding director (1996) of the Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative (CAHMI); which was founded in Portland, Oregon as a national collaboration to define and advance measuring, collecting data and disseminating actionable information on child, youth and family well-being at local, state, and national levels. Since 2014 within the Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, Dr. Bethell has been leading CAHMI’s work to promote “top down” (research and data for policy, program design, accountability and partnerships), “bottom up” (tools and data for engagement in communities and services) and “inside out” (models and methods for mindful, data driven partnerships to innovate and improve) efforts to create inspired and lasting transformation in population health and well-being and the effectiveness of systems of care.
As founder of the National Data Resource Center for Child and Adolescent Health in 2003 and the National Maternal and Child Health Measurement Research Network she continues to catalyze mindful, data driven community partnerships by developing and liberating data for public use and in systems performance reporting. Family-driven health improvement tools, like the Well Visit Planner (www.wellvisitplanner.org) engage and coach families to reflect on health and needs, select priorities and align services to leverage family strengths, build trust, consider social context and meet family goals. Dr. Bethell is dedicated to building self, family and community led healing of developmental, intergenerational and community level trauma. To this end, she initiated and led the design of a recently published national agenda to address childhood trauma and promote healing and well-being. Also related is the Mindfulness in Pediatrics and Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Consortium she launched to support the integration of mind-body-heart and trauma-informed leadership mindsets, skills and tools into the MCH workforce, programs and policy.
She earned an MBA an MPH from the University of California, Berkeley and PhD in public policy from the University of Chicago and has authored over 100 journal articles and works to build knowledge and action. She teaches Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction and Healing Through Revealing methods and is an avid student of transparent communication, presence and human evolution. She has earned certification through the NeuroLeadership Institute, writes poetry, dances and believes that connection with ourselves, life and others is the source of our creativity and joy.
Christina D. Bethell, PhD, MBA, MPH
Dr. Sandra L. Bloom is a Board-Certified psychiatrist, graduate of Temple University School of Medicine and currently Associate Professor, Health Management and Policy at the Dornsife School of Public Health, Drexel University. For the past forty years, Dr. Bloom has done pioneering work in the field of traumatic stress studies. From 1980-2001, Dr. Bloom served as Founder and Executive Director of the Sanctuary programs, inpatient psychiatric programs for the treatment of trauma-related emotional disorders and during those years was also President of the Alliance for Creative Development, a multidisciplinary outpatient practice group. Dr. Bloom is recognized nationally and internationally as the founder of the Sanctuary Model. Since 2012, Dr. Bloom has also served as Co-chair for the Philadelphia ACEs Task Force (http://www.philadelphiaaces.org.)
In 2020 Dr. Bloom introduced a new, online organizational and clinical approach called Creating PRESENCE (https://www.creatingpresence.net). Creating PRESENCE is for creating trauma-informed, trauma-responsive and trauma-resilient organizations.
Dr. Bloom is a past President of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies. Dr. Bloom originated and has written a series of books on trauma-informed care: Creating Sanctuary: Toward the Evolution of Sane Societies published in 1997 with a second edition in 2013; Destroying Sanctuary: The Crisis in Human Delivery Service Systems published by Oxford University Press in 2010 and Restoring Sanctuary: A New Operating System for Trauma-Informed Systems of Care, published by Oxford University Press in 2013. Dr. Bloom has authored and published dozens of chapters and articles as well as S.E.L.F.: a Trauma-Informed Group Psychoeducational Curriculum. All of these can be found on her website (https://sandrabloom.com).
Dr. Bloom is a founder and currently Chair, Board of Directors for the national organization, CTIPP – The Campaign for Trauma-Informed Policy and Practice (https://www.ctipp.org) - whose goal is to advocate for public policies and programs at the federal, state, local and tribal levels that incorporate up-to-date scientific findings regarding the relationship between trauma across the lifespan and many social and health problems. CTIPP was awarded the Distinguished Service Award for 2019 from the American Psychiatric Association.
Sandra L. Bloom, MD
Board Chair
Clarencetine (Teena) Brooks, LMSW, ABD identifies as a trauma survivor and is the Assistant Director of the Office of Consumer Affairs (OCA)- NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. OCA provides the consumer/peer perspectives to inform the Divisions policy development and community engagement work. Previously, she worked for thirteen years with the Urban Justice Center, an innovative nonprofit that serves New York City’s most vulnerable residents through a combination of direct legal service, systemic advocacy, community education and political organizing.
In this position she worked to support the development of impact litigation and public policy strategies to address the criminalization of people with mental health conditions. Teena has also worked closely with the New York Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services (NYAPRS). Ms. Brooks served as a Regional Organizer from 2000 to 2006. Teena also served as Co-President of the Board of Directors for NYAPRS from 2006-2008 and co-chaired the organizations’ cultural competence committee and was an active member of the public policy and the strategic planning committees before becoming a consultant for the organization from 2009 to 2014.
She is also currently a lecturer and adjunct professor at Columbia University School of Social Work and has taught social welfare policy at Fordham University Graduate School of Social Service and Touro School of Social Work. She has received awards for the National Association of Social Workers (NASW), The New York Association Psychiatric of Rehabilitation Services (NYAPRS), and Transitional Services for NY, Inc. Teena is a doctoral candidate at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York in the Social Welfare program.
Clarencetine (Teena) Brooks, LMSW, ABD
Erin Connolly is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Certified Yoga Teacher currently working in a local school district. Erin is a graduate of Temple University (BSW, Class of 1999), Widener University (MSW, Class of 2006), Education Policy Leadership Center (Fellow, Class of 2007) and Beyond Asana Yoga Teacher Training (CYT, Class of 2014). Over the past 20 years, she has worked with and on behalf of trauma impacted children, families and communities through trauma-competent advocacy, education and healing-centered engagement and practice.
Erin thrives on interconnectedness and multi-disciplinary approaches which is reflected in her prior work; as a Community Engagement Coordinator for Pennsylvania’s Early Childhood Initiative, as a Social Worker at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, as a Forensic Interviewer for a Child Advocacy Center, as the Trauma Initiatives Impact Manager with the United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey, and as an Adjunct Professor at Widener University’s School of Social Work. Erin is an unwavering advocate for creating communities and systems of care that promote whole-being wellness and strength-based services for all.
Erin Connolly, LCSW
Associate Professor of Practice
Director
Trauma Informed Oregon
Portland State University
School of Social Work
Contact information:
(503) 725-9636
madavis@pdx.edu
Dr. Davis is an Associate Professor of Practice at Portland State University’s School of Social Work and a licensed clinical social worker. She is Director of Trauma Informed Oregon, a program primarily funded by the Oregon Health Authority, to advance trauma informed care throughout organizations and systems through training, consultation, and implementation resources. Dr. Davis teaches and lectures on implementing trauma informed care and trauma specific services. Her current interests include measuring change when organizations and systems implement the principles of trauma informed care, the impact of toxic stress on the workforce, intersectionality between equity work, and the impact of systemic oppression.
Mandy Davis, PhD, LCSW
A social worker at heart, Leslie Lieberman believes deeply in the power of relationships to create change and heal. Leslie has spent her professional life working at the cross-roads of public health and social work, bringing together and fostering relationships among diverse groups who collectively address pressing health and social justice issues. Prior to coming to the Health Federation of Philadelphia in 2007, Leslie served as the Program Director for the award winning Early Start Perinatal Substance Abuse Program at Kaiser Permanente for 10 years. Today, Leslie is the Senior Director of Training and Organizational Development at the Health Federation where she leads a multi-disciplinary department which builds organizational, system, and community capacity for trauma informed care, HIV/AIDS care, resilience and healing. Leslie continues to be guided by her passion to assist others as they work to transform visions into reality. Leslie holds a masters degree in social work from the University of California at Berkeley and received her BA Cum Laude from Carleton College. In 2017, Leslie was recognized as a Sesame Street “Sesame Hero” for her long term commitment to improving the lives of young children.
Leslie Lieberman, MSW
Christina Love is an Alutiiq/Sugpiaq (Aleut) woman from Egegik village who was raised in Chitina, Alaska. Christina is open about her lived experiences of domestic violence, sexual assault, sexual assault as a minor, and the connection that the violence she survived has between her substance use disorders, mental health illnesses, and incarceration. Christina serves as the Training and Technical Assistant Expert on Substance Use and Trauma for numerous agencies and communities nationwide. Christina works as a Specialist for the Alaska Network on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault (ANDVSA), the state’s coalition of domestic and sexual violence programs. At ANDVSA, Christina works with programs, agencies, and communities nationwide to address the roots causes of violence (trauma), continuum of care for support services through strategic initiatives, equity and inclusion, organizational transformation, training and technical assistance, community-based organization, integrated services, curriculum development, evaluation, assessment, and community healing.
Christina’s vision is to serve our nations most targeted populations through bridging the gaps in our systems of care ultimately making access to services accessible, culturally relevant and trauma informed.
Christina’s greatest passion is the liberation through education.
Christina Love
Dr. Alisha Moreland-Capuia (Dr. AMC) graduated from Stanford University and an M.D. from George Washington University. After medical school, Dr. AMC completed four years of training in psychiatry and a fellowship in addiction medicine, both at Oregon Health & Science University.
She is an expert in trauma-informed systems change, and specifically has interacted with numerous and varied aspects of the criminal justice system. She has served on the Portland Community Oversight Advisory Board, charged with monitoring the implementation of the City of Portland’s settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice to enact reform to Portland Police Bureau (PPB) policies and training. She has partnered with the Federal Judicial Center and the National Judicial College to provide training for Federal Judges and Probation Officers and State Supreme Court Judges, respectively.
Dr. AMC has trained U.S. Senators and staffers in applying a trauma-informed lens to policies and legislation. She is training various U.S. Probation and Pretrial Service District Offices to facilitate trauma-informed change in U.S. presentencing and sentencing guidelines and post-prison supervision.
While in residency training, Dr. AMC built Healing Hurt People-Portland (HHP), a trauma-informed, hospital-based, community-focused youth violence prevention program.
Dr. AMC's trauma-informed efforts are global as she works in Angola, Africa at their family clinic Centro Medico Bom Samaritano and is the co-founder of The Capuia Foundation.
She is currently working to establish an institute for trauma-informed systems change at McLean Hospital-Harvard Medical School and is the sole author of Training for Change: Transforming Systems to be Trauma-Informed, Culturally Responsive, and Neuroscientifically Focused (2019) and forthcoming book “The Trauma of Racism: Exploring the Systems and People Fear built” (Spring 2021).
She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts with her husband and children.
Alisha Moreland-Capuia, MD
Marsha retired from Truman Medical Center (TMC) February, 2016. There, she served as the Chief Operating Officer for Behavioral Health for 23 years. During her career of 45 years, she was always an advocate for people with mental illnesses and disabilities. Marsha has been involved with creating trauma informed and resilient organizations since 2009. TMC was one of the Missouri Department of Mental Health’s early adopters for trauma informed care and a participant in the National Council of Community Behavioral Health’s first trauma informed learning collaborative. Marsha’s work at TMC included creating a Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders’ specialty service, and bringing trauma informed practices to primary and medical specialty clinics. At her direction, grant funding was secured to initiate several innovative community projects. These projects include: training community mental health providers, developing secondary trauma training for first responders, and trainings to create trauma sensitive schools.
Her community involvement includes being a co-founder of Trauma Matters KC and serving on the following community boards and committees where she consistently promoted creating trauma informed and resilient communities: Missouri Coalition of Community Behavioral Healthcare, Chamber of Commerce Healthy KC Behavioral Health Committee, Community Network for Behavioral Health Care, and Metro Council of Community Mental Health Centers. Marsha has provided training and consultation to a variety of organizations who are committed to becoming trauma informed. Marsha was the Kansas City team lead for the 2015 Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) meeting which was convened to advise SAMHSA on ways to create trauma informed communities. She was a presenter at the September, 2015 Federal Partners on Trauma National Dialogue where she presented on trauma informed schools. She was also the team lead to a SAMHSA session that focused on developing outcome measures.
Since retiring from TMC, Marsha created her company, Resilience Builders. She has co-facilitated learning collaboratives in Missouri, facilitated trauma responsive trainings for the Missouri Department of Mental Health, supported Trauma Matters KC grant implementation, and is working with the Campaign for Trauma Informed Policy and Practice, a National organization promoting trauma informed policy and practice across the nation.
Marsha Morgan, MPA
Suzanne O'Connor is the Director of Education for Impact at United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey where she provides strategic direction and leads the development and execution of education strategies, including United Way's Regional Trauma-Informed Care initiative.
Prior to that, Suzanne was an elementary and pre-K teacher, parenting educator, and a childcare director. Her training is in Early Childhood and Urban Education, with a certificate in Trauma Studies from Saint Joseph's University.
Suzanne O'Connor
Treasurer
Lina is a mission-driven senior and executive leader with over two decades tenure in the social and human services sector, advancing traumatic stress theory and ACEs awareness into practice across multiple service industries. She has worked with non-profits and government agencies utilizing a strengths-based and resilience-centered approach to promote well-being, health and social-emotional learning for direct service clients and the professionals working within these organizations. Lina worked alongside Dr. Sandra Bloom to adapt and research the efficacy of the Sanctuary Model of Trauma-Informed Care for children and adolescents and served as a faculty member of the Sanctuary Institute since its inception. She has provided trauma-informed and trauma-responsive implementation expertise and consultation to multiple organizations and their leadership teams throughout the US and Internationally. In addition, Lina has served as a senior administrator of program operations for non-profit youth and family based organizations throughout her career - with a focus on child welfare and residential services. In 2014, Lina was awarded the opportunity to participate in the Morgan Stanley Strategy Challenge, resulting in the development of the Center for Trauma-Informed Practice. She has held positions as a researcher and training specialist for Columbia University and Fordham University and has taught as an Adjunct Faculty at Iona College. Lina Pasquale holds two graduate degrees from Teachers College, Columbia University and The New School for Social Research.
Lina remains active in her local community as a Girl Scout troop leader and engaging in volunteer programs alongside her children. You can find Lina and her children spending quality family and community-time together volunteering at the local food pantry, nature center, and animal rescue shelter.
Lina E. Pasquale, MA
Laura has more than a decade of experience leading successful implementation of ACE Study concepts in Washington State in partnership with over 30 communities and nine Tribes. In addition to her work in Washington, Laura works with leaders in over 20 states, providing education, facilitation, and empowerment strategies for building self-healing communities. Laura provides support and services to a wide range of groups… from parents and youth who are convening neighborhood conversations, to philanthropic leaders and government officials who are using ACE science in investment and policy decisions. She and Dr. Robert Anda founded ACE Interface to help leaders to use ACE concepts to build Self-Healing Communities. Laura loves to travel, garden, learn, and play with her children and grandchildren.
Laura Porter
Elizabeth Prewitt has served as the Policy Analyst for the ACEs Connection since 2013. ACEs Connection uses journalism and social media to increase knowledge about and demand for programs and policies aimed at preventing adverse childhood experiences and building resilience in individuals, systems, families, and communities. Nearly 30,000 people have joined ACEs Connection to share information, ideas, and strategies to reduce ACEs. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and The California Endowment support the Network.
Previously, she served as Director of Government Relations and Public Policy for the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD) from 2006 to 2011 where she worked on health care reform and mental health parity. Before NASMHPD, she was Director of Governmental Affairs for the American College of Physicians. She served on the legislative staff of several members of the House of Representatives and U.S. Senate. Ms. Prewitt holds a master's degree in Legislative Affairs from George Washington University.
Elizabeth Prewitt, MPS
From 2006 to 2012 Dr. Shern served as the President and CEO of Mental Health America (MHA), formerly the National Mental Health Association and on an interim basis in 2014 following the departure of his successor. MHA is the country’s oldest advocacy organization addressing all aspects of mental health and mental illness. After leaving MHA Shern joined the staff of the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors as a Senior Public Health Advisor. He also has an appointment in the Department of Mental Health at the Johns Hopkins.
Prior to joining MHA, Dr. Shern served as dean of the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute (FMHI) at the University of South Florida, one of the largest research and training institutes in behavioral health services in the United States.
His work has spanned a variety of mental health services research topics including serving street dwelling individuals with SMI; epidemiological studies of the need for community services; the effects of differing organizational, financing and service delivery strategies on continuity of care and client outcome and the use of alternative service delivery strategies such as peer counseling and self help on the outcomes of care.
David L. Shern, PhD
Beatriz is a co-founder of The Center For Trauma Resilient Communities (CTRC) and also serves as the CTRC senior director of program development. The center has been engaged in helping organizations across the country create and sustain trauma-informed systems that help create a healing environment and we do this by using the current science of trauma resilience and organizational development and moving people from information to action. Prior to creating the CTRC, Beatriz worked with Dr. Bloom's Sanctuary model and supported many organizations across the world in their implementation of trauma informed practices. Over the last 20 years, Beatriz has focused on trauma-informed approaches at the micro, mezzo and macro level, has worked with individual clients, organizations and entire communities/cities. One of the most important aspects of Beatriz's work is focused on the intersectionality of trauma and structural violence, as one cannot be trauma-informed without striving for equity and justice.
Beatriz Vides
Diane Wagenhals, BA, MEd, Fellow with the Child Trauma Academy, CFLE, PQAS Certified
Diane Wagenhals is a Program Director for Lakeside Educational Network. Current responsibilities include overseeing programming and authoring curriculum for the Lakeside Global Institute program (formerly recognized as the Institute for Family Professionals). Since 2003 she has authored 33 courses, each with an accompanying trainers’ manuals. She has been an adjunct instructor for Jefferson University, authoring four courses for which students can receive a trauma minor. She has been a fellow with the Child Trauma Academy since 2010. She completed the Sanctuary Model training in 2011. She received certification as a Pennsylvania PQAS (Pennsylvania Quality Assurance System) instructor in 2007 and is a Certified Family Life Educator. She has been a member of the Executive Committee of CTIPP, the Campaign for Trauma- Informed Policy and Practice since 2016. Ms. Wagenhals has been an elementary school teacher, a childbirth educator, a family therapist and founder of a parenting education company. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education from West Chester University and performed graduate work at the University of Pittsburgh and University of Maryland in Rehabilitation Counseling. She received a Master’s of Education Degree in Psycho- Educational Processes, specializing in Family Therapy, from Temple University.
Diane Wagenhals, BA, MEd
Secretary
Dr. Warshaw is the Director of the National Center on Domestic Violence, Trauma & Mental Health (the Center), a project of the Chicago-based Domestic Violence & Mental Health Policy Initiative, of which Dr. Warshaw is Executive Director. The Center develops comprehensive, accessible, and culturally relevant responses to trauma- and mental health-related issues to enhance the capacity of local, state, and national service providers to deliver mental health services for survivors of domestic violence and their children.
Dr. Warshaw is also an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Illinois and a member of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Advisory Committee on Women’s Services. Dr. Warshaw speaks about domestic violence, trauma, mental health, and psychiatric disabilities nationally and internationally, and has published numerous articles and chapters on these issues. She has served on the National Research Council Committee on the Assessment of Family Violence Interventions, the American Medical Association’s National Advisory Council on Family Violence, and the Family Violence and Abuse and Childhood Trauma committees of the American Psychiatric Association.
Carole Warshaw, M.D.
Wiltina Wilson joined Council for a Strong America in 2014. She served various HR roles with the organization before becoming Chief Human Resource Officer in 2021.
Previously, Wiltina worked for the Maryland General Assembly for 7 years and severed as the Chief of Staff for a Maryland State Senator and Delegate, where she served as a liaison between the community and government agencies. Wiltina is dedicated and passionate about contributing to the advancement of others and has extensive political and community organizing experience.
Wiltina attended the University of Maryland Eastern Shore and Salisbury University, where she received a dual degree in Social Work and Sociology with a minor in African American Studies and Wiltina holds a master’s degree in Social Work from Morgan State University.
Wiltina Wilson
Ebony Wortham is a senior managing consultant with the Center for Justice and Safety Finance within PFM's Management and Budget Consulting practice. She brings to the Center over fifteen years of experience working in the juvenile justice and criminal justice fields, focusing on policy, reform, and cross-system collaboration.
Before joining PFM, Ebony served as an Assistant District Attorney for over fifteen years at the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office, where she served in many different leadership roles. Most recently, Ebony supervised the juvenile unit under District Attorney Larry Krasner. In this capacity, Ebony helped craft new progressive policies for the entire unit. Ebony also led the overhaul of the juvenile diversion unit's policies and practices, set goals to double the unit's size, and dramatically increase its funding.
In addition, Ebony spearheaded an unconventional and progressive approach to eliminate regressive fines and fees. Ebony also helped pilot a restitution model that would center restorative practices and challenge the over-reliance of destabilizing punitive financial consequences.
In her spare time, Ebony is actively engaged as a volunteer leader in numerous programs and organizations that provide enriching opportunities to increase youth's life chances. They include her service as vice-chair of Teenshop, Inc., co-chair of Do the Write Thing Philadelphia, and to the Boys and Girls Club of Philadelphia, Inc., where she serves as a board member.
Ebony Wortham
Advisors
Tim Frie (he/him) is an educator, social entrepreneur, activist and advocate for trauma-informed and inclusive health care and policy.
He is the founder and CEO of Clove Health, a digital health startup building a trauma-informed and integrative digital health membership program for people with chronic and autoimmune disease, and the founder. Tim is also the chairperson of Our Bodies Florida, a political action committee that helps elect progressive down-ballot candidates who support LGBTQIA+ bodily autonomy and health equity. Additionally, he is the director of strategy and organizational development at AFPA, a health, nutrition, and wellness education company. Tim is the membership chair of the American Public Health Association (APHA) Human Rights Forum, and is also a member of the APHA mental health, law and community health policy and planning sections. Tim is also a member of the National Association of City and County Health Officials (NACCHO) and the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM).
Tim holds a master of science in human nutrition and functional medicine, a bachelor of arts in industrial and organizational psychology, an associate of science in human resources administration, a professional certification in trauma and resiliency from Florida State University. Currently, he is pursuing a doctor of health science with a specialization in advanced trauma-informed counseling at Bay Path University, and a post-master’s certificate in trauma-informed clinical practice from New York University. Tim is also a Certified Nutrition and Wellness Educator and a Certified Trauma Support Specialist.
Tim Frie
Marlo Nash is a policy advocacy and systems strategist experienced in network engagement to influence public policy and systems change. Her contributions include training and mentoring advocates, leading public policy campaigns, and providing support to policymakers, advocates, and business leaders on change making initiatives. Her practice of working on undoing racism and systemic inequities is both a personal and professional commitment. She is passionate about ensuring that all children and families are equitably supported in achieving their full potential and believes that restructuring today’s systems to build or re-build well-being, cultivate resilience, and address trauma and ACEs is at the center of the work.
Marlo Nash
For over 40 years, Dan Press has provided legal and Washington representation assistance to Indian tribes, Indian organizations, and companies doing business with tribes.
Dan assists tribes with strengthening their tribal governments by helping them develop and implement ordinances that exercise the tribe’s sovereign authority in such areas as employment rights and labor relations. He has helped to establish a range of entities designed to promote economic development in Indian country, including creative use of the special 8(a) rights Congress has provided to tribes and the first multi-tribally owned financial institution. He has also counseled tribes to obtain legislation awarding them hundreds of millions of dollars in land claims settlements, new health facilities, and new authority to promote employment on their reservations. He has special knowledge of Indian land issues, including rights of ways and leases on Indian land and the unique legal issues that arise when doing business on reservations and assisted companies to negotiate various agreements with tribes regarding land use.
Dan has used his years of experience working with tribes and private sector companies to assist his clients to develop productive business partnerships with tribes so that their projects can move forward quickly and cooperatively. He has also assisted his clients with advocating before Congress for funds or new programs to help them strengthen their governments and their economic enterprises.
Dan has litigated in tribal and Federal courts on behalf of tribes and Indian business. Through his extensive knowledge of federal procurement law, he has advised tribes and businesses on contract issues and represented them on such issues in the Court of Federal Claims.
Dan serves as pro bono general counsel for two national organizations that assist communities to apply the science on the causes and effects of historical and childhood trauma to address social and health problems in their communities. The Roundtable on Native American Trauma-Informed Initiatives works to assist Native communities implement comprehensive trauma-informed initiatives while the Campaign for Trauma-Informed Policy and Practice works at the Federal, state and community levels to encourage elected and agency officials to adopt policies that apply the science on trauma to the programs that address the effects of trauma, such as suicide, substance abuse, and domestic violence. It also educates local communities about the benefits of implementing comprehensive trauma-informed initiatives. For six years until retiring in 2017, Dan was an adjunct professor at Columbia University where he taught undergraduate courses on current issues facing Indian tribes to include Issues in Tribal Government and Native American Economic Development. He also co-taught an original course called The Holocaust and Genocide in America in which the students examined these two genocidal events and the way the United States government and the public have treated each in recent years.
In November 2018, Dan received the Public Advocacy award from the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies for "Outstanding and Fundamental Contributions to Advancing the Social Understanding of Trauma," and is the author of "A How-To Handbook on Creating Comprehensive, Integrated Trauma- Informed Initiatives in Native American Communities."
Daniel Press,
Pro Bono Attorney
In Loving Memory of Those Who Paved the Way
Darby Penney, a long-time activist in the human rights movement for people with psychiatric histories, is president of The Community Consortium, which works to end marginalization and promote community integration for people with psychiatric labels. She is also a Senior Research Associate with Advocates for Human Potential, Inc. Darby has published and lectured nationally and internationally on issues including trauma-informed peer support and the history of psychiatry from patients' perspectives. With Peter Stastny, she is the author of The Lives They Left Behind: Suitcases from a State Hospital Attic (Bellevue Literary Press, 2008).
Darby Penney, MLS
A Note to our Founding Board Members
We are grateful for the work of our original board members. CTIPP's first five years of making a difference were unfunded and relied on the volunteer labor and expertise of our board members. We extend to you our heartfelt appreciation for your years of service in promoting the mission of CTIPP. We know that it has not been easy to balance everything going on in your life - personally and professionally - while also volunteering for a working board to create the change that CTIPP has already made.
Because of your dedication and contributions toward promoting our mission these past several years along with those of your colleagues on the CTIPP Board and Advisory Committee, CTIPP has gained a very positive image around the country: we are now seen as a beacon of hope for both preventing trauma from happening and for promoting meaningful ways to address trauma in all its many forms, helping to make the world a trauma-informed, resilience-focused, and healing-centered place so that all individuals, families, and communities may thrive. Your efforts have been a part of the process that has brought us this far.
Please know how much we honor and appreciate your part in helping to launch and nurture CTIPP’s growth, and how much we appreciate the role that you played in developing the foundation for our future successes. Your impact on our organization will be a lasting part of its legacy.
Christina Bethell
Andy Blanch
Sandy Bloom
Mariana Chilton
Meagan Corrado
Mandy Davis
Bob Doppelt
Jeanne Felter
Noel Hunter
Major Darren Ivey
Leslie Lieberman
Helga Luest
Marsha Morgan
Michael O’Bryan
Suzanne O’Connor
Darby Penney
Laura Porter
Dan Press
Elizabeth Prewitt
Joe Pyle
Ellen Rolfes
David Shern
Carole Warshaw
Wendy Ellis