Welcome to the IECMH & CAFBH Conferences site. This will be the fifth year we have hosted these events jointly, offering presentations by national speakers, as well as drawing on the expertise of Alaska professionals. This eventoffers a unique opportunity for participants to expand their knowledge and broaden their thinking about this field.
Mental health clinicians, substance abuse counselors, early interventionists, university faculty, health practitioners, child protection and juvenile justice workers, court staff, family support workers, parent educators, foster parents, and early care and learning professionals and others concerned about the importance and promotion of behavioral health for children and youth are invited to join us.
This is a virtual event. You can experience it all from anywhere–you do not even have to leave your home or office! Highlights include:
We welcome you and hope that you will find this an exciting opportunity to learn, connect with partners and support Alaska’s children and youth!
Gail Trujillo, M.Sc., PhD (ABD), IMH-E ®,
We will highlight our activities over the past year and introduce our new board members. Please attend to find out how you can become an active member and support the mission and core activities of the Association.
Karen Frankel, PhD & Carmen Rosa Noroña, LICSW, MSW, MS. Ed., IECMH-E
Robert J. Hilt, MD, FAPA, FAAP
Millie Sweeney, MS, Paul Cornils, BS
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Anchorage Youth Vote works to involve youth in the democratic process, amplify youth voice in decision making, and to educate youth and adults about meaningful youth engagement as a way to build resilience and reduce risky behavior. Anchorage Youth Vote has presented their work on meaningful youth engagement at the International Bullying Prevention Association Conference in 2018 and 2019 as well as the 2019 World Anti-Bullying Forum in Dublin, Ireland.
Jared Parrish, PhD, received his doctorate in Epidemiology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and is currently the senior Maternal and Child Health epidemiologist at the Alaska Division of Public Health and co-chair of the Alaska Statewide Violence and Injury Prevention Partnership. He initiated and continues to expand the Alaska Longitudinal Child Abuse and Neglect Linkage project (ALCANLink) which has resulted in multiple research articles, presentations, and policy impacts. His research interests focus on quantifying the influence of systematic error on effect estimates, data integration, and incorporating novel methods for applied surveillance with an emphasis on improving timeliness, efficacy, and utility of data that lead to prevention.
Margaret Young, MPH, Ms. Young has worked as a Maternal Child Health (MCH) epidemiologist in the Section of Women’s, Children’s, and Family Health since 2005 and has served as MCH Epidemiology Unit Manager since July 2014. She assists with writing and coordinating the Title V, MCH Block grant for Alaska, a process which requires in depth understanding of MCH needs, infrastructure and enabling services in the state. Ms. Young developed and has coordinated since 2006 the ongoing Alaska Childhood Understanding Behaviors Survey (CUBS). She works closely with data related to infant, child, and maternal health and mortality in Alaska, in particular data from the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System, Maternal Child Death Review and vital records. She has authored multiple peer-reviewed manuscripts and presented Alaska MCH data numerous times at local and national conferences. Her Master’s in Public Health from Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine focused on Health Program Monitoring and Evaluation.
is the Philip H. Knight Chair and Professor of Psychology at the University of Oregon, where he serves as Founding Director of the Center for Translational Neuroscience. He is also a Senior Fellow at the Center on the Developing Child and a member of the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, both based at Harvard University. His research, which has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health since 1999, focuses on developing and evaluating early childhood interventions in communities exposed to structural inequalities, and on translating scientific knowledge regarding healthy development under conditions of adversity for use in social policy and programs. He is particularly interested in the effects of early stressful experiences on children's neurobiological and psychological development, and in prevention and treatment programs for improving children's functioning in areas such as relationships with caregivers and peers, social-emotional development, and academic achievement. He is the lead investigator in the ongoing RAPID-EC project, a national survey on the well-being of households with young children during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Fisher is also interested in the brain's plasticity in the context of therapeutic interventions. He is the developer of a number of widely implemented evidence-based interventions for supporting healthy child development in the context of social and economic adversity, including Treatment Foster Care Oregon for Preschoolers (TFCO-P), Kids in Transition to School (KITS), and Filming Interactions to Nurture Development (FIND). He has published over 200 scientific papers in peer reviewed journals. He is the recipient of the 2012 Society for Prevention Research Translational Science Award, and a 2019 Fellow of the American Psychological Society.
Ira J. Chasnoff, M.D., an award-winning author, researcher and lecturer, is president of NTI Upstream and a Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Chicago. He is one of the nation's leading researchers in the field of child development and the effects of environmental factors on the developmental trajectory of children and adolescents. Dr. Chasnoff’s work encompasses community approaches to the integration of behavioral health services into primary health care, the schools, and the other multiple systems that serve children and families. Dr. Chasnoff has served several U.S. presidential administrations on committees and commissions dedicated to organizing and coordinating services for children and families across the nation and developing policies and procedures for addressing the needs of children at risk from prenatal and postnatal trauma. He also has worked with a wide range of States across the nation and internationally in developing universal outreach and early intervention programs for children and families affected by trauma or substance abuse.
Dr. Chasnoff received his medical degree from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, which in 1991 awarded him its first Distinguished Alumnus Award. He is the author of numerous research articles regarding the long-term cognitive, behavioral, and learning outcomes of high-risk children, and his article on racial and social class bias in the health care system has been cited as a landmark study by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Dr. Chasnoff has authored 15 books, which have received numerous awards and one of which has been recognized by The Hague International Court. Dr. Chasnoff’s books explore the biological and environmental factors that impact the ultimate development of high-risk children and presents practical strategies for helping children reach their full potential at home and in the classroom. His newest book, Guided Growth, has received international acclaim for its in-depth discussion of educational and behavioral interventions for children and teens with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders and early trauma. Dr. Chasnoff has been a regular contributor to Psychology Today, writing about high-risk children and their families. The recipient of several awards for his work with women, children, and families, Dr. Chasnoff for several years has been selected by a poll of physicians across the nation for listing in America’s Best Doctors, cited for his ability to translate complex medical and psychosocial issues into relevant policy that guides the delivery of qualityservices. Dr.Chasnoffhasbeenactiveinestablishingcomprehensivefamilyinterventionprograms for children in Australia, Denmark, Portugal, Canada, Vietnam, the former Soviet Union, and across the United States and has lectured on this topic around the world.
Serena Wieder, PhD, is the Clinical Director and a founding member of the Profectum Foundation, dedicated to advancing the development and infant mental health of all children, including children, adolescents and adults wautism and other special needs through training and educational programs. She also co-founded the Interdisciplinary Council on Developmental and Learning Disorders with the late Stanley Greenspan. Dr. Wieder was a Board Member of Zero to Three for twenty-four years and serves on advisory boards to various programs serving infant mental health and other special needs. She established DIR-Israel and provides consultation and training to international and national programs, including Profectum Certificate Programs in Argentina, Singapore and Brazil.
As a clinical psychologist, Dr. Wieder has pioneered important approaches to diagnosing and treating infants and toddlers with infant mental health and developmental disorders. She co-developed the DIR model with Stanley Greenspan, edited two diagnostic manuals for infants and young children, and created models for interdisciplinary post-graduate case based training and work with parents. She has co-chaired and organized national and international conferences integrating development, neuroscience and intervention approaches. Dr. Wieder also developed approaches to integrate visual-spatial knowledge to advance emotional and cognitive development. Her research interests concern follow up of children on the autism spectrum who have received DIR model comprehensive interventions and the evaluation of training and educational programs.
Dr. Serena Wieder co-authored Engaging Autism, The Child With Special Needs and Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health with Stanley Greenspan, M.D. They also co-edited Infants in Multi-Risk Families as well as the ICDL Diagnostic Manual for Infants and Young Children (DMIC) and the original Diagnostic Classification of Mental Health and Developmental Disorders of Infancy and Early Childhood (DC 0-3). Most recently, Dr. Wieder co-authored Visual Spatial Portals to Thinking, Feeling, and Movement with Harry Wachs, O.D. She has published numerous journal and book chapters and presents at multiple conferences nationally and internationally. At this time, Dr. Serena Wieder has a private practice in NYC for diagnosis, treatment and consultation regarding complex developmental and mental health challenges.
Tamar Ben-Yosef, BS made the transition to the nonprofit world when she joined the All Alaska Pediatric Partnership (A2P2) as executive director in 2015. Prior to A2P2, Tamar held positions with an Anchorage-based public relations agency and traveled extensively throughout rural Alaska as editor and reporter for the Arctic Sounder and Dutch Harbor Fisherman weekly newspapers. Her journalism work and travels across the state gave Tamar an accelerated education on Alaska, its people and the uniqueness of the state. Tamar is originally from Israel and spent the first 20 years of her life living there. After completing her military service in the Israeli Defense Forces, she attended the University of Texas at Austin where she earned her bachelor's degree in communication studies with a minor in political communications. Tamar welcomed the transition to nonprofit work, especially the focus on children and families, with three young boys of her own born and raised in Alaska.
Jimael Johnson, MPH is a program officer with the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority. Among other priority investment areas, she works to increase the Trust’s opportunities for advocacy and partnership related to infant and early childhood mental health. This work supports the Trust’s mandate to promote early intervention and prevention strategies on behalf of its beneficiaries. Jimael has a background in child and family systems development with the State of Alaska. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Human Services and a Master of Public Health degree with an emphasis in maternal child health.
Chelsea Burke, BA is a Project Assistant with the State of Alaska Child Care Chelsea’s focus is supporting early learning programs increase their capacity for providing high quality care, and to help improve coordination of the early childhood system. Chelsea works closely with Learn & Grow, Alaska’s Quality Recognition and Improvement System, engaging childcare programs in continuous quality improvement. She also works closely with the System for Early Education Development (SEED) supporting the early childhood workforce. Chelsea participates in the planning, development, and implementation of the Child Care Development Fund state plan and is part of the team that oversees the grant for the Child Care Resource and Referral Agency. She is dedicated to strengthening Alaska’s early childhood system. Chelsea has a Bachelors’ in Liberal Arts with a concentration in Political Science.
Emily Urlacher, BS moved to Alaska with her husband in 2014, after 6 years teaching. She then made a switch to serve as a Center Director for KCI Head Start, favoring working with young children and their families. She is a proud recipient of the 2017 Alaska Head Start Association Leadership Award. Emily started with the Department of Health and Social Services as the Alaska Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems (ECCS) Program Manager in January 2020 and jumped right in. Since then, she has really enjoyed working with the Alaska ECCS team and Help Me Grow Alaska to support the early childhood system. A highlight of the work would be the partnership between her and Help Me Grow Alaska. Together they have established a new Early Childhood Network, the statewide Universal Developmental Screening Advisory Committee, and work on many other projects together. Emily holds a Bachelor’s degree in Physical Education and Health Teaching (PreK-12).
Meghan Johnson, MS currently serves as the Director of Alaska’s QRIS-Learn & Grow. Meghan has Master’s in Early Intervention from the University of Oregon and an Infant Parent Mental Health Post Graduate Certificate from University of Boston Massachusetts. Meghan has worked at both the state and local level with Part C, special education, parent education, university, and quality improvement systems. Meghan is passionate about development of quality early childhood systems to align goals, funding, streamline supports and resources, and application of research to practice strategies to benefit early childhood programs, educators, children, and their families.
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Gail Trujillo, M.Sc., PhD (ABD), IMH-E® ® is the Chair of the Alaska Association for Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health (AK-AIMH). She is Endorsed as an Infant Mental Health Specialist® and provides Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation for several Head Start programs in Southeast Alaska. In addition, Gail is the program coordinator for the Early Learning Program (Part C) for Sitka, Kake and Angoon. Gail is also a trained facilitator for Zero to Three The Growing Brain, Neurorelational Framework, and Circle of Security.
Anders K. Wennerstrom, MBA is a facilitator of individual and organizational change with over 15 years of experience in the healthcare field. He has worked on process improvement and change management projects across hospital and clinic settings and has held both practitioner and leadership roles. Anders is a Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt and has developed and delivered process improvement and change management training to front line caregivers as well as executives and medical staff. He is a certified coach with the International Coaching Federation, having recognized the importance of leaders’ individual change to the success of organizational change. He is also a yoga teacher with a keen interest in leveraging the lessons from mindfulness practices such as yoga and meditation to improve individual and organizational wellbeing. Anders holds a Masters degree in Business Administration and a Bachelors degree in Systems Analysis.
Jacqui provides reflective supervision/consultation and specialized infant mental health training to practitioners who work with infants, young children, and their families in a wide variety of work settings. She has worked for over 35 years providing infant family services (IDEA, Part C), as well as training and consultation to families, practitioners, programs and systems in New Mexico, throughout the US, and internationally. Jacqui established the Parent-Infant Study Center in Albuquerque, NM in 2009 to create a community where high quality, relationship-based learning experiences are provided both in person and through distance technology for professionals who work with infants/young children and their families.
Jacqui’s special areas of interest and expertise are:
Dr. Marva Lewis earned a PhD in Sociocultural Psychology, and Associate Professor at Tulane University School of Social Work. This research is the basis for culturally valid, strengths-based community interventions with African-American caregivers and young children. Her forthcoming book, Therapeutic Cultural Routines to Build Family Relationships: Talk, Touch & Listen While Combing Hair© (2021, Springer publisher) is based on this research.
In 2011 she was commissioned by the National Zero to Three Safe Baby Court Teams to provide consultation, coaching, and training on issues of bias, historical trauma of slavery and racial disparities in the child welfare system.
She has published and presented her research at national and international meetings, and provides, and organizational diversity. In 2011 she was commissioned by the National Zero to Three Safe Baby Court Teams to provide consultation, coaching, and training on issues of bias, historical trauma of slavery and racial disparities in the child welfare system. She is currently a consultant and member of the national Advisory Board of the Quality Improvement Center for Research-Based Infant-Toddler Court Teams. Her full Curriculum Vitae is available at http://tssw.tulane.edu/
Maria L. Quintanilla, MSW, LCSW is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Latino Family Institute, Inc. (LFI). LFI specializes in providing adoption, kinship care, foster care services, temporary care to unaccompanied minors, and family support services to the Latino community in Southern California. Maria obtained her Master’s in Social Welfare Degree from University of California, Berkeley and also studied Social Welfare and Public Health at Universidad de Guadalajara, Mexico. Maria is endorsed as an Infant- Family and Early Childhood Mental Health Specialist and Reflective Practice Facilitator II. Maria is a Child Trauma Academy Fellow, completing Dr. Bruce D. Perry’s, one-year trauma informed Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics (NMT) Certification.
Maria is a recognized leader in the field of Latino child welfare issues. She has developed a culturally based practice model of service delivery for Latinos and has conducted trainings on this model statewide, nationally, internationally in Canada through her work as a trainer for the National Resource Center for Adoption and the National Resource Center for Diligent Recruitment. Maria is a board member of the Adoption Exchange Association (AEA) since 2001 and serves as Board Secretary. AEA operates the AdoptUSKids with the US Children’s Bureau since 2002.
Maria has been interviewed on radio, local and national television and various media outlets regarding Latino child welfare issues. In 2017 she was awarded the Dr. Bruce D. Perry “Spirit of the Child Award” for her work. In 2019, Maria was awarded an Adoptions Excellence Award from the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for her “extraordinary contributions in supporting efforts to improve adoption and other permanency outcomes for children in foster care”.
Dr. Karen Frankel is a Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. She is the Director of the Harris Program in Child Development and Infant Mental Health and the Robert Harmon J. Harmon Postdoctoral Fellowship in Infant Mental Health. Dr. Frankel is a licensed clinical psychologist specializing for over 30 years in the assessment and treatment of young children and their families. Dr. Frankel is the supervising psychologist for the University of Colorado Health Young Child Clinic and Executive Director of the Fussy Baby Network Colorado and Warm Connections. She has a particular interest in the integration of infant and early childhood mental and behavioral health services into non-mental health, community-based settings such as primary care, home visiting, and WIC clinics. Dr. Frankel is a founding member of the Diversity Informed Tenets workgroup and an inaugural Tenets Facilitator. Dr. Frankel is also a Zero to Three National Trainer for Diagnostic Classification of Mental Health and Developmental Disorders of Infancy and Early Childhood: DC: 0-5. Dr. Frankel received her bachelor’s degree from Oberlin College and her doctoral degree (clinical child psychology) from Indiana University. She completed her internship at the University of Washington School of Medicine and a postdoctoral fellowship through the Developmental Psychobiology Research Group at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.
Carmen Rosa Noroña, LICSW, MSW, MS. Ed., IECMH-E® Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Mentor-Clinical is the Child Trauma Clinical Services and Training Lead at Child Witness to Violence Project and the Associate Director of the Boston Site Early Trauma Treatment Network at Boston Medical Center. She is a Child-Parent Psychotherapy National Trainer, an expert faculty of the Diagnostic Classification of Mental Health and Developmental Disorders of Infancy and Early Childhood Training (DC: 0-5) and one of the developers of the Harris Professional Development Network Diversity Informed Tenets for Work with Infants Children and Families Initiative ( https://diversityinformedtenets.org) and of the Boston Medical Center Family Preparedness Plan for Immigrant Families. Her practice and research interests are on the impact of trauma on attachment; the intersection of culture, immigration and trauma; diversity-informed reflective supervision and consultation; and on the implementation and sustainability of evidence-based practice in real world settings. She is a former co-chair of the Culture Consortium of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, and has adapted and translated materials for Spanish-speaking families affected by trauma. Carmen Rosa has also contributed to the literature in infant and early childhood mental health, diversity and immigration.
Elizabeth Manley, MSW, is a Clinical Instructor for Health and Behavioral Health Policy at the Institute for Innovation and Implementation at the University of Maryland School of Social Work. In this capacity, Ms. Manley provides technical assistance to states and communities specific to children’s behavioral health innovations with a specific focus on policy and financing of systems of care. Ms. Manley is the former Assistant Commissioner for NJ's Children's System of Care. In this capacity, Ms. Manley led transformation and implementation of system innovations including integrating individuals with developmental/intellectual disabilities, substance use and integration of physical health into the Children’s System of Care. She had direct oversight of the statewide child behavioral health, substance use and development/intellectual disabilities systems. This includes a wide range of community-based services and residential treatment centers. Ms. Manley was the DCF representative on the NJ Board of Social Work Examiners and the Governor's Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse; the Principal Investigator on NJ's Promising Path to Success, a SAMHSA System of Care Expansion Grant with the focus on improving care for youth in need of an out of home intervention; Vice Chair of the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD); and has presented at several national conferences. Prior to joining DCF Ms. Manley was the CEO of Caring Partners of Morris/Sussex, Inc., a Care Management Organization (CMO) specializing in working with youth with complex behavioral health challenges. Ms. Manley worked for Capitol County Children's Collaboration, the Mercer County CMO, as the Director of Operations, at the time of its inception in 2002. She came to that position after spending 15 years at SERV Behavioral Health, in various positions with her final position at SERV as the Director of Children's Services for SERV Behavioral Health. MS. Manley earned a B.S. degree in Health Education from William Paterson University and a M.S.W. from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ.
Robert J. Hilt, MD, FAPA, FAAP is a Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Washington and Seattle Children’s Hospital. Prior to his career as a child psychiatrist, Dr. Hilt worked as a primary care pediatrician and then as a pediatric hospitalist. Dr. Hilt is the Program Director for the new Partnership Access Line child mental health consultation service for primary care providers in Alaska, also known at PAL-PAK. He directs similar services for Washington and Wyoming, is also the Program Director for the Medicaid Medication Second Opinion Programs of Wyoming and Washington, and MDT Consult Service in Wyoming. He has served as co-chair of the Committee on Collaboration with Medical Professions with the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and as a Mental Health Editor for the American Academy of Pediatrics’ PREP-Self Assessment, and serves on the editorial boards for Pediatric Annals, Psychiatric Annals, and Psychiatric Services.
Tom McRoberts, MSW, currently works at the Alaska Training Cooperative as a Behavioral Health Training Coordinator. For nine years he worked as a trainer, consultant and coach for child welfare professionals at the UAA Child Welfare Academy. For 8 years, he served as a Social Worker and Supervisor with the Office of Children's Services in Alaska. A life-long Alaskan, Tom has worked across the state in both urban and rural settings. Tom’s focus is on behavioral health interventions with vulnerable populations in Alaska and he is especially interested in helping families and communities heal from the impact of trauma. Tom teaches social work courses at the University of Alaska, where he received his Master of Social Work degree in 2005. He has over 20 years of experience working in the fields of behavioral health and child welfare.
Wendi Shackelford, B.A. holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Criminal Justice from the University of Alaska Anchorage where she played women’s college basketball for four years. She is a fifth-generation police officer who served more than 20 years with the Anchorage Police Department patrol division, spending ten years as a School Resource Officer within the schools of the Eagle River/Chugiak area. She was the lead trainer and coordinator for the Anchorage Police Department Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) from 2001 until retirement in 2015. She has been the lead trainer for the CIT team within the Alaska State Troopers since 2017. At the CIT training, mental health and other professionals voluntarily provide expert instruction to law enforcement and other first responders during an intensive 40-hour course where attendees are educated about mental illnesses, medications, suicide and crisis intervention, active listening skills, de-escalation techniques, empathy, and respect with the goal successful interactions with persons in crisis and diversion from the criminal justice system.
She is an FBI and LAPD-trained hostage negotiator and has maintained her law enforcement instructor certifications in CIT and Mental Health First Aid. She currently holds credentials in police chaplaincy through the International Association of Police Chaplains. She has been employed at UAA since 2015 as the Training Coordinator for Youth Mental Health First Aid at the UAA Center for Human Development.
Millie Sweeney, MS, is the Deputy Director for the Family-Run Executive Director Leadership Association (FREDLA). For more than twenty years and across the children’s mental health and child-serving systems, I have leveraged both my professional experience and personal experience as a parent of a child with mental health challenges to assist organizations and states with family driven program development, consult nationally on certification and family/youth support services, offer curriculum and training on a variety of topics related to children’s mental health and participate on policy-making groups at the state and national level to advocate for family voice and choice in child-serving systems. I operated as a member of the management team within a large statewide family organization for twelve years, participating in the administration of six system of care sites, supporting the development of the statewide Youth MOVE chapter, and managing up to twenty local and statewide programs.
I then developed and operated Family Solutions Consulting, focusing on consulting in program development, parent peer support and family driven care nationally before joining the Family-Run Executive Director Leadership Association (FREDLA). First as Project Coordinator and now as Deputy Director, I specialize in grant and program development, staff supervision and training, parent peer support and family engagement, and workforce development. FREDLA has been a core partner in both the current NTTAC and the NITT TA Center, and I have provided training and technical assistance under both TA Centers and via contract to individual states and local entities on a variety of topics related to family engagement and family-driven care. Facilitating a national Family Research Partnership for the past three years, I’m involved in ongoing efforts to study parent peer support and the work of family-run organizations with the goal of contributing to the literature and informing the field of best practices.
Paul Cornils, BS, Executive Director, Alaska Youth & Family Network, has been involved with AYFN since 2003. He initially came to AYFN seeking help finding effective behavioral health care for his children and support for his family. He joined AYFN as Program Manager in 2007 and became Executive Director in 2011. Paul earned his Bachelor’s in Psychology at Sam Houston University, Texas, in 1997. His childhood provided him firsthand experience of the impact that unaddressed Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and intergenerational trauma can have on a family, ultimately fueled his passion for improving care and supports for Alaska’s families and children. His personal ACE(s) score is 8. As a result, he has lived with, and recovered, from opiate and alcohol addiction, mental illness, and homelessness. Paul has been involved in many efforts to expand the role of professional and grass roots peer and family-peer supports both in Alaska and nationally since 2003, especially for child welfare involved families. He is a founding director and current of the Family-Run Executive Director Leadership Association, past Chair of the Alaska Peer Support Consortium, the Alaska Psychiatric Institute Governing Body. Paul and his wife were also treatment foster parents for 13 years, ending with their adoption of their two youngest children. Paul lives in Anchorage with his wife, Alicia, and the 5 youngest of their 10 children.
Renee Georg, MS, is an Associate Professor of Counseling Psychology, Alaska Pacific University and is approved by the Alaska State Licensing Board as a Counseling Supervisor. She has experience with a wide range of Human Services agencies, including work in the domestic violence and sexual assault, community mental health, and child development fields. Counseling specialties include working with children, working with groups, and working with folks who have experienced trauma.
Elijah McCauley, MA, CRC, CTP-CE is a dynamic & innovative presenter with 25 years of experience in training & development, as well as advanced application of therapeutic services to youth with Emotional & Behavioral Difficulties (EBD). His expertise lies in Evidence Based Practices in Trauma Focused Care as well as effective methods for dealing with difficult and resistant youth. He currently holds an M.A. in Health Science – Rehabilitation Psychology from the University of Florida.
Elijah holds certifications as a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor (CRCC), Certified Master Trainer of Aggression Replacement Training (ART), Certified Master Trainer of Structured Psychotherapy for Adolescence Responding to Chronic Stress (SPARCS), Certified Master Trainer for Transition to Independence Process (TIP), and Certified Trauma Practitioner (Clinician) through Starr Commonwealth.
Anchorage Youth Vote works to involve youth in the democratic process, amplify youth voice in decision making, and to educate youth and adults about meaningful youth engagement as a way to build resilience and reduce risky behavior. Anchorage Youth Vote has presented their work on meaningful youth engagement at the International Bullying Prevention Association Conference in 2018 and 2019 as well as the 2019 World Anti-Bullying Forum in Dublin, Ireland.
Sharon Fishel, MS has worked with the Department of Education since 2003. Currently she is the School Counseling Mental Health Specialist on the School Health, and Safety Unit. Some of her duties consist of school counseling, behavioral health, suicide prevention, alternative schools and Title 1D Neglected & Delinquent youth. She currently serves as DEED’s representative on the Alaska Mental Health Board and the Statewide Suicide Prevention Council. Her background is in elementary education, special education PK -12, secondary education, related service counseling and school counseling. She is also a Licensed Professional Counselor. Sharon has a Master’s of Science in Counseling, and a Bachelor’s of Science in Elementary Education.
Lisa Wade is Ahtna Dene’ (Athabascan) of the taltsiine (water clan) and the c’etsiy tnaey (iron people clan). Lisa is a Tribal citizen of Nay’dini’aa Na’ Kayax (Chickaloon Native Village). Lisa serves many roles within her community. She is the Health and Social Services Division Director for Chickaloon Village Traditional Council as well as the Council Secretary, and she serves as a Tribal Court Judge. Lisa is a member of the Southcentral Foundation Board of Directors, Benteh/Nuutah Valley Native Primary Care Center Joint Operating Board, Ce’yiits Hwnax Life House Community Health Center Advisory Committee, Mat-Su Health Foundation Board of Directors, Alaska Family Services Board of Directors, and on the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Tribal Technical Advisory Committee. Lisa is also one of the founding members of Mat-Su Racial Equity Dialogues.
Lisa is an advocate for the health and wellness of Alaska Native peoples and is committed to supporting healthy communities locally, statewide, and nationally through community building, policy development, and indigenous advocacy.
