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SPRC Steering Committee

SPRC is extremely proud of the distinguished group of experts and stakeholders who serve on our Steering Committee. The committee holds periodic meetings and communicates virtually for the purposes of:

1. Strengthening SPRC’s collaborative relationships within the suicide prevention community,
2. Sharing members' observations about current and emerging trends in the suicide prevention field as they affect diverse populations and contexts,
3. Alerting SPRC to upcoming challenges or opportunities in the field, and  
4. Advising SPRC on its current and future strategic directions.

The current members of the committee are:

Ben Camp, M.S.Ed.
Kauffman & Associates

Ben Camp has over 30 years experience in the fields of mental health and substance abuse and has been involved in all levels from direct counseling to program development and management, to grant development and evaluation, to curriculum development, teaching, and training. He has been a Mental Health Crisis and Commitment Specialist, responsible for the assessment and involuntary commitment of suicidal persons, and the Director of Training for a Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention Program. His work with Kauffman & Associates (KAI), a Native American owned consulting firm, consists of research and writing as a Content Specialist in the prevention of suicide, bullying, and other forms of violence.

In addition to working with Native Aspirations, the SAMHSA-funded American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) suicide, bullying, and violence prevention project within KAI, he developed a suicide prevention guide, To Live to See the Great Day that Dawns: Preventing Suicide by American Indian and Alaska Youth and Young Adults.  Mr. Camp is a Master Trainer with the QPR Institute and is on the faculty at the Eastern Washington University (EWU) School of Social Work and the Alcohol/Drug Studies Program where he developed courses in suicide risk assessment and management, treatment, and prevention.  He is also with the Division of International and Educational Outreach at EWU, where he helped develop several 1 credit online suicide assessment courses, including a Native American specific course in partnership with CAMAS Path of the Kalispel Tribe, EWU, and the QPR Institute. He has provided training on co-occurring disorders, substance abuse, and suicide prevention throughout the United States.

Mary Cesare-Murphy, Ph.D.
The Joint Commission

Dr. Mary Cesare-Murphy is Executive Director of the Behavioral Health Care Accreditation Program at The Joint Commission.  In this role, she is the behavioral health product line leader and Joint Commission liaison to national behavioral health professional and provider associations.  Prior to joining The Joint Commission, Dr. Cesare-Murphy was Associate Professor of Psychology at St. Xavier University and a Joint Commission intermittent surveyor. During her extensive career in the behavioral health field, she has provided clinical care and consultation, technical assistance, and staff training in an array of behavioral health settings including hospitals, community mental health centers, residential treatment centers for children and youth, and addiction treatment programs.  She has served on a number of national task forces and workgroups focused on behavioral health care policy development, and has made numerous speeches and has conducted workshops and symposia addressing a range of issues pertinent to the quality and safety of behavioral health care. A graduate of Texas Tech University, Indiana State University, and Quincy University, Dr. Cesare-Murphy is a licensed clinical psychologist.

Yeates Conwell, M.D.
University of Rochester Medical Center

Dr. Yeates Conwell is Professor and Vice Chair, Department of Psychiatry, and Co-Director of the Center for the Study and Prevention of Suicide at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, New York.  He received his undergraduate education at Princeton University, his MD degree from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, and his postdoctoral training in psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine. His areas of subspecialty interest include geriatric psychiatry and suicide studies. He has lectured and published extensively on suicide and depression, and his program of research has been continuously funded by the NIH since 1987. He is a regular member of NIH review panels and serves as consultant to investigators on suicide prevention research methods worldwide. The primary foci of his research are risk factors for suicide in the second half of life and their implications for the design and implementation of preventive interventions in community settings.

John Draper, Ph.D.
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline

Dr. John Draper is the Director of the SAMHSA-funded National Suicide Prevention Lifeline Network, which is administered by Link2Health Solutions, a subsidiary of the Mental Health Association of New York City.  Since September 2004, Dr. Draper has overseen all aspects of this service that connects 1-800-273-TALK callers to the nearest crisis center within a national network of more than 140 crisis centers across the country.  Prior to his work on the Lifeline, Dr. Draper was the Director of Public Education and the LifeNet Multicultural Hotline Network for the Mental Health Association of New York City, beginning in 1996.  Dr. Draper previously worked with the Interfaith Medical Center’s Mobile Crisis Team in Brooklyn, where for 7 years he conducted and supervised hundreds of home visits to persons of all ages and ethnic backgrounds who were in psychiatric crises.  Dr. Draper also has a private practice in New York City, specializing in family systems and cognitive-behavioral approaches to treatment.  He received his doctoral degree in Counseling Psychology from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1996.

Bruce Emery, M.Ed., M.S.W.
Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Services
Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities

As director of the Tennessee Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse, Mr. Bruce Emery provides program and fiscal oversight for $53M in services for people with substance abuse and/or co-occurring substance use and mental disorders.  He has more than 35 years experience as an educator, clinician, consultant, trainer, mediator, and technical assistance expert, specializing in substance abuse and mental health system transformation.

As director of training and technical assistance for both the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD) and the National Council for Community Behavioral Health, Emery developed, delivered, and evaluated technical assistance products and services at local, state, and national levels.  Clients included SAMHSA, SAMHSA grantees, other federal agencies, and national substance use and mental health trade associations. As the founding director of NASMHPD’s National Technical Assistance Center, Emery helped the 55 state and territorial departments of mental health and substance abuse develop and evaluate cutting-edge clinical and administrative programs and services in rapidly-changing environments. His recent work focuses on co-occurring disorders, identification and implementation of evidence-based practices, services for veterans and families, crisis and emergency services, mental health and addictions system transformation, housing and homelessness, seclusion and restraint, strategic planning, acute psychiatric care, and suicide.   

Emery holds an M.S.W from the Catholic University of America and an M.Ed. from the University of Kentucky.  He has directed community-based, regional and state mental health, substance abuse, and mental retardation programs and has delivered clinical services to adults, children, and their families.  His publications focus on the economic, political, financial, legal, and social practices and trends that impact how public substance abuse and mental health systems plan and organize services to meet behavioral health care and co-occurring system needs.  For six years, he staffed the national collaborative co-occurring disorders project for NASMHPD and the National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors.  In 1991, he was trained as a family mediator by the Multi-Door Dispute Resolution Center in the D.C. Superior Court.  He is a longtime professional member of the International Association of Facilitators, the National Association of Social Workers, and the World Future Society.

Lynne Gagnon, R.N., B.S.N., M.S.,C.P.H.Q., N.E.A.-B.C.
Mayo Regional Hospital

Ms. Gagnon has been a registered nurse for 35 years. She spent 15 years in various emergency departments as a staff nurse, an educator, and a manager. She has also been employed as Administrator for Ancillary Services in a private, nonprofit, 100 bed psychiatric hospital. Currently, Ms. Gagnon is the Director of Patient Care Services for a rural, critical access hospital in central western Maine.

During her 15 years in emergency nursing, Ms. Gagnon served as president of the national Emergency Nurses Association (ENA).  She is a life time member of that organization and continues to work on projects for them that combine her emergency department and psychiatric nursing experience.  She has also served as an expert witness in a few cases requiring this dual perspective. Most recently, she completed a revision to ENA’s Core Curriculum chapter on behavioral health emergencies. She also served as ENA’s representative on the SPRC task force that developed a tool for emergency departments to use in assessing patients at risk for suicide.

Madelyn Gould, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Psychiatry and Public Health (Epidemiology)
Columbia University

Dr. Madelyn (Maddy) Gould is Professor in Psychiatry and Epidemiology at Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons, a Research Scientist at the New York State Psychiatric Institute, and Deputy Director of Research Training Program in Child Psychiatry, Columbia University/New York State Psychiatric Institute. Her longstanding research interests include the epidemiology of youth suicide and the evaluation of youth suicide prevention interventions. She has received numerous grants from NIMH, CDC, and SAMHSA for studies examining risk factors for teenage suicide, various aspects of cluster suicides, the impact of the media on suicide, the effect of a peer’s suicide on fellow students, suicide crisis intervention programs in schools, the effect of youth suicide screening programs, and the utility of telephone crisis services. She received a W.T. Grant Faculty Scholar’s Award to examine psychosocial risk factors for teenage suicide and a Distinguished Investigator Award from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention to investigate the role of the media in the initiation of suicide clusters.

Dr. Gould has participated in numerous commissions including the 1978 President’s Commission on Mental Health and the 1989 Secretary of Health and Human Services’ Task Force on Youth Suicide. In addition, she authored the chapter on youth suicide prevention for the Surgeon General’s 1999 National Suicide Prevention Strategy and served as a consultant for the Surgeon General’s Leadership Working Group for the National Suicide Prevention Strategy.  A founding member of the New York State Suicide Prevention Council, Dr. Gould contributed significantly to the State's suicide prevention plan, to CDC’s community response plan for suicide clusters (1988), to recommendations to optimize media reporting of suicide (1994), and to an international workgroup which updated these media recommendations (2001).  She has received the Shneidman Award for Research from the American Association of Suicidology (1991), the New York State Office of Mental Health Research Award (2002), and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention Research Award (2006).

Janet Hawkins, M.S.W., M.P.A.
Defense Center of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury

CDR Janet Hawkins is a social worker currently serving with the Defense Centers of Excellence (DCoE) with the Resilience and Prevention Directorate. She received her Masters in Social Work (MSW) from California State University, San Bernardino, and her Masters in Public Administration (MPA) from Troy State University. CDR Hawkins has over 20 years of experience in the mental health field providing both direct practices and leadership in improving the quality of mental health care in both the military and civilian communities. As the Chief of the Preventive Branch at DCoE, she is the Chair for the Department of Defense Suicide Prevention and Risk Reduction Committee (SPARCC). SPARRC evaluates policy and best practices in the military and community settings. Prior to joining DCoE, she was employed with the Health and Resources Services Administration and the Unites States Air Force.

Brian Hepburn, M.D.
Maryland Dept. of Health and Mental Hygiene
             

Dr. Brian Hepburn was named Executive Director of the Mental Hygiene Administration of Maryland (MHA) in 2002.  Prior to this appointment, he served as the MHA Clinical Director (1996-2004) and as the MHA Director of Psychiatric Education and Training (1987-1997).   Dr. Hepburn received his M.D. in 1979 from the University of Michigan School of Medicine. He did his Residency Training in Psychiatry at the University of Maryland (1979-1983).  He was a full-time faculty member at the University of Maryland from 1983 to 1988, and he has been a Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Maryland since 1987.

Dr. Hepburn has the oversight responsibility of a Public Mental Health System (PMHS) that serves over 100,000 individuals in community services and/or inpatient facilities, with an approximate operating budget of over $900 million (and shrinking). In FY 2009, the PMHS provided services to 5% more consumers than in FY 2008 and with decreased funding.  Dr. Hepburn also serves as the Commissioner Advisor to the Medical Directors Council of the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors.  Issues of concern to this Council include identifying clinical best practices for people with mental illnesses, improving state psychiatric hospital administration, appropriately utilizing new psychotropic medications, and exploring the use of treatment algorithms.

Sara Jumping Eagle, M.D.
University of Colorado School of Public Health
University of North Dakota School of Medicine

Dr. Sara Jumping Eagle is an Oglala Lakota from Kyle, South Dakota on the Pine Ridge Reservation.  She is a Pediatrician and Adolescent Medicine Specialist and is likely the only American Indian fellowship-trained adolescent specialist in the U.S.  She obtained her M.D. from Stanford University School of Medicine and did her Pediatrics Residency and Adolescent Medicine Fellowship at Denver Children’s Hospital and the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center.  She is an Instructor at the Center for American Indian and Alaska Native Health at the University of Colorado’s School of Public Health and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of North Dakota’s School of Medicine.  

Dr. Jumping Eagle’s interests include screening and prevention of sexually transmitted infections, and prevention of teen pregnancy, and mental health issues among American Indian youth.  She is working with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and with tribes in the Northern Plains and in Bismarck, ND to develop school-based health centers and teen clinics. She also works with the IHS Suicide Prevention Committee to promote awareness of mental health issues and to increase the number of mental health providers in Indian Country.  She helped the Oglala Sioux Tribe plan and write their successful application for the SAMHSA Youth Suicide Prevention grant program, and she has worked within the University of Colorado to develop research projects that required the collaboration of the university, tribal communities, IHS, and community-based health organizations.  Her other interests include tele-mental health, psychology internships and post-doctoral positions, creating positive youth development programs, and improving access to physical and mental health care. She hosts Dr. J's Teen Health Radio Show that reaches the Standing Rock and Cheyenne River Reservations in ND and SD, and she started a “MySpace” page for the program. 

Bradley Karlin, Ph.D., M.S.
Office of Mental Health Services (116)
VA Central Office

Dr. Brad Karlin is Associate Chief Consultant for Psychotherapy and Psychogeriatrics for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). As such, he is responsible for developing, implementing, and overseeing mental health programs in evidence-based psychotherapy and psychogeriatrics in the VA health care system.  He has contributed significantly to the transformation of mental health care in the VA Health Administration by developing and overseeing national programs including the dissemination of evidence-based psychotherapies for PTSD, depression, and serious mental illness, the expansion of geriatric mental health programs, an initiative to place a mental health provider on each of the VA Home-Based Primary Care teams, and the integration of psychologists into VA nursing homes.  He is also an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Erickson School of Aging Studies, University of Maryland, Baltimore County. 

Dr. Karlin is the past-Secretary of the American Psychological Association's Society of Clinical Geropsychology.  His special interests are depression, grief and loss, geropsychology, and public outreach, particularly to underserved populations.  He currently leads a VA workgroup on suicide risk assessment with older veterans and has helped develop information for families and children of Veterans who have attempted or completed suicide.  He has developed numerous publications, presentations, and government briefings related to geriatric mental health care access, utilization, and policy.  He is a reviewer for several psychology and policy journals and a member of several national steering committees and workgroups. 

Dr. Karlin graduated Phi Beta Kappa in political science and sociology from the University of Michigan.  He received his M.S. and Ph.D. from Texas A&M University, where he also completed proficiency in clinical geropsychology.  He completed a clinical internship and postdoctoral fellowship in clinical geropsychology at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System and is a licensed clinical psychologist. 

Susan Keys, Ph.D.
Inspire USA Foundation

Dr. Susan Keys is the Executive Director of the Inspire USA Foundation, a nonprofit organization focused on the use of technology to promote the mental health of young people ages 16–24 and to prevent suicide. Prior to joining Inspire USA, Dr. Keys was Chief of the Prevention Initiatives and Priority Programs Development Branch in SAMHSA's Center for Mental Health Services. In this position, she oversaw youth violence prevention and suicide prevention initiatives and provided leadership for an interagency national initiative on young child wellness. Prior to joining SAMHSA, Dr. Keys was Associate Professor and Department Chair of the Counseling and Human Services Department at Johns Hopkins University, and she held a joint appointment in the Department of Mental Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Dr. Keys also served as the Associate Director of Education for the Johns Hopkins Center for the Prevention of Youth Violence.

Richard Lieberman, M.A., L.E.P., N.C.S.P.
Los Angeles Unified School District
Suicide Prevention Unit

For the past 20 years, Mr. Rich Lieberman has coordinated the Suicide Prevention Unit which oversees the Youth Suicide Prevention Program of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD).  He is also a lecturer in the Graduate School of Education at Loyola Marymount University.  He is co-author of School Crisis Prevention and Intervention: the PREPaRE Model, and he has written numerous book chapters and articles on youth suicide prevention, crisis intervention, and responding to self-injurious students in the schools.  He has co-written and appeared in numerous violence and suicide prevention videos, including an HBO documentary.  He also serves on national crisis teams that are sent on behalf of the US Department of Education and National Association of School Psychologists to assist many communities in the aftermath of youth suicide clusters and school violence.

Mr. Lieberman constitutes the entire Suicide Prevention Unit of LAUSD, which has over 1,200 schools and serves approximately 850,000 students. The Youth Suicide Prevention Program he developed has three components, all based on promising strategies and best practice:  The Prevention component involves extensive Gatekeeper training to local school districts, Student Health and Human Services staff, and school site crisis teams, to whom Mr. Lieberman has provided over 2,000 trainings and presentations. The Intervention component outlines procedures for intervening with suicidal and self injurious students. It includes a hotline for crisis team personnel who need immediate consultation when confronted with a suicidal student, staff, or parent.  Mr. Lieberman has responded to over 18,000 calls in 20 years, with approximately half coming from elementary schools. The Postvention component provides guidance and support to schools in the aftermath of a student, staff, or parent death by suicide.  Los Angeles County, which serves 2 million students, had 13 suicides among students ages 13-17 in 2006.

Alison Malmon
Active Minds, Inc.

Ms. Alison Malmon is the founder and Executive Director of Active Minds, Inc., the only national organization dedicated to utilizing the student voice to raise mental health awareness on college campuses.  Alison started Active Minds following the suicide of her brother, Brian, who had experienced depression and psychosis for three years while in college but had concealed his symptoms and not received the support he needed.  On March 24, 2000, as Alison was wrapping up her freshman year at the University of Pennsylvania, Brian ended his life.  Recognizing that few students were talking about mental health although many were affected, Alison became dedicated to combating the stigma of mental illness by encouraging students to seek help at an early stage and prevent future tragedies like the one that took her brother’s life.

Alison created the Active Minds student group model in the fall of her junior year (2001). Shortly after graduating Phi Beta Kappa with honors in psychology and sociology, she created the 501(c)3 Active Minds, Inc. The organization now has chapters on more than 200 campuses, with anticipated growth to 300 campus chapters by 2010.  With national recognition from the Campaign for Mental Health Reform and organizational profiles in The Washington Post, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and others, Active Minds has become recognized as the leading voice in student mental health advocacy.

For her dedication to transforming the mental health landscape, Alison was named 2007 Washingtonian of the Year by Washingtonian Magazine, Citizen of the Year by the Potomac, Maryland Rotary Club, and a Woman of Distinction by the American Association of University Women.  She received the Tipper Gore Remember the Children Award from Mental Health America and the Young Leadership Award from the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression.  She has been profiled in The New York Times, Glamour Magazine, on ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN, and many others.  Alison sits on a number of planning committees and Boards of Directors and, in her spare time, teaches the flying trapeze in Washington, DC.

Victor Ojakian
Suicide survivor

Victor Ojakian’s involvement in suicide prevention is personal, not professional. He lost a son to suicide in December 2004. He and his wife have focused their work on Transition Aged Youth and on providing mental health and suicide prevention awareness and resources.  Mr. Ojakian currently serves on the boards of a number of organizations including the Santa Clara County (California) Mental Health Board (2005 to present), the Mental Health Services Act Stakeholder Committee (2005 to present), the Crisis Intervention Team Advisory Board (2008 to present), the National Alliance on Mental Illness Chapter Board (2008 to present), and the Asian Americans for Community Involvement Board (2005 to present) (with an emphasis on mental health services).  He served as a Palo Alto City Council Member from 1998 to 2005 and as Mayor in 2002. 

Mr. Ojakian has made numerous presentations at events such as the Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce Health Symposium (2005), the California Mental Health and Wellness Association (2007; 2008), the Depression Center at the University of Michigan (2009), and the US House of Representatives' hearing on the Mental Health Parity Act of 2006.  He has written numerous articles including one on Asian American youth mental health (2008) and others in opposition to California Proposition 1E, a measure to take away the Mental Health Services Act funding (April and May 2009).  He has been presented the Champions for System Change Award (2008) by the California Mental Health Directors Association and the California Institute of Mental Health, and his wife, Mary, and he were presented the Community Merit Award (2007) by the Santa Clara County chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

Patrick O'Carroll, M.D., M.P.H., F.A.C.P.M., F.A.C.M.I.
US Department of Health and Human Services, Region X

Dr. Patrick O'Carroll is a Rear Admiral and Assistant Surgeon General in the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS), serving since January 2003 as the Regional Health Administrator (RHA) for USPHS Region X (Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington). As RHA, RADM O’Carroll is the region’s principal federal public health physician and scientist representing the Assistant Secretary of Health and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). On behalf of the HHS Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, he also serves as the Pandemic Influenza Senior Federal Official for Health, for Department of Homeland Security Region E (USPHS Regions IX and X). Since November 2008, he has also served as Acting Regional Director, HHS Region X, on behalf of the HHS Office of Intergovernmental Affairs.

RADM O’Carroll received his M.D. and his M.P.H. from Johns Hopkins University in 1983. After training in family practice and preventive medicine, he joined CDC as an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer. He later led the epidemiology research unit for the prevention of suicide and violence at CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. He was elected as a Fellow of the American College of Preventive Medicine in 1988. In 1992, he began working in public health informatics, developing the nation’s first training course and the first (and only) textbook on public health informatics. As Associate Director for Health Informatics at CDC’s Public Health Practice Program Office, he defined, developed, and directed CDC's national Health Alert Network. He was elected as a Fellow of the American College of Medical Informatics in 2004.

During his 24 years with USPHS, RADM O’Carroll has worked on a great variety of health and policy challenges including immunization, chronic disease, maternal and child health, environmental health, infectious disease epidemic control, behavioral health, global health and disease surveillance, and bioterrorism and disaster preparedness. He holds Affiliate Professor appointments in the Departments of Epidemiology and Health Services at the University of Washington School of Public Health and in the Division of Biomedical and Health Informatics, University of Washington School of Medicine.

Dan Reidenberg, Psy.D., F.A.P.A., F.A.C.F.E.I., C.R.S.
SAVE—Suicide Awareness Voices of Education

Dr. Dan Reidenberg is Executive Director of SAVE (Suicide Awareness Voices of Education), a national nonprofit agency working to prevent suicide and help suicide survivors and people suffering from brain illnesses.  SAVE operates a national multi-media campaign, provides professional and community education and training programs, and develops resources and support for survivors of suicide and others in crisis.  Dr. Reidenberg also serves as Managing Director of the National Council for Suicide Prevention and on the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline's Steering Committee. He has a degree in psychology from the University of Minnesota (1988) and a Psy.D. from the Minnesota School of Professional Psychology (1994).

Dr. Reidenberg has worked at Crisis Connection in Minneapolis, at the Bill Kelly House (a dual psychiatric/substance abuse program for adults), on in-patient psychiatry adult and adolescent units, and in private practice.  He was Director of Family & Children's Service in Minneapolis, where he oversaw 10 mental health and community-based programs.  He has done extensive work with adolescents and adults who have SMI, chemically dependence, and diverse personality disorders.  He is a consultant to psychologists, attorneys, and businesses on healthcare and legal matters and has testified in over 200 forensic cases.

Dr. Reidenberg speaks nationally on suicide prevention, conducts crisis management training, and is certified as an aviation disaster responder and a critical incident stress debriefer.  He has given multiple media interviews, has testified before state and federal legislators and the FDA, has been a keynote speaker and guest lecturer, and has presented numerous workshops locally and nationally. He helped develop LEADS (Linking Education and Awareness of Depression and Suicide), a best practices suicide prevention curriculum for use in high schools.  He wrote a chapter titled "Sports Talk" for a book on helping clients with communication issues, the foreword for The Power of Acceptance (a book about anxiety disorders), and an endorsement for Eight Stories Up, a book about DeQuincy Lezine’s adolescent struggle with suicide.

The American Psychotherapy Association (APA) awarded Dr. Reidenberg the Certified Diplomate in Psychotherapy status in 1998 and Fellow status in 2004.  He currently serves as Chair of the APA Executive Advisory Board, Chair of the Certified Relationship Specialists Board, on the APA Editorial Board, and on the Editorial Board of Esperanza magazine.  For 8 years, he served on the Board of Directors of the Minnesota Committee for the Prevention of Child Abuse, and he received two Commendations from the Governor. He was named one of the Ten Outstanding Young Minnesotans (2006), and he was awarded the B. Warren Hart Award for service to humanity (2007).

Jon Roesler, M.S.
Center for Health Promotion    
Minnesota Department of Health 

Mr. Jon Roesler is an Epidemiologist Supervisor with the Injury and Violence Prevention Unit at the Minnesota Department of Health in St. Paul, Minnesota.  He is the principal investigator for Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Extended Surveillance (2005-2010) and ED-Treated TBI Surveillance (2005-2010), co-PI for Integrated Injury Prevention and Control (2005-2010) and TBI Service Linkage (2005-2010), and co-investigator and epidemiologist for Surveillance of Sexual Violence (ongoing) and Epidemiology of Pediatric TBI (ongoing). He is also the epidemiologist for the ongoing Minnesota TBI/SCI Registry, the Minnesota Trauma Data Bank, and the Minnesota Oral Health Surveillance System, as well as team leader for the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Analysis Team. 

Prior to his work in injury and violence epidemiology, Mr. Roesler conducted epidemiologic surveillance and investigations in diabetes, indoor air quality, infectious diseases, and cancer.  He has worked as an epidemiologist at both the Minnesota and North Dakota Departments of Health, subsequent to his work as a statistician and research analyst with the University of Minnesota’s Division of Epidemiology.  Mr. Roesler has a B.A. degree in Physiology and Psychology, and an M.S. degree in Environmental Health, from the University of Minnesota.  He is currently completing his Ph.D. dissertation in Epidemiology at the University of Minnesota. 

Stephen T. Russell, Ph.D.
Frances McClelland Institute for Children, Youth, & Families
University of Arizona

Dr. Stephen Russell is a Professor at the University of Arizona where he holds the Fitch Nesbitt Endowed Chair in Family and Consumer Sciences in the John and Doris Norton School of Family and Consumer Sciences.  He is also the Director of the Frances McClelland Institute for Children, Youth, and Families.  He conducts research on adolescent health, sexuality, and parent-adolescent relationships, with an emphasis on ethnic minority and sexual minority youth. He has published empirical research on adolescent sexual orientation and suicide risk, and he wrote a comprehensive review of that literature in 2003. He received a Wayne F. Placek Award from the American Psychological Foundation (2000), was a William T. Grant Foundation Scholar (2001-2006), was a board member of the National Council on Family Relations (2005-2008), and was elected to the International Academy of Sex Research in 2004. He also has received a Distinguished Investigator Award from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and serves on that organization's LGBT Advisory Committee.  He is also Associate Editor of the Journal for Research on Adolescence.

Patricia K. Smith, M.S., R.D.
Michigan Department of Community Health

Ms. Patricia K. Smith is the Violence Prevention Program Coordinator for the Injury and Violence Prevention Section of the Michigan Department of Community Health. She has worked in injury prevention and control at MDCH for 18 years and specifically in violence prevention for the past 15 years. She was director of the department’s Violence Against Women Prevention Program for many years. More recently, she was involved in the development of the Suicide Prevention Plan for Michigan and is currently helping to coordinate the plan’s implementation. She is also the Program Director for the department’s suicide prevention program.

Sally Spencer-Thomas, Psy.D., M.N.M.
Carson J. Spencer Foundation

As the Executive Director of the Carson J Spencer Foundation (CJSF), a mental health advocacy group, and survivor of her younger brother’s suicide, psychologist Sally Spencer-Thomas is an expert on the topic of suicide prevention and mental health promotion.  Through CJSF, she founded Working Minds, the first suicide prevention program in the U.S. exclusively dedicated to suicide prevention in the workplace, and she is the only Master QPR Suicide Prevention Gatekeeper Trainer in the Rocky Mountain Region.  As a professional speaker, Dr. Spencer-Thomas has presented on campuses from coast to coast and has also shared her insights with many organizations including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the US Department of Higher Education, and the International Association of Suicide Prevention.  She has published in the areas of suicide prevention on college campuses and mental resiliency for student leaders, and she has co-authored two books on violence prevention (Violence Goes to College and Violence Goes to School).

For 16 years, Dr. Spencer-Thomas held various positions in Student Affairs at Regis University first as a counselor, then as Director of Behavioral Health, and finally as Director of Leadership Development, where she founded the university’s first minor in Leadership Studies. For three years, Dr. Spencer-Thomas was Project Director for the Garrett Lee Smith Suicide Prevention Grant (SAMHSA) in partnership with the CJSF and the BACCHUS Network.  She was recently elected to be the Survivor Division Chair of the American Association of Suicidology.  Additionally, she serves as the Co-Chair-Elect of the Suicide Prevention Coalition of Colorado and as an advisor to the Suicide Prevention Resource Center.  In the past, she has served as the area consultant for the Rocky Mountain region of the BACCHUS and GAMMA Peer Education Network and as the regional coordinator for the U. S. Department of Education’s network addressing collegiate alcohol and other drug issues.  Dr. Spencer-Thomas lives in Conifer, Colorado with her three sons and partner and is an avid marathon runner.

Cherie Townsend, M.B.A., M.P.A.
Texas Youth Commission

Ms. Cherie Townsend was appointed Executive Commissioner of the Texas Youth Commission by Governor Rick Perry in October 2008. Prior to her appointment, she served as Director of Juvenile Justice Services of Clark County, Nevada and as the Director of Juvenile Court Services with the Superior Court of Arizona in Maricopa County for over 12 years. She has more than 30 years experience as a juvenile justice practitioner.  How she views juvenile justice systems has been influenced by her work with victims of violent crime as Director of the Victim/Witness Assistance Division for Travis County in the District Attorney’s office in Austin, Texas and her work leading a Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative replication site. 

Ms. Townsend is active in the National Association of Probation Executives, the American Probation and Parole Association, the American Corrections Association, and the National Association of Juvenile and Family Court Judges.  In 2001, the National Association of Probation Executives and Sam Houston State University awarded the Executive of the Year Award to Ms. Townsend. In 2003, she was recognized by the National Juvenile Court Services Association and received the Juvenile Court Administrator Award. Ms. Townsend holds an M.B.A. from the University of Texas, an M.P.A. from Southern Methodist University, and a B.A. from Rockford College.

Terry Wise, J.D.
Suicide attempt survivor

Widowed at 35 following her spouse's death from Lou Gehrig's Disease, and after surviving a near-fatal suicide attempt, Terry Wise spent the next several years in treatment.  A former Boston trial attorney, Wise has since devoted her life to international public speaking and full-time writing.  She has traveled to hundreds of cities to appear as a keynote speaker and continuing education instructor on topics related to depression, grief, long-term caregiving, suicide prevention, and the process of recovery.  She is the author of Waking Up: Climbing Through the Darkness (foreword by Rabbi Harold S. Kushner, author of When Bad Things Happen to Good People), which details the recovery process from the patient’s side of the couch.  Waking Up is used at numerous universities nationwide, in crisis centers, and in the Core Competency Curriculum developed by the American Association of Suicidology and Suicide Prevention Resource Center.

Ms. Wise serves on the boards of national organizations, including the American Association of Suicidology, Families for Depression Awareness, Advancing Suicide Prevention, and the Musical Hope Foundation, and she is a member of the Speakers’ Bureau for the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance.  She is also Co-Chair of the Consumer/Survivor Subcommittee for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, 1-800-273-TALK. She received a National Mental Health Award for “distinguished achievement and work that has had a major impact on the depression community.”  Chosen by an independent panel of mental health experts, this award is given to “an individual whose noteworthy public efforts have helped promote the understanding of depression and reduce the shame and guilt associated with the illness.”

Ms. Wise’s work is featured on a nationally distributed educational video, sponsored by SAMHSA and NSPL, which won the 16th Annual National Health Information Award. She is also featured on a national broadcast Radio Podcast, Diagnosis and Treatment, sponsored by Families for Depression Awareness.  Her numerous speaking engagements include presentations at Columbia University, Wellesley College, National Alliance on Mental Illness, Alaska National Tribe Health Coalition, American Psychiatric Nurses' Association, Harvard Medical School Psychiatric Facility at McLean Hospital, Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance, as well as chaplaincy programs, universities, and community awareness events.

Bishop William Young, Sr., D.Min., M.Div.
Memphis Healing Center

Dr. William Young has over 33 years in ministry and over 30 years in counseling.  He is a licensed Professional Counselor and serves as Bishop of the Greater Fellowship Faith Tabernacle in Bolivar, Tennessee and the Healing Center Full Gospel Baptist Church, Divisions of Greater Fellowship Ministries, Inc.  He is a Vietnam Veteran with the U.S. Army, and he is the first African American Staff Chaplain to serve at Methodist Health Systems in Memphis.  Before accepting that assignment, he served as Staff Chaplain at Western State Mental Institute in Bolivar, Tennessee. 

Since 1990, Dr. Young has been a Clinical Member of the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy.  He is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Professional Counselor, and Clinical Pastoral Therapist.  He has a bachelor's degree from Lemoyne-Owen College, and an M.Div. in Pastoral Care and Counseling from Memphis Theological Seminary.  He did doctoral work at Louisville Presbyterian Seminary, and completed his D.Min. at Carolina Theological Seminary. He is a charter member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity. 

With 30 years of experience in counseling, Dr. Young is a pioneer among African American clinicians.  He specializes in marriage and family issues, grief, stress, and burnout.  Since 1994, he and his wife Dianne have co-hosted "On the Road to Healing," a Sunday morning radio program in Memphis. As the only African American Christian Talk Show in the mid-South, the show has become one of the area’s most popular call-in broadcasts.  The Young's also co-hosted “Memphis On The Air, Night Talk,” a two-hour public affairs call-in show heard by thousands around the world via radio and the internet.  In 2003, the Young's began hosting biennial national conferences on "Suicide and the Black Church" at The Healing Center in Memphis.  These conferences have grown dramatically, and the 2009 conference was attended by more than 400 people.  The Youngs partner with numerous agencies, churches, and community leaders to increase awareness of the needs of the African American community.

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