Ann Ahlquist - is a consultant, trainer and an adjunct faculty member at the University of Minnesota Graduate School of Social Work, formerly directing the University's Child Abuse Prevention Graduate Program. She is known world-wide for developing forensic Cognitive Graphic methods of interviewing children or adults who may be victims of child maltreatment, particularly sexual abuse, family violence or other trauma. She has trained over 20,000 multidisciplinary professionals, throughout the United States and international sites primarily in law enforcement, juvenile justice, child protection and child welfare.
Terri Bohl: Social Work supervisor with the Eau Claire County Department of Human Services since December 2002. She currently supervises Ongoing Child Protective Services. She previously worked as a Social Worker in Eau Claire and Clark Counties. She has an MSW from Loyola University.
Nan Brien- is a consultant to the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families on childhood brain development. She has been instrumental in directing the Council's activities as the lead state agency for the national I Am Your Child campaign, which is promoting safe, healthy, and nurturing experiences and environments that foster optimal early childhood brain development for each and every child. The Council, in cooperation with other agencies, has developed a brochure, a parent educator manual, a TV series, training manuals with companion CD-ROMs, and a middle/high school curriculum as information pieces about early childhood brain development. In collaboration with the Departments of Health and Family Services, Public Instruction, and Workforce Development, Brien has conducted train-the-trainer programs for agency personnel from throughout the state. In addition to more than 800 presentations, she has provided extensive training for child welfare workers at the Milwaukee Bureau of Child Welfare and several other states. Brien has an undergraduate degree in biology and a master's degree in immunology
Dawn Campbell, BSW, CSW, and licensed social worker in the State of Minnesota, has worked in the human services field for over 15 years. She worked in a residential treatment center and has spent 11 years in the non-profit sector. For the last 4 years, Dawn has worked as Project Coordinator/Service Coordinator for the Coordinated Family Services Project in St. Croix County and is currently in their new Youth Community Support Services Unit.
Frank Crisafi, B.A., J.D., an attorney in Madison. He was formerly the First Assistant District Attorney in the Milwaukee County District Attorney's office for six years prosecuting delinquency cases, abuse and neglect and mental commitment cases. For the next 22 years he appeared regularly in court representing the interests of children and families. He has worked for the Department of Public Instruction in the areas of teacher licensing and confidentiality of pupil records.He was an adjunct professor at the UW-Madison and has conducted numerous seminars and training programs for law enforcement, social workers and educators. Frank is one of the State of Wisconsin intake instructors and has taught Basic Intake Training for social workers for over 19 years. He has been training juvenile justice professionals for over 40 years. Frank recently retired as Legal Counsel for the Madison Metropolitan School District and worked in the areas of special education, confidentiality, student affairs, enforcement of the school's athletic code and general education law.
Dr. Rich Kaplan, Associate Medical Director at Midwest Children's Resource Center. Dr. Kaplan is also the Medical Director of the University of Minnesota Children's Hospital Center for Safe and Healthy Children and an Associate Professor at the University of the Minnesota School of Medicine. Dr. Kaplan received a Masters in SW degree from St. Louis University and a Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of South Dakota. He completed a pediatric residency in Phoenix, AZ. First, as a social worker and then as a pediatrician, Rich has been working with child abuse victims for over 30 years. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, a charter member of the Ray Helfer Society and a former member of the Society's executive committee. Dr. Kaplan is a 2003 recipient of the United States Department of Health and Human Services: Commissioner's Award for Outstanding Service in the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect. He is also a member of the Executive Board of the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Child Abuse and Neglect.
Julie Krings, has a bachelor's degree in SW from UW-Eau Claire and is attending the University of St. Thomas for her master's of SW. She is a Wisconsin certified social worker. She has been in the field of social work for approx. 12 years. She has been an ongoing child protection worker, juvenile justice worker, and prevention social worker. She has also worked within the Community Support Program as a social worker providing intensive case management to adults with serious and persistent mental illness. She has been a children, youth & families unit program manager for over two years supervising ongoing child protection, juvenile justice, coordinated services team, and children's long term support. She is also a certified reviewer for the QSR.
Tim Markgraf, CSW, and Certified Forensic Counselor, has a BS in Sociology/Criminology and has worked in the Human Services field for 18 years in the areas of Child Protection, Juvenile Justice and Children's Waivers. For the last four years, he has worked with the Coordinated Family Teaming project in St. Croix County as a Service Coordinator/Facilitator and is the Lead Social Worker in the new Youth Community Support Service Unit.
Michael McGowan - is President of McGowan and Associates, a training and consultation firm specializing in alcohol, drug, conflict resolution and family issues. He works with schools, parent groups, and students as a trainer, consultant and motivational speaker. His seminars are uniquely educational and entertaining. Mr. McGowan has spent the last nineteen years working with families and children. He has worked as an educator, a youth care worker, a family counselor, an alcohol and drug counselor and trainer. He has directed state certified training programs and alcohol and drug rehabilitation programs. During the last nine years he has given assemblies to tens of thousands of school children each year and has trained thousands of teachers in school districts across the country. He has also worked with social service agencies, the department of corrections and dozens of private companies as a trainer and consultant. His experience also includes numerous published articles and guest appearances on radio and television.
Nancy Miller - is an attorney who focuses her practice on child protection. She consults with and represents a number of Wisconsin counties across the state in termination of parental rights (TPR) cases. She has acted as a hearing examiner regarding the substantiation of child abuse or neglect. She has been a trainer of legal issues and practice for child protection social workers since 1997. Nancy practices law with her husband, Steve Miller, an appellate attorney. As a team, Miller and Miller has been extremely successful in prosecuting TPR cases and convincing appellate courts to affirm those orders terminating parental rights on appeal. Nancy enjoys working with child protection social workers toward the goals of permanence and safety for the children in the system. Nancy was an Assistant Corporation Counsel in Green Bay for four years dealing with child support, paternity, TPR and mental health cases prior to joining Steve's private practice. She did guardian ad litem and family court work until 2000. Nancy's legal career began as the Older American's Project Attorney at Legal Services of Northeastern Wisconsin in 1997.
Mary Paulson, MSW, LCSW (WI), LICSW (MN) is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. When in clinical practice, Mary worked in an outpatient children's mental health clinic providing individual and family therapy, and is now practicing as a school social worker. She has previous experience in the areas of domestic violence, juvenile intervention services, child protection, and home-based mental health services. She has been an (ad hoc) instructor in the Social Work Program at UWRF since 2000. She presented on the topic of children's mental health at both the 2006 School Social Work Association of America (SSWAA) National Conference in Boston and at the WSSWA Conference in Green Lake, Wisconsin in 2007.
Nancy Pohlman - started her career in Social Work in 1985 as an advocate for women survivors of sexual abuse. She has a Bachelor's degree in Social Work from UW-La Crosse (1989) and a Masters degree in Social Work from UW-Madison (1996). Nancy was an ongoing social worker for nine years serving a mixed caseload of abuse, neglect, and/or juvenile delinquency. She began her work as a Supervisor at La Crosse County Department of Human Services in 1999. Nancy has past experience supervising the Alternate Care Unit and currently supervises a CPS unit. Nancy has supervised a number of Social Work interns from six different regional universities and is an adjunct faculty for Winona State University and Viterbo University Social Work Programs. She started training for the Western Wisconsin Partnership in 2001. She has provided training in the areas of Foster/Adoptive/Kinship Caregivers (F/A/K), Pre-Service Training, the Adoption and Safe Families Act for Supervisors and Workers, and the Sexual Abuse series and Safety Assessing and Planning. Nancy is a parent of three children, two of which are through foster care and adoption. She is active in the La Crosse Community promoting awareness and education regarding child abuse and neglect and at a state level serving on various Child Welfare committees.
Carol Pulkrabek, BSW, MSW, has 17 years experience working in a wide variety of areas within the field of child welfare including adoption, juvenile justice, and child protective services. She has worked at LSS and now is at Eau Claire County DHS where she is currently Supervisor of the Coordinated Service Team Unit, the Intensive Supervision Program and Youth Services.
MaryAdele Revoy is an experienced trainer providing workshops and day-long seminars on various topics related to adolescent development. Recently she developed the Unlocking the Mysteries: Adolescent Brain Development training for the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families. The training has been offered to over 700 people throughout WI & to the US Dept. of Defense, AODA Clinical Social Workers working on installations around the world. Through her material development & presentations, MaryAdele encourages individuals to utilize recent developments in adolescent brain research to enhance their youth programs & interventions. Before her work as an independent trainer and educator, she worked as Program & Planning Analyst for the Division of Juvenile Corrections (DJC) within the WI Dept. of Corrections. In that position she served as the PREA (Prison Rape Elimination Act) Coordinator for the Division and assisted in developing department-wide trainings. MaryAdele also served as policy analyst, grant writer, coordinator of the Division's committee on AODA issues and resource for the policy changes regarding juvenile sex offenders. Prior to DJC, MaryAdele served as Crisis Intervention Worker at Taycheedah Correctional Institution where she worked with women dealing with many victimization issues along with coping with incarceration. Her career was not always in state government. MaryAdele started out as weekend advocate at the Waukesha Women's Center shelter for battered women before becoming a staff member at Wisconsin Coalition Against Domestic Violence (WCADV). From there she moved to Idaho to become the first Director of the Women's Center at Idaho State University and then to the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence in Harrisburg, PA. MaryAdele has a Bachelor's degree in Philosophy from St. Norbert College and Masters in Child & Family Studies from UW-Madison.
Jamie Sorenson- M.S., C.S.W. Jamie began his Social Work career in 1991 in Barron County until 1993 at which time he was employed as a Social Services Coordinator with AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin, Inc. (ARCW). In 1995 he was employed as the Northern and Western Regional Director for ARCW until 2000. Jamie has worked for Eau Claire County since 2000 and has provided supervision to the Children and Family Services Unit including Youth Services, Child Protective Services, Coordinated Service Teams, Birth to Three, Family Support, Alternate Care and Children Waivers.
Diana Stafford- MS, M.F.T., has worked in mental health, community-based services and family-based services in both the county and the private sectors as a social worker, family therapist, and supervisor for over 30 years. She is a clinical and approved supervisor and member of AAMFT. Her expertise in family systems and belief in family-based services is the core tenet she brings to program design and implementation as well as group and individual clinical consultation. Diana has been a trainer for the WWP since 2000 in the areas of effects of abuse and neglect on child development, parental substance abuse and supervised visitation. Currently she has a private practice specializing in child welfare, trauma and in-home family therapy services. Diana also teaches an online Working with Families class for Columbia College in Missouri.
Connie Usiak- B.A., M.S., Certified Social Worker, Certified Professional Counselor, has over 20 years experience as a Social Worker, primarily in child welfare services. She has been a supervisor in Dunn, St. Croix and Polk Counties covering all areas of child welfare services including Child Protective Services (CPS), Ongoing CPS, Juvenile Delinquency and Foster Care Services. She has developed programs in Parent Aide Services, In-home Family-Based AODA Services and Independent Living Skills. She has developed and supervised volunteer programs both in county human service settings and community hospice programs. For the past two years she has developed curriculum and training such as the Safety Training and the Adoption and Safe Families Act training in conjunction with the Muskie Institute. She has provided a number of core and specialized training throughout Wisconsin. She holds the unique honor of becoming a parent twice in one week.
Mary VanDyke - MSW, has experienced professional child welfare practice as an initial assessment social worker and, most recently, as a CPS supervisor at Rock County Human Services Department Child Protective Services Division. As the Staff Development/After-hours Supervisor, she is responsible for teaching family-based CPS to newly hired social workers as well as overseeing the County's CPS After-hours program. Mary has expertise in child development, including the specific effects of abuse and/or neglect on children, assessing families experiencing the dynamics of substance abuse and/or issues involving mental illness. She is a field instructor and guest lecturer for the Department of Social Work at UW-Whitewater, and a field supervisor for UW-Madison-School of Social Work's newly created IV-E traineeship program.
Rebecca Waggoner has worked extensively with anti-violence focused community based programs for over 14 years. With her expertise in sexual assault and domestic violence, Waggoner has worked at every level of program development and management. She continues to work to build effective coalitions of service providers, systems professionals and program consumers through the development and implementation of "best practices" training and service provision strategies. Waggoner is the Anti-Violence Program Director at OutFront Minnesota, the state's leading organization serving Minnesota's LGBT communities. Waggoner is a graduate of the University of Minnesota with a B.A. in Women's Studies with an emphasis in Public Policy. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault and is on the Governance Committee for the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs.
Karol Wendt- LCSW, LMFT, is currently working in private practice as the Clinic Director of Systemic Perspective, Inc. She is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and an Independent Clinical Social Worker. Karol has worked as a social worker or therapist since 1974 doing medical social work, AODA treatment for individuals, teens, and families and individual, marital and family therapy with a specialization in chemical dependency. She also provides group and individual clinical supervision, specializing in family based services and is on the faculty of the Family Therapy Training Institute in Milwaukee.
Lynn Wilkins - Western Wisconsin Partnership Trainer, Foster Home Consultant at La Crosse County DHS, and a foster and adoptive parent. She regularly trains for the WWP. She is a trainer of the PACE (Partners in Alternate Care Education) curriculum for Foster/Adoptive/Kinship caregivers and also prepares other trainers to provide that training. Lynn is also under contract with the Institute for Human Services (IHS) to assist in the writing of an in-service training curriculum for foster and adoptive parents.
