Western Wisconsin Partnership

Trainer Biographies

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.

Norm Brickl - was the Director of Sauk County Department of Human Services from 1987 until his retirement in 2003. He previously worked for Calumet County as Director for the Department of Human Services and as the Director for their Social Services Department. Also, Norm was an Alternate Care Supervisor for the La Crosse County Department of Human Services and worked for the State of Wisconsin Division of Family Services as a social worker. Norm attained his M.S.S.W. and a BA of Psychology at University of Wisconsin Madison.

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.

Sue Hendricks - MSW, is a Program Manager for Children and Family Services for the Rusk county Department of Health and Human Services. She started her career in Rusk County in 1996 as a family aide and then as a social worker in 1997. She has been the Program Manager of Children and Family Services since 2002. She received her BSW from Mt. Scenario College in Ladysmith Wisconsin in 1997. She attended graduate school at the University of Minnesota-Duluth where she earned her MSW and was recognized as a Child Welfare Scholar in 2003.

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.

Pat McConville has a BSW from UW-River Falls. She and her husband were foster parents in St Croix County for 22 years. She was instrumental in the Supportive Care Program in New Richmond, matching community members with children who were receiving therapeutic services at the St Croix Health Center. She worked as a Child Protection Social Worker serving in Dunn and Pierce County. She has been instrumental in the development of Family Group Decision Making (FGDM), has supervised interns, has been a guest speaker for several social worker classes and continues to teach Systematic Training for effective Parenting (STEP).

Karen McDermott - has a B.S. in social work, and is a certified social worker with 23 years experience. Employed by Lutheran Social Services from 1980-1990 her work was primarily with youth and families in group and therapeutic foster care settings. Employed at Chippewa County DHS from 1990 to 2002 her job duties over the years included long term support, foster care coordinator, delinquency and most recently child protection. After leaving the county she worked briefly again at LSS in the special needs adoption program prior to becoming a trainer for the Partnership.

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.

Connie Oates - is the supervisor of the Trempealeau County Department of Social Services. Connie and her staff have been completing Safety Assessments for the past 6 years. She is a certified trainer for Western Wisconsin Partnership.

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.

Dr. Ronald H. Rooney - is a professor at the School of Social Work, University of Minnesota. Dr. Rooney has over 25 years of experience in practice, training and evaluation in child welfare including many presentations across Wisconsin for over 20 years. Dr. Rooney has provided training and consultation throughout the United States, Holland, the United Kingdom, Canada, Korea and Taiwan. He is the author of Strategies for Work with Involuntary Clients and Direct Social Work Practice (with Hepworth and Larsen).

Mark Simpson - Mark has been a Senior Social Worker with Hennepin County D.H.S. , Minneapolis , MN , since 1984. All of his social work experience has been in working with parents with limited intellectual abilities. Since 1987 this has been in a Hennepin County Parent Support Project. This project provides in-home family assessment, training and support to parents with limited cognition. He has provided a number of presentations in Minnesota and other states regarding his work. He received his BSSW from the University of Minnesota in 1979 and his MSW from U of M in 1983.

Megan Smith, B.S.W., is a social worker for the Pierce County Department of Human Services. She started her practice in Pierce County as a Juvenile Justice and Prevention Social Worker. Megan has been in the position of Initial Assessment Social Worker since 2006. Megan has supervised a number of Social Work Interns from the UW-River Falls Social Work Program. Megan has also been an integral member in the development and administration of the Community Response Program, which is a child abuse and neglect prevention-based program.

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., is the program and clinical supervisor of the Family Preservation Program at Lutheran Social Services providing family-based services in 9 counties in the Western Wisconsin/Eau Claire area. She has a masters degree in Marriage and Family Therapy and a bachelor's degree in Social Work. Her credentials include certified Independent Clinical Social Worker, a certified Marriage and Family Therapist, an Approved Supervisor and a clinical member of AAMFT (American Association of Marriage and Family Therapist). For close to 20 years, Diana 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. She provides the mental health clinical consultation for two AODA programs. In addition, Diana has a private practice using equine-assisted psychotherapy in helping people find solutions. 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 Partnership for 3 years in the areas of child development and parental substance abuse.

Paula Stansbury - is a supervisor at Buffalo County Department of Health and Human Services.

Bill Stein has 28 years of professional child welfare social work experience. He is a Child Protective Services Supervisor with the Eau Claire County DHS. He supervises Child Protective Services Access and Initial Assessment, as well as Children’s Long-Term Support Services. Prior to becoming a supervisor, Bill worked as a Child Protective Services Initial Assessment Social Worker.

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 trainings 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 trainings 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.

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.