DAVID A. WOLFE, PH.D., ABPP, C.PSYCH.
David_Wolfe@camh.net

Dr. Wolfe holds the inaugural RBC Chair in Children's Mental Health at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, and heads the CAMH Centre for Prevention Science. He is also Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology at the University of Toronto. Since 2007 he has served as Editor-in-Chief of Child Abuse & Neglect: The International Journal. He is a fellow of the American Psychological Association, past President of Division 37 (Child, Youth, and Family Services), and received a Diplomate in Clinical Psychology from the American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP). He has provided extensive assessment and consultation to child protective services, schools, and the court with respect to issues of child abuse and violence.

Dr. Wolfe recently received the Donald O. Hebb Award for Distinguished Contributions to Psychology as a Science from the Canadian Psychological Association, and the Blanche L. Ittleson Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Delivery of Childrens Services and the Promotion of Childrens Mental Health from the American Orthopsychiatric Association. His recent books include Adolescent Risk Behaviors: Why teens experiment and strategies to keep them safe (with P. Jaffe & C. Crooks; Yale University Press, 2006); Child abuse: Implications for child development and psychopathology, 2nd Edition (Sage, 1999); and Abnormal Child Psychology, 4th edition (with E. Mash; Wadsworth, 2009).

Dr. Wolfe has broad research and clinical interests in abnormal child and adolescent psychology, with a special focus on child abuse, domestic violence, and developmental psychopathology. He has authored numerous articles on these topics, especially in relation to the impact of early childhood trauma on later development in childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood.  His interests in violence prevention have culminated into a comprehensive school-based initiative for reducing adolescent violence and related risk behaviors, known as the Fourth R. The Fourth R is currently used in over 800 high schools throughout Canada. It was recently identified as a top evidence-based program for school-based violence prevention by the New Jersey-based Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, where it is being implemented in several US sites as part of their national violence-prevention initiative.

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PETER G. JAFFE, PH.D., C.PSYCH.
pjaffe@uwo.ca

Dr. Jaffe is Academic Director of the Centre for Research & Education on Violence Against Women and Children and a Professor at The Faculty of Education, The University of Western Ontario. He is also the Founding Director for the Centre for Children and Families in the Justice System of the London Family Court Clinic (CCFJS; 1975-2001) and continues to act as a consultant to the CCFJS, which is a children's mental health center specializing on issues which bring children and families into the justice system. He is an Adjunct Professor to the departments of Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of Western Ontario.

He has co-authored 8 books, 24 chapters, and over 75 articles related to children, families, and the justice system. His books include Children of Battered Women (with D. Wolfe and S. Wilson; Sage, 1990), Working Together to End Domestic Violence (with N. Lemon, J. Sandler, and D. Wolfe), Domestic Violence and Child Custody: A call for safety and accountability (with N. Lemon and S. Poisson; 2003 Sage), and Protecting Children from Domestic Violence : Strategies for Community Intervention with (L. Baker and A. Cunningham). He has presented workshops across the United States and Canada, as well as Australia, New Zealand and Europe to various groups including educators, judges, lawyers, and mental health professionals.

Dr. Jaffe has been a trustee for the London Board of Education (now the Thames Valley District School Board) since 1980, and he has served two terms as Chairperson. He has also served as expert witness in two Ontario inquests into domestic violence and was appointed to the Joint Committee on Domestic Violence to provide advice to the Attorney General on the implementation of the jury's recommendations.

Dr. Jaffe has been honoured by receiving several awards for his work including the Commemorative Medal for the 125th Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada for his dedication and contributions to the community and to all fellow Canadians, and the distinguished Colonel Watson Award, presented annually by the Ontario Association of Curriculum Development, for his significant contribution to research and clinical practice in the prevention of family violence.

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CLAIRE V. CROOKS, PH.D., C.PSYCH.
ccrooks@uwo.ca

Dr. Crooks is the Associate Director of the CAMH Centre for Prevention Science in London, Ontario and an Adjunct Professor at The University of Western Ontario (Education; Health Sciences; and Psychology departments). Her main research interests include the development and evaluation of violence prevention programming, with a particular emphasis on strengths-based programming for Aboriginal youth. As the National Coordinator of Aboriginal Projects for the Fourth R she has significant experience in collaborating with community and research partners to adapt programming to meet the needs of particular communities. She is the lead author on a manual that provides guidelines and strategies for service providers working with Aboriginal youth, Engaging and empowering Aboriginal youth: A toolkit for service providers (2009; Crooks, Chiodo, & Thomas, Trafford). Along with Dr. Jaffe she is Co-Director of an Ontario Trillium Foundation funded project to develop materials to assist schools in evaluating their current violence prevention programs and to choose initiatives that match their unique needs.

Dr. Crooks' other main focus is on family violence. Dr. Crooks is a co-founder of the Caring Dads program, a parenting intervention for men who have maltreated (or are at-risk to maltreat) their children. She trains judges, lawyers, and other court professionals as a Faculty member for the U.S. National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, and also for the American Bar Association Commission on Domestic Violence. In February 2005 she testified before the Standing Senate Committee on Human Rights on the extent to which Canada is meeting its obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. She is co-author of more than 40 articles, chapters, and books on topics including school-based programming with Aboriginal youth, children’s exposure to domestic violence, child custody and access, adolescent dating violence and risk behavior, and trauma. She is co-author of the book, Adolescent Risk Behaviors: Why teens experiment and strategies to keep them safe (2006; Wolfe, Jaffe, & Crooks, Yale University Press). Dr. Crooks received her B.A. from Princeton University in New Jersey, and her M.A. and Ph.D. from Queen's University.

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RAY HUGHES, B.E.D., M.ED.
rayhughes@rogers.com

Ray Hughes is a graduate of the University of Toronto (Physical Health and Education). Ray obtained his B.Ed. and M.Ed. from The Faculty of Education, The University of Western Ontario. He has 30 years of experience in education as a teacher, Department Head, and Consultant. He is currently the National Education Coordinator for the Fourth R Project with CAMH Centre for Prevention Science and an instructor in Safe Schools at the Faculty of Education, University of Western Ontario. Ray coordinates the implementation of the Fourth R Project across Canada through partnerships with Alliance partners and school boards.

Previously, Ray was involved with coordinating the implementation of violence prevention programs for 190 schools and 80,000 students in his position as the Learning Coordinator for Violence Prevention with the Thames Valley District School Board. Ray provides regular professional development to superintendents, school administrators, teachers, parents and students on violence prevention and safe school initiatives. He has developed and implemented school based programs related to substance abuse, domestic violence, gender equity, dating violence, human sexuality, interpersonal violence, conflict resolution, and anti-bullying. He has been the lead writer for many resource documents related to school based violence prevention programs and has successfully implemented a pro-active response to violence in schools called the Interpersonal Development Program.

Ray is a regular presenter at conferences throughout Ontario and Canada and recently developed a safe schools course for education faculties that has been implemented at the pre-service and graduate levels in Ontario and Saskatchewan. He is a member of the Ontario Safe Schools Action Team. The mandate of the Action Team is to draw on best practices from across Ontario and to advise the Minister of Education on all aspects of school safety.

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DEBBIE CHIODO, M.A., M.ED.
dchiodo@uwo.ca

Debbie Chiodo has a B.Sc. from the University of Toronto and holds a Masters in Personality and Measurement Psychology and a Masters in Education in Counselling Psychology from The University of Western Ontario. As a part-time lecturer at Kings College, UWO, Debbie teaches undergraduate Research Methods and Statistics. Debbie is currently the Centre Manager and Researcher for the CAMH Centre for Prevention Science.

She has co-authored numerous research papers examining the impact of child maltreatment and women abuse, women offenders, child welfare services, child protection legislation and services, issues related to maternal depression and poverty, violence prevention programming for youth, eating disorders and trauma and adolescents.

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