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KEVIN DUFFY
Director of Development
Education
BA, University of Maryland at College Park, 2000
Kevin served as a case manager for World Trade Center victims at Catholic Charities and the New Jersey Family Advocate Program for nearly three years. In this capacity he was a front line responder to families that were directly affected by trauma and loss. Primarily working with widows with children, he initiated home visits, formulated recovery plans and helped clients navigate the complicated maze of resources available in the months and years following the attacks. During this time he was instrumental in the implementation of the Catholic Charities Disaster Response Program and in the growth of the original GOALs groups. He coordinated multiple sessions of the initial six-week family support group program in various locations throughout New Jersey. Kevin is also a certified Disaster Response Crisis Counselor.
Since June of 2006, Kevin has been the Director of Development at The GOALs Center for Families. In this capacity, he manages all GOALs programs, fundraising efforts and serves as the primary administrator for the organization.
MEGAN McDOWELL, LPC
Therapist
Education
BA, Merrimack College, 1991
MA, Montclair State University, 1995
MSW, University of Denver, 1997
Licenses, Certifications & Memberships
Licensed Practicing Counselor (LPC)
Certified Teacher, K-6
Megan McDowell has a private psychotherapy practice in Morristown, NJ, specializing in grief, trauma, depression and anxiety. She is a facilitator of many workshops on a range of topics such as spirituality, thought and behavior management and trauma. She is a group leader for The GOALs Center for Families children's group. This group is an opportunity for children who are living through a death of a family member to come together once a month for support and time to process their feelings. She is the author of the book "Angels Over the Towers" which is the story of the angel's presence on September 11, 2001. She currently speaks at churches, schools and organizations about the story, the affects of trauma in our lives and importance of seeing the bigger, spiritual picture.
MADELINE PASKE BAULIG, LCSW, CGP
Therapist
Education
BA, Colgate University, 1992
MSW, Columbia University, 1997
Licenses, Certifications & Memberships
Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW)
Certified Group Psychotherapist (CGP)
Certified Advanced Child, Youth and Families Social Worker (C-ACYFSW)
Certified School Social Worker
Member, Morris County Medical Reserve Corps
Madeline is currently in private practice in Morristown, NJ providing psychotherapy to adults, couples, groups, families and children. In addition to seeing clients on an individual basis, she conducts presentations and seminars at area schools and churches for parents, staff and youth on trauma and bereavement and communication skills, she has also been a front line responder to those affected by 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, a school shooting in Southern California and other traumatic events. She is also a former coordinator of school-based clinic in Southern California and has extensive experience working as counselor in school, home and agency environments.
MARNEY ROHDA
Special Projects Coordinator
Education
BA, McGill University, 1990
Marney has been a vital part of GOALs since its inception in 2002, when the first family group series took place. During that time, she has managed all of the non-clinical aspects of GOALs including administration, community outreach, finance, logistics, and planning. She has coordinated workshops, trainings for educators, counseling support groups and countless events for families. While working as the GOALs Project Coordinator for Catholic Family Services and Hope House in 2005 and 2006 she applied for and received more than $400,000 worth of grants in support of GOALs programs. Before working with GOALs, Marney was a MetLife employee for nine years where she managed client service departments and led interdepartmental product development teams.
JULIE M. WILLIS, LCSW, CGP
Therapist
Education
BS, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 1985
MSW, Columbia University, 1990
Licenses, Certifications & Memberships
Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW)
Certified Group Psychotherapist (CGP)
Certified School Social Worker
Julie is a licensed clinical social worker with over 15 years of direct clinical and administrative experience. As an administrator she managed community based behavioral health programs from the clinical, programmatic and fiscal perspective. She has extensive experience in the area of crisis response and debriefing. She is currently in private practice in Morristown, NJ providing psychotherapy to adults, couples, groups, families and children; as well as completing social assessments in the Morris County nonpublic schools as a member of the Child Study Team. In addition to seeing clients on an individual basis, Julie conducts presentations and seminars at area schools for staff and youth on communication skills.
MAUREEN UNDERWOOD, LCSW, CGP
Director of Clinical Services
Education
BA, Marquette University, 1968
MSW, Louisiana State University, 1970
Licenses, Certifications & Memberships
Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW)
Certified Group Psychotherapist (CGP)
Maureen is a licensed clinical social worker and certified group psychotherapist with over 35 years of practice experience. She began her work in loss and grief when she developed a series of support groups for cancer patients and their families in the early 1980’s. She has extensive experience and publications in the area of crisis intervention with children related to suicide, death and trauma. She has published structured curricula in several areas related to loss in childhood and is recognized as an international expert for her work in adolescent suicide prevention. She has been the executive producer and writer on a series of online and videotaped training presentations directed at mental health professionals, school nurses, and educators. She maintains a private practice in Morristown, NJ, where she specializes in crisis intervention and bereavement and was one of three initial creators of The Families’ GOALs Project.
NICCI A. SPINAZZOLA, Ed.S., LMFT, CGP
Therapist
Education
BA, Kean University
MA, Seton Hall University
Ed.S., Seton Hall University
Licenses, Certifications & Memberships
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist
Licensed Professional Counselor
Board Certified Expert in Traumatic Stress
Certified Group Psychotherapist
Nicci is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Licensed Professional Counselor and Board Certified Expert in Traumatic Stress and one of the creators of the original GOALs program. Her work is focused on promoting resilience among those who have suffered a sudden and traumatic loss. She is co-author of Helping School Staff Prepare for the 9/11 Anniversary and Beyond 9/11, a video that won an International Communicators Award and a Telly Award. She is one of also the co-author of the Training Manual, CD and Video designed in response to the needs of school age children and their families after the September 11 attack on the WTC which also won the International Communicators and Telly Awards.
Nicci maintains a private practice in Morristown, NJ specializing in adolescent and family treatment related to trauma and loss. She is a member of the NJ Governor's Council on Youth Suicide Prevention. She is the Somerset County NJ Traumatic Loss Coordinator in charge of countywide crisis intervention, crisis response and training in the schools and community. She is currently the Clinical Director of the Richard Hall CMHC and the former Director of the ALLIES Adolescent and Family Service Department at the Richard Hall CMHC, specializing in intensive outpatient treatment services for adolescents and their families. She has designed and implemented programs to meet the needs of families, schools and community organizations, speaking extensively on the topics of Suicide, Managing Sudden and Traumatic Loss in the schools, resiliency and other related topics. She provides training for local universities, school systems, social service and public safety agencies. She has overseen and delivered statewide training for the certification and recertification of psychiatric screeners.
TARA K. MARTIN, Esq.
Associate
Bryan Cave LLP
Tara Martin is a real estate attorney in New York City. Tara is a graduate of Brooklyn Law School where she received her Juris Doctorate cum laude. She earned her B.A. from the University of Maryland College Park graduating magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, with a major in Journalism and a minor in Government and Politics.
She currently works at the law firm of Bryan Cave LLP. Ms. Martin is involved in a diverse real estate law practice, including commercial real estate sales and acquisitions, real estate financing and leasing. She began her law career at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP where she was a member of their Global Finance Group. Ms. Martin represented large institutional lenders in complex commercial mortgage-backed securitization financings.
Her previous work experience includes work at Sony Music, the New York City Council, Office of the General Counsel and various political campaigns in Prince George's County, Maryland. She is a native of Massachusetts.
Tara lives and works in Midtown Manhattan.
MAUREEN MADDISON
Community Member
Maureen Maddison holds a B.S. degree in Sociology from St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, PA and a MA degree in Speech Language Pathology from Montclair State University. She specialized in augmentative communication at the Matheny School and Hospital for children with severe developmental delays in Peapack, NJ for 8 years. She later joined Pediatric Therapeutics in Chatham, NJ, where she worked until the summer of 2002.
Maureen’s husband, Simon, was killed on September 11, 2001. He was a computer software engineer contracted with Cantor Fitzgerald on the 103rd floor of the North Tower. Touched deeply by the outpouring of love and caring shown to her family in the weeks and months following the loss of her husband, Maureen began a service ministry at Holy Family School in Florham Park, where her three children attend. For the past four years she has organized monthly outreach projects for students in Pre-K through 8th grade. Projects include Breast Cancer Awareness Walks, correspondence with our military stationed over seas and food, clothing and toy drives. Her message to the students is that even the smallest of gestures can make a significant impact on someone in need.
Maureen and her children have been a part of the Goals program since the beginning. It has provided them the language and the tools to deal with the unimaginable circumstances they found themselves in. Maureen and her three children reside in Florham Park, New Jersey.
ELIZABETH A. MATTSON
Director of Special Events and Drumthwacket
The Official Residence of Governor Jon S. Corzine
Elizabeth A. Mattson is a graduate of Richmond College in New York City. She was an elementary school teacher in New York City and New Jersey before joining the Harcourt Publishing Company in the school textbook division as an Educational Consultant. Her chief responsibility was training administrators and teachers using Harcourt materials.
On September 11, 2001 Ms. Mattson’s husband of 29 years, Robert D. Mattson, lost his life on the 96th floor of Tower Two of the World Trade Center. In the following months she began to realize the enormity of issues she and other victim’s families faced. In response to this, Ms. Mattson began volunteering in the Office of United States Senator Jon S. Corzine helping his staff provide outreach to the families of other victims. She later accepted a full time position working with the constituent services team in Senator Corzine’s Newark, NJ office. Senator Corzine was elected Governor of the State of New Jersey in November of 2006 and Ms. Mattson followed him to Trenton where she assumed the position of Director of Special Events and Drumthwacket, the official residence of the Governor of New Jersey.
Ms. Mattson has been a member of the GOALs 9/11 counseling support group in Morristown for the past four years. This experience has taught her both the value of immediate grief therapy and continued long term care.
Elizabeth Mattson has two adult children and she resides in Green Pond, New Jersey.
DIANE TRAVERS, LCSW, CTS
Clinical Coordinator
Mental Health Association of Essex County
Diane Travers has held a variety of positions in the social work field. She has provided crisis intervention and clinical assessments of youth in the community for the Psychiatric Emergency Screening Program run by Care Plus in Bergen County. After becoming the Director of Children’s Services for Care Plus, Diane began several in-home therapy programs for children and adolescents with a history of psychiatric hospitalizations. In addition, she started the Trauma in Youth Project which was a response program for children/adolescents who had been exposed to a traumatic event.
Since 2000, Diane has been the Clinical Coordinator for the Mental Health Association of Essex County, Inc. overseeing their children’s programs. Diane provides group response for individuals affected by trauma and loss and is a member of the Essex County Traumatic Loss Coalition. Diane was also chosen for the Governor’s Task Force on Mental Illness Disaster Preparedness/Emergency Response Advisory Committee. She is presently the Certification Chair for the Association of Traumatic Stress Specialists and a member of the Disaster Response Crisis Counseling Advisory Committee which is implementing the Disaster Response Crisis Counselor Certification Program in New Jersey.
Diane has served as a GOALs therapist and trainer since 2003. She currently resides with her husband their three children in Caldwell, New Jersey.
LYDIA WHITEFIELD
Community Member
Lydia brings more than 35 years' experience in media relations, advertising, internal communications and philanthropy to The GOALs Center for Families. For more than a decade at AT&T, Lydia directed a global public relations program supporting the company’s international businesses. This included developing communications strategies to support the company’s efforts to introduce competitive communications services in several countries. Lydia also served for two years as AT&T's U.K. Public Relations director. When AT&T spun off Lucent Technologies in 1996, Lydia built and directed the global team responsible for building Lucent’s brand outside the United States.
Lydia was among Avaya’s first employees, leading a team that helped introduce Avaya as an independent company. She then focused the team on building the company’s brand awareness around the world. Under her leadership, Avaya's brand awareness and reputation in the marketplace was significantly strengthened, and as a result, Avaya is positioned as a recognized leader in this industry.
More recently, from December of 2002 until June 2006, Lydia led Avaya’s global philanthropy efforts. Her responsibilities included designing a strategic-giving program to position Avaya further in the market.
Lydia has been an active GOALs volunteer and currently resides in Cranford, New Jersey.
BARBARA S. MAURER, MA, LPC, CTS
Education
BA, State University of New York, 1986
MA, George Washington University, 1988
Licenses, Certifications & Memberships
Certified Trauma Specialist (ATSS)
Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC)
Art Therapist
Board Member and Certification Chair, Association of Traumatic Stress Specialist
Board Member, New Jersey Mental Health Training Institute
Barbara Maurer is a Licensed Professional Counselor, Certified Trauma Specialist, and an art and play therapist with 18 years postgraduate experience. She has served as the Director of the Trauma Institute, Director of the Psychiatric Emergency Screening Program and is one of the founder members of The Trauma in Youth Program (TYP).
She has served on Governor Cody's Task Force as Chairperson of his Advisory Board for Emergency Preparedness and Trauma. Ms. Maurer is also on the Board of the New Jersey Mental Health Training Institute recently serving as the principle provider for services in Sri Lanka following the Tsunami. Ms. Maurer recently accepted a Governor’s appointment to the Professional Examiner’s Board and began serving her term in January 2006. Ms. Maurer currently serves as a consultant for the N.J. Partnership for Children, Rutgers University, University of Medicine and Dentistry, Mental Health Association of New Jersey and the N.J. DYFS Training Academy.
FRED T. FELL, LPC
Education
BA, Monmouth University, 1984
MA, Seton Hall University, 1986
Ed.S, Seton Hall University, 1989
Licenses, Certifications & Memberships
Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC)
Certified School Psychologist (NJ)
Certified School Psychologist (PA)
Certified School Psychologist (NY)
Nationally Certified School Psychologist (NCSP)
Fred is a licensed professional counselor and a certified school high school psychologist in Morris County, New Jersey. His prior professional school psychology experiences involve working in specialized schools for students with significant physical and behavioral disabilities throughout New Jersey. He has also worked with children and adolescents in both clinical and educational settings where he provided school based consultation, counseling and psychological assessments. He has worked as a consultant for a variety of mental health agencies and conducted presentations on variety of subjects including child development, school based consultation, crisis intervention with children and special education practices. He began his work with loss and grief after working with adolescents who experienced the traumatic death of a peer from suicide.
IRENE GUARINO, LPC
Education
BA, Newark State College, 1971
MA, Kean University, 1982
MA, Kean University, 1997
Licenses, Certifications & Memberships
Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC)
Nationally Certified Counselor (NCC)
Certified School Counselor
Irene is a nationally certified, licensed professional counselor with over 35 years of experience working with families and children in grades K-12 in a school setting and in private practice where she provides group, family and individual counseling. She is highly skilled in areas of anger management, divorce, grief and loss, and post traumatic stress syndrome related to issues of terrorism. As a trained crisis counselor, she has had extensive experience in counseling families who have experienced sudden traumatic loss as a result of suicide, homicide and accidental death. Irene wrote and presented training workshops on Suicide Needs Assessment in which she presented to the Counseling and Child Study Team Departments in her school district. Post 9/11, she was responsible for developing guidelines and recommendations for parents in talking with their children about war and terrorism.
PATRICK CLINTON, MA, LPC
Education
BA, Trenton State College, 1984
MA, Marist College, 1987
Licenses, Certifications & Memberships
Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC)
Patrick Clinton, MA, LPC, has worked with children, adolescents and their families for the past 20 years. He is currently the coordinator of TeenHealthFX.com maintains the daily operation of the internationally known and award winning adolescent web site. Patrick provides research and written answers to questions posted to the website on topics ranging from sexuality, health and nutrition to mental health and human development.
Since 2000, Patrick has maintained a private practice in Morristown, NJ specializing in children and adolescents. Patrick also offers treatment of behavioral disorders, psychiatric conditions and treatment of issues related to grief and loss. Patrick has also been a GOALs group leader during our six-week family groups and at special events since the program inception.
WILLIAM F. CAVE
Managing Principal
Reliance Trust Company
Mr. Cave is a Managing Principal for Reliance Trust Company and serves as a liaison for strategic alliances. With more than 40 years of financial services experience, his background includes Managing Director of Chase Investment Bank, as well as senior investment banking positions at Lehman Brothers and Warburg Paribas Becker. Most recently, he held senior consulting positions with Earnings Performance Group and U. S. Banking Alliance. He has been involved in the creation and implementation of many innovative financing techniques for financial institutions, utilities and industrial corporations both domestic and international. He attended Furman University and is a graduate of the University of South Carolina. He is a frequent speaker in the financial services industry in many continuing education programs. Billy Cave resides with his wife in Georgetown, SC.
SUZANNE HERRMANN, LCSW
Licensed Clinical Social Worker
Private Practice
Suzanne Herrmann has been involved in the social service field for over 40 years. She received her B.A. from The College of Notre Dame, her M.A. fro the University of Virginia and her M.S.W. from Fordham University. She began her career as a Probation Officer in Morris County serving in the Family Court Division.
Throughout her career, Suzanne spent time working as a social worker at Morristown Memorial Hospital and also taught Medical Sociology at All Souls Hospital. Suzanne was Executive Director of the Morris Area Red Cross for more than 20 years and also served as the Coordinating Manager of the State of New Jersey for the American Red Cross. In this capacity, she responded to many disasters throughout the country including the Avianca plane crash, the TWA plane crash and the Los Angeles earthquake. In 1998 she received the American Red Cross President's award for service excellence. Suzanne has been in private practice for the past ten years. Suzanne has also served as a Board Member on the New Jersey Board of Social work Examiners where she was a member of the continuing education review committee and the complaint review committee. She was also instrumental in formulating the sunset revisions of the Social Work Practice Act of 2003.
Suzanne currently resides with her husband in Morristown, New Jersey.
NORA DWYER McLAUGHLIN
Community Member
Nora Dwyer McLaughlin holds a degree in History from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from the Stern School at NYU. While working professionally in the financial services industry, Nora focused on risk management, financial analysis and internal consulting.
Working for Prudential Securities for the head of Consumer Markets Risk management, Nora established the brokerage units "Best Practices" and aided in managing the marketing efforts of these internal controls. The primary aim was the management of the divisions financial risk profile.
Since moving to New Jersey in 2000, Nora has been a stay at home mom, involved in a variety of service positions since leaving the private sector. Currently, Nora is part of The University of Pennsylvania New Jersey Alumni Secondary School committee, and also parent and active alumnae at Oak Knoll School.
Likewise, Nora and her husband Ish are members of Student Sponsor Partners (SSP), a non profit organization in New York City which places underprivileged boys and girls into private, city wide high schools and funds their education through High school. She is also involved in the Connection for Women and Families Pathways Center, as a cancer survivor and volunteer.
Nora and her husband Aloysius have one son and reside in Summit, New Jersey.
DR. LAURA WINTERS
Professor of English
College of Saint Elizabeth
Laura Winters holds a B.A. in English Literature from Drew University and M.A. from Rutgers University in English Literature, M.A. in Philosophy from Drew University and a Ph.D. in English and American Literature from Drew University.
She has taught literature, writing, and film for over 25 years at The College of Saint Elizabeth and the same subjects at the Casperson School of Graduate Studies at Drew University since 1991. She has published Willa Cather: Landscape and Exile, as well as articles on American literature and film. Laura has given over 50 presentations on literature, film, grief, and loss and currently does a lot of work on grief with the New York City Fire Department. Laura has been an active volunteer in GOALs programming from its inception.
Laura resides in Morristown, New Jersey.