Dace West, M.N.M., Executive Director
Dace West has been in the nonprofit world for the past decade and has worked with numerous organizations to build capacity and develop programming. She has expertise in fundraising, program development and evaluation, leadership development, member recruitment and retention, volunteer management, policy research and analysis, community training and technical assistance, coalition building, and community organizing. She has worked on a variety of issues including health care, welfare reform, employment and training, child care, early childhood education, international human rights, labor, and women’s issues. Dace holds a bachelors degree in Political Science from the University of Colorado at Boulder and a masters degree in Nonprofit Management from Regis University, with the focus of her masters research on secondary trauma in social justice workers. She has been involved with the HealthBridge Alliance since 2004 and became the Executive Director in October 2006.

Jean McAllister, M.S.W., Program Director
As Program Director for HealthBridge Alliance, Jean works closely with the trainers to develop and present programming and training curricula to meet the needs of a variety of different professional groups to develop resiliency skills to cope with work related secondary trauma. Jean has more than 25 years experience working as a therapist and an advocate with victims of crime and serious trauma and in victim services and offender management policy development. She consults and trains regarding trauma and victimization, sexual assault, domestic violence, offender dynamics, vicarious trauma, stress management and policy development fpr a variety of agencies both locally and nationally. She serves as an expert witness, providing expert testimony and case consultation. She has previously served as the Executive Director for the Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault (CCASA), Program Administrator for the Domestic Abuse Assistance Program (DAAP) at the Colorado Department of Human Services, and Program Administrator for the Sex Offender Management Board at the Colorado Division of Criminal Justice. She did extensive crisis intervention with evacuees of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita who came to Colorado and with survivors of the Columbine High School shootings and criminal justice personnel who responded, as well as serving as a consultant and trainer to the Columbine Connection Victim Advocacy Program.

Holly Smith, M.A., Lead Trainer
Holly Smith has been involved with the HealthBridge Alliance since 1998 and was a part of the original team that developed the pre-cursor to the FIRST Workshop, the Secondary Trauma Resiliency Training. She was the sole Co-Trainer for the HealthBridge Alliance from 1999 – 2004 and was recently promoted to the position of Lead Trainer. Holly has been a member of the Boulder County Sexual Abuse Team for the past 24 years, and has served as its supervisor for 20 years. Holly has published extensively on child sexual abuse and her book, Fire of the Five Hearts: A Memoir of Treating Incest, published by Brunner-Routledge, has received stellar reviews.

Jennifer Conrad, M.S.W., L.C.S.W, Trainer
Jennifer earned her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Luther College in Iowa and her Master of Social Work from the University of Nebraska at Omaha . Before moving to Colorado, she worked primarily in employment and training programs serving adults with severe and persistent mental illness, developmental disabilities, and those in or near poverty. She has also worked in other therapeutic settings to include residential programs, school, and outpatient treatment. Jennifer has worked at Community Reach Center since 2005 where she manages one of the outpatient offices and provides individual, family and group therapies for children, adolescents and adults. She has a growing passion for working with survivors of trauma and has worked with HBA since April 2007 and is committed to self-care and secondary trauma resiliency.

Keri Fitzpatrick, M.S.
Keri Fitzpatrick (B.A. Psychology, University of Kansas; M.S. Counseling and Guidance, University of Nebraska at Omaha) has worked in the mental health and allied services field since the mid-1980s. As a clinical supervisor and training provider, Keri became an advocate for self-care early on. In 1990, Keri moved to Colorado where she continued to work in direct client care. While living in Summit County, Keri worked as a probation officer and carried a caseload that included presentence investigations and supervision of high-risk offenders. Keri has been involved in training and policy development in Colorado and has provided contract services for other states as they enter the realm of specialized casework with sexual offenders. Keri authored Makin’ Lemonade: A Guide for Choiceful Living which became the basis of her work in several venues. For five years, Keri was the Juvenile Standards Coordinator for the Colorado Sex Offender Management Board, it was in this capacity that she was able to offer training to over 1200 allied health professionals and learn the fine art of committee meeting management. Keri is the statewide Manager of the Crisis Intervention Teams (CIT) program, a specialized law enforcement training program focused on verbal de-escalation of individuals in crisis who may have a mental illness or disability.

Dennis Heffern, L.C.S.W., Trainer
Dennis Heffern has worked in the human services field for 19 years. The early part of his career was spent working with at-risk adolescents in residential settings, including community group homes and secure psychiatric cottage units, in New York State. His work with youth continued in his capacity as a high school teacher and counselor for the Jesuit Volunteers for three years in Belize, Central America. Upon completion of a graduate degree in Social Work in 1997, Dennis relocated to Denver, CO, and resumed working with youth as the Program Supervisor for Urban Peak, a homeless shelter and drop-in-center for children under 21. In 1998, Dennis began doing Medical Social Work with a 4-year stint at Denver Health Medical Center, working in both hospital and outpatient clinic settings. Serving a wide variety of medical specialties, a significant portion of this time was spent working with people living with HIV/AIDS, including time with Behavioral Health providing substance abuse treatment and methadone maintenance. Dennis’ current position has involved providing clinical social work services to adults and families dealing with cancer at Kaiser Permanente, a local not-for-profit HMO in Denver.

Kyle Kelly, M.A., L.M.F.T., Trainer
Kyle Kelly is a licensed marriage and family therapist who specializes in working with adolescents and their families. Kyle has been employed as a therapist with the CASASTART team at the Community Reach Center primarily working with youth in Commerce City, Colorado. Kyle is passionate about raising more awareness about secondary trauma issues among male therapists and encouraging more men to participate in secondary trauma trainings.

Jennifer Martin, M.S.W., L.C.S.W., Ph.D. Candidate, Trainer
Jennifer Martin has worked in the field of child abuse prevention and intervention for over 10 years. Jennifer currently works as a forensic interviewer at Blue Sky Bridge Child Advocacy Center, striving to give child victims of sexual abuse a “voice” in Colorado’s judicial system. Since 2000, Jennifer has provided forensic interviewing and first responder training to over 1,200 investigative professionals throughout Colorado. Jennifer has interviewed over 2,500 children in her career and she regularly testifies as an expert witness. Jennifer also works with social work students and community agencies as an adjunct faculty field liaison at the University of Denver’s Graduate School of Social Work. In addition, Jennifer is the senior faculty consultant for True Voice Consulting, providing clinical supervision, training, and expertise to social workers and law enforcement personnel across Colorado. Prior to these positions, Jennifer worked as a medical social worker, a child protection team leader, an institutional investigator, a grant writer for the Colorado Children’s Trust Fund, and a special education paraprofessional. Jennifer earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work from Colorado State University and her Master’s Degree in Social Work from the University of Denver. Jennifer is currently working towards her Ph.D. in Social Work at the University of Denver.

Lora Ogarek, L.C.S.W., Trainer
Lora Ogarek is a licensed clinical social worker who discovered a passion for trauma while serving as a social work intern in the Emergency Department at Denver Health Medical Center. Lora then served 8 years at Denver Health in the General Surgery Department and then the Medical Intensive Care Unit. Lora provided crisis counseling to patients and families affected by trauma, death, grief and loss, domestic violence, crimes of violence and body image counseling after invasive surgery or trauma. Lora is now a social worker at Kaiser Permanente providing mental health screenings, brief intervention, case management and crisis counseling in the primary care setting.

Libbi Palmer, Psy.D., Trainer
Libbi Palmer has worked with victims of trauma since 1989. After working a short time as a victim advocate volunteer, she began a 15-year career as a law enforcement officer specializing in the investigation and coordination of crimes against children and major cases. She has worked in the mental health field as a school counselor, outpatient therapist, and currently is the program manager of an outpatient office of the Community Reach Center, the community mental health center serving Adams County. She also has a private practice specializing in mental health treatment for victims of crimes and the professionals who help them. She is an adjunct professor with the University of Northern Colorado and brings attention to secondary trauma issues to students training to be counselors. In 2005, she was named to the Colorado Supreme Court’s Committee on Jury Reform for her research involving the secondary trauma impact on jurors in the court system. Libbi has a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Colorado in Psychology and Sociology, a Masters Degree in Counseling Psychology from Lesley University, and a Doctorate in Counseling Psychology from the University of Northern Colorado. She is a licensed psychologist in the State of Colorado.

Tania Mendoza Thoroughgood, M.A., L.P.C., Trainer
Tania M. Thoroughgood has worked at Community Reach Center , the community mental health center serving Adams County , since 1999. Her work has included day treatment with elementary aged children, school based therapy with adolescents and their families, and currently as the Manager for the Thornton Out Patient Office serving individuals with mental illness of all ages from early childhood through older adulthood. Tania has worked with the HealthBridge Alliance since 2005 and has been instrumental in expanding the reach of the workshop.