Dr. Adler-Tapia, is a licensed psychologist who was previously a firefighter and emergency medical technician (EMT) before starting in nursing and moving on to becoming a psychologist. She is the author of “One Badge-One Brain – One Life: Preventative Maintenance and Brain Health Training for Emergency Responders.” And, she has multiple chapters and articles on working with Emergency Responders. Her workshop “Haunted” teaches therapists to work with Emergency Responders.

Dr. Adler-Tapia has additional expertise in EMDR therapy and working with children from infants to adolescents. She co-authored a book, “EMDR and the Art of Psychotherapy with Children: Infants to Adolescents,” and a second book “Child Psychotherapy: Integrating Developmental Theory into Clinical Practice.”

Michael L. Alvarez offers 38 years of progressive experience in the study and application of behavioral sciences. Emphasis on both systems and business inter-relational conflicts. Accustomed to researching and conducting effective presentations relative to dependency issues. Professional background encompasses marital, family and child counseling, drug addiction, sexual compulsivity, non-violent sex offender behaviors, group and individual therapy. Co-founded establishment of inpatient and outpatient treatment settings, nationally and internationally. Fully familiar with contemporary administrative functions in such settings, including scheduling, business development, report preparation, and comparable organizational functions.

Allan Barsky, JD, MSW, Ph.D. is a professor with Florida Atlantic University’s Sandler School of Social Work in Boca Raton, USA. He received his master’s in social work degree from Yeshiva University in New York City and his doctorate and law degrees from University of Toronto, Canada. Dr. Barsky’s practice experience includes family mediation and counseling with people affected by addictions and family violence.

Dr. Barsky’s current research explores the impact of Florida’s law that restricts access to gender-affirming care for transgender and gender-diverse minors and adults. Dr. Barsky has been interviewing mental health professionals, transgender and gender-diverse youth, and parents and guardians to gain a better understanding of laws that ban access to gender affirming hormones, hormone blockers, and surgery for minors, and restrict access to these procedures for adults.

Dr. Barsky believes in evidence-based practice for regarding gender-affirming care, which includes assistance with psychosocial issues and does not necessarily involve medical procedures. He also believes in an interprofessional approach to practice, where legal, mental health, medical, social work, educational, and other human service professionals work collaboratively with youth and families to determine the best courses of action and support.

His book credits include:

• Ethics and Values in Social Work
• Clinicians in Court
• Essential Ethics for Social Work Practice
• Conflict Resolution for the Helping Professions
• Interprofessional Practice with Diverse Populations

Dr. Barsky's books can be found at his website.

Accolades include:

• Awarded the “FAU Scholar of the Year Award” (2020)
• Awarded the “FAU Alumni Association Impact in Teaching Award” (2024)
• Chair of the National Association of Social Workers (USA) National Ethics Committee
• Chair of the National Association of Social Workers (USA) Code of Ethics Review Committee
• Awarded the NASW’s “Excellence in Ethics Award”
• Awarded the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts “Stanley Cohen Distinguished Research Award for Research Achievements in the Field of Family Law and Divorce"

Christy Bradshaw Schmidt, LPC, is a seasoned mental health professional and expert consultant in family law based in Texas. Following six years of service with Dallas County Family Court Services, she launched her private practice in 2006, specializing in contested child custody evaluations, adoption evaluations, and expert consultation statewide.

Over the course of her career, Ms. Bradshaw Schmidt has completed more than 600 comprehensive child custody evaluations. Her work is recognized for its depth, precision, and practical recommendations offered with the intention of helping high-conflict families restructure their lives after divorce. Her evaluations have played a pivotal role in guiding family courts, attorneys, and families toward healthier post-separation dynamics.

In addition to evaluation services, Ms. Bradshaw Schmidt provides expert consultation and testimony in complex family law matters, including relocation, issues related to children under age three, and Parent-Child Contact Problems. She regularly conducts work product reviews of other evaluations and mental health services in court-connected cases and serves as a strategic advisor to attorneys navigating challenging family litigation. Ms. Bradshaw Schmidt is the President-Elect of the Texas Chapter of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC), with her presidency commencing in the fall of 2026. She is also an active member of North Texas Families in Transition, the Family Law Section of the State Bar of Texas, the American Bar Association, and the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children. Throughout her career, she has remained deeply committed to mentoring emerging professionals working with court-involved families, emphasizing ethics, best practices, and thoughtful collaboration.

Her policy and advocacy work has made a meaningful impact on Texas family law. As the Mental Health Liaison to the Family Law Foundation, she contributed to the development and passage of critical statutes—including those governing child custody and adoption evaluations, parenting coordination/facilitation, and the expert testimony of therapists and mental health professionals. She remains actively engaged in legislative efforts aimed at strengthening practices that protect and support Texas families.

Learn more at her website.

Her CV can be found here

Christy Bradshaw Schmidt's Courses:

All of Christy's Courses are now hosted on our Learning Portal portal.sfrankelgroup.com. Visit her faculty page there to see her full list of courses!

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Cindy Carlson, PhD is a couple and family board certified licensed psychologist and professor in the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin where she has taught graduate courses family assessment and intervention for thirty years.

She co-authored (with H. Grotevant) Family Assessment: A Guide for Researchers and Practitioners, and has published multiple book chapters and journal articles on the topic of family assessment with particular emphasis on the assessment of families with child and adolescent presenting problems.

Esly Regina Carvalho, Ph. D. is a Brazilian-American Trainer of Trainers for the EMDR Institute and EMDR Ibero-America (EMDR IBA). She has helped bring EMDR to Ecuador, Bolivia, Brazil, Panama, Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia, and trained professionals in Portugal and Spain. A published author and speaker (in Spanish, Portuguese and English) as well as a Psychodrama Trainer, Esly has integrated her Psychodrama background into EMDR training and clinical practice. Presently residing in Brasilia, Brazil, she directs the TraumaClinic as well as an EMDR training center where trainings are held in more than 10 cities of Brazil. In 2014, she established a publishing house specifically dedicated to publishing books on EMDR, trauma and related issues. As one of its co-founders, Esly was President of EMDR Ibero-America (2007-2010; 2010-2013). Esly is married and loves those grandchildren!

Her curriculum vitae can be found here

Shelley Spear Chief, MSW works with First Nation individuals with complex historical and ongoing traumatic experiences, within her private practice. She has supported First Nation Schools, Women Shelters, Children Services providing group counselling, art therapy, and a variety of kinship, parent capacity assessments. Shelley has been affiliated faculty for University of Calgary and Red Crow College teaching and infusing Indigenous framework into university transfer courses. In her clinical practice, she uses EMDR and Somatic approaches, as well as traditional psychotherapy, art therapy, mindfulness, and hypnotherapy within the cultural understanding of the client.

Shelley is a First Nations Lakota Woman who prioritizes client’s spiritual needs and strengths with a cultural framework of understanding. She is knowledgeable of the challenges faced by First Nations people. She is married to Moses Spear Chief of the Kainai Nation. They have three grandchildren members of the Kainai Nation. She is an accomplished Women’s Traditional Dancer along with her spouse who is a champion Men’s Traditional Dancer. They have been part of their sacred societies on the Nation. She has presented a variety of topics in the past on First Nation Trauma in surrounding Indigenous communities within Alberta.

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Bio:

Rachel Dash-Dougherty, LCSW, is a seasoned therapist with over 14 years of experience, serving clients through her growing practice at The Grounded Therapist in East Lyme, CT. Driven by a passion for holistic healing and mental wellness, Rachel specializes in anxiety, eating disorders, and women's issues. She recognizes the interconnectedness of mind, body, and spirit in the healing process and integrates cutting-edge therapeutic approaches into her practice. Rachel has been utilizing EMDR for years to help clients process and heal from trauma and other distressing experiences. In addition to EMDR,

Rachel is deeply passionate about yoga therapeutics and its transformative potential in mental health treatment. Drawing from her extensive training and personal practice, she incorporates yoga-based techniques such as mindfulness, breathwork, and somatic awareness into her sessions. These practices not only promote relaxation and stress reduction but also empower clients to reconnect with their bodies, cultivate self-awareness, and develop healthier coping strategies. Rachel is dedicated to staying at the forefront of her field, continuously seeking out new knowledge and techniques to enhance her practice.

Robin Deutsch, Ph.D., ABPP was the founder and the Director of the Center of Excellence for Children, Families and the Law at the William James College (www.williamjames.edu/cffc). For 25 years she was on the faculty of Harvard Medical School, most recently as an Associate Clinical Professor of Psychology. Dr. Deutsch is a child and family forensic psychologist, mediator, Parenting Coordinator, and is board certified in couple and family psychology.  She provides consultation and expert witness services on child custody and parenting evaluations, ethical issues, complex custody issues, and child and adolescent development.  She developed and teaches the Certificate in Child and Family Forensic Issues at William James College and is a founder of Overcoming Barriers, an organization that provides family-centered services for families in conflict.  She has published extensively on issues related to attachment, alienation, co-parenting after divorce, high conflict divorce, parenting plans, and parenting coordination, and is the co-author of 7 Things Your Teenager Won’t Tell You: and How to Talk about Them Anyway (Ballantine, 2005, 2011) and co-editor of the book Overcoming Parent-Child Contact Problems: Family-Based Interventions for Resistance, Rejection, Alienation (Oxford, 2016). 

Leslie Drozd, Ph.D., is a licensed psychologist and marriage, family, and child therapist and works clinically with families in the various stages of divorce including coparenting therapy, family therapy, reunification therapy, and parent coordination. 

She has been a child custody evaluator for over 32 years, trains other evaluators, serves as a consultant to attorneys, and as a testifying expert in family law matters. She helped write the Association of Family Conciliation Courts Model Standards for conducting child custody evaluations (2006) and guidelines for parenting plan evaluations involving allegations of domestic violence (2016).

Dr. Drozd is currently on the board of directors of the Association of Family and Conciliation (AFCC) and Overcoming Barriers; and she is an associate member of the American Psychological Association’s Ethics Committee.

She was the founding editor of the peer-reviewed international Journal of Child Custody (2004-2013) and is currently on AFCC's editorial board for Family Court Review. She has taught professionals and published in peer-reviewed journals on parent-child contact problems and resist-refuse cases. She has co-edited books and book chapters on domestic violence in child custody cases, relocation, psychological testing, child sexual abuse, treatment of trauma, alienation, step-up parenting plans, and family therapy with families in which a child resists or refuses contact including a National Council of Juvenile Court Judges' bench book on Navigating Domestic Violence in Child Custody Cases (2006), Professional Resource Press Book, Parenting Plan & Child Custody Evaluations: Using Decision Trees to Increase Evaluator Competence & Avoid Preventable Errors (2013) and Oxford University Press books, Parenting Evaluations: Applied Research for Family Court (2012 & 2016).

She received AFCC’s highest honor for distinguished service, the John E. Van Duzer award, in 2013.

Learn more at her website.

Her CV can be found here

Dr. Drozd's Courses:

All of Dr. Drozd's Courses are now hosted on our Learning Portal portal.sfrankelgroup.com. Visit her faculty page there to see her full list of courses!

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Lisa Duez, LCSW, is an EMDRIA-Approved Consultant and seasoned EMDR trainer with over 20 years of clinical experience specializing in trauma, dissociation, and complex systems of care. She is the founder of Turning Point Counseling and Consulting, a trauma-informed group practice in Virginia, where she provides EMDR therapy, clinical supervision, and consultation to mental health professionals. Known for her practical, relational teaching style, Lisa integrates EMDR with parts work, somatic strategies, and attachment-based approaches to support deep and sustainable healing. 

She is passionate about helping clinicians grow their confidence in applying EMDR with fidelity, creativity, and compassion—especially when working with clients navigating complex trauma. In addition to her clinical and training work, Lisa speaks nationally on trauma-informed leadership, moral injury, and professional sustainability in the mental health field.

Learn more at her website.

Her CV can be found here

Lisa Duez's Courses:

All of Lisa's Courses are now hosted on our Learning Portal portal.sfrankelgroup.com. Visit her faculty page there to see her full list of courses!

View Lisa Duez's Courses (Learning Portal) >

Michael Elder, LMFT, CTTS is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist on Orcas Island in Washington. He is an EMDRIA Approved Consultant and is the state clinical coordinator in Washington for the First Responder Support Network.