Shanta Kanukollu, PhD was first introduced to Seeking Safety during her undergraduate years while working for Dr. Lisa Najavits as a research assistant at McLean Hospital in Massachusetts. Since then, she has used Seeking Safety in a variety of settings including the Cook County Department of Corrections where she worked with incarcerated women, the 19th Judicial Circuit of Lake County where she worked with men and women in a treatment-based court program. Dr. Kanukollu has also worked with veterans seeking treatment at the Edward J Hines Jr. VA Medical Center, providing individual and couples therapy for veterans with varying presenting concerns. Dr. Kanukollu is a clinical psychologist in private practice currently and enjoys working with adults of diverse backgrounds struggling with issues related trauma, intergenerational trauma, immigration-related stressors and cross-cultural family dynamics. Prior to working in these settings, Dr. Kanukollu completed her predoctoral psychology internship at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical center, where she provided individual, couples, family and group therapy in a hospital setting along with crisis interventions in the emergency room. Dr. Kanukollu earned her doctoral degree in the joint Clinical Psychology and Women’s Studies program at the University of Michigan and obtained her bachelors in Psychology and Public Health from Rutgers University. She currently resides in Chicago. See her resume.
Jennifer Haley, LCSW is a behavioral health clinician at First Nations Community Healthsource providing screening / brief intervention / referral to treatment integrated care services as part of the homeless outreach program’s primary care clinic. Jennifer initially trained in Seeking Safety with Dr. Lisa Najavits in 2011 as a supportive housing Case Manager in San Francisco. She has continued to use Seeking Safety individual and group modalities with patients across multiple settings including housing first, HIV primary care, psychiatric emergency services, and homeless healthcare. Jennifer is passionate about working with people who are impacted by interpersonal violence and abuse, are substance using, living with disabilities, and experiencing homelessness. Jennifer upholds trauma-informed care and harm reduction frameworks for transformative recovery and healing. She excels in attending to complexity in relational components of change and how to respond to these dynamics for client global health. Jennifer has been a member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers since 2014. Jennifer received her masters of social welfare from the University of California at Berkeley and is currently a doctoral student of clinical social work at the University of Pennsylvania. She currently resides in Albuquerque, NM. See her resume.
Marisa Morrill, MA, MSMHC, LSW is a behavioral health specialist at Commonwealth Care alliance providing both in-home therapy and telephonic behavioral health support to support a panel of 127 clients. She is also a trainer for Treatment Innovations and has served as a research coordinator on a randomized controlled trial on Seeking Safety for PTSD and gambling disorder. She is bilingual (English and Spanish). Formerly she was a case manager with Catholic Charities for families involved with the Department of Children and Families to help place children in daycare so the parents could return to work and seek behavioral health supports to ensure a healthy home environment. She was a research associate on a Boston Medical Center study to evaluate whether problem solving education reduced maternal depression in mothers whose children were in Head Start. She also worked with children recently diagnosed with autism or attention deficit disorder and their families using the Triple P parenting model to encourage positive parenting techniques and reduce the likelihood of corporal punishment in the home. She is based in Boston, MA. See her resume.
Kay M. Johnson, LICSW has over 30 years clinical and administrative experience in outpatient and residential substance abuse, mental health, and trauma programs. She specializes in trauma and co-occurring disorders. Kay is a senior associate for Treatment Innovations as a trainer and consultant, and has worked with Lisa Najavits on clinical research projects in the US and Canada since 1997. Since 2002, she has presented workshops and staff training in the United States and Canada on Seeking Safety, Creating Change, A Woman’s Path to Recovery, and Trauma Informed Care. She is based in Boston, MA. See her resume.
Martha Schmitz, Ph.D.is a senior trainer and consultant with Treatment Innovations. For over a decade, she has offered continuing education workshops and supervision in the treatment of PTSD and substance abuse to clinicians throughout the United States and abroad. She began working with Lisa Najavits in 2000 in a postdoctoral fellowship on Seeking Safety research at McLean Hospital. Dr. Schmitz is currently a staff psychologist at San Francisco VA Medical Center and an Assistant Clinical Professor at the University of California at San Francisco School of Medicine. She received her doctorate in counseling psychology from the University of Missouri at Columbia after earning her master’s and bachelor’s degrees from the University of California at Davis. She has collaborated on several research projects in both the United States and France. Her clinical and research interests include posttraumatic stress disorder, substance abuse, and resiliency in survivors of trauma. She is based in San Francisco, CA. See her resume.
Laura Willard, LCSW, works with clients and families in the community health setting, many of whom are justice-referred or involved with the Department of Child and Family Services. She helps clients as they move through drug courts and other criminal justice involvement, and addresses issues of domestic violence, trauma, and substance abuse. She has also served as a crisis worker in a health care setting. She was first trained in Seeking Safety in 2014 and has been conducting it since then in group and individual treatment, intensive residential programs, and outpatient programs. She received her bachelor's degree in social work at Weber State University and her master's degree at the University of Utah. She is based in Ogden, Utah. See her resume.
Colette Meek Haslam, MSW, LCSW is a social worker at the University of Utah. She conducts substance use and mental health assessments, and facilitates referrals to treatment services primarily within the public system in Salt Lake County. She is also a member of an agency-wide committee devoted to promoting trauma-informed care. She began facilitating mixed-gender Seeking Safety groups in 2016 while working with substance abusing clients in an inpatient setting. She also has experience working with adults and adolescent substance users in inpatient and outpatient settings, and formerly worked for a Utah nonprofit serving women survivors of childhood sexual abuse where she trained with Dr. Najavits, Bessel Van der Kolk, and obtained EMDR training. She is a native of Edmonton, Canada and completed B.A. degrees in psychology and French at Arizona State University and an MSW at Brigham Young University, and is a former professional athlete. See her resume.
Viviana McGovern, MA, MFT & PCC has conducted Seeking Safety for years with adults, adolescents, and children, in both group and individual format. She received her masters degree in marriage and family therapy from Hope International University and has worked with diverse settings and populations including unaccompanied children in residential treatment; adolescents and adults in substance abuse residential treatment; and community mental health and private practice with couples and families. She has expertise in trauma, addiction, and motivational interviewing; and is bilingual in Spanish. She is based in Orange County in Southern California. See her resume.