About Us

What Is The Leadership Council?

The Leadership Council on Child Abuse & Interpersonal Violence (formerly the Leadership Council on Mental Health, Justice, and the Media) was founded in 1998 by professionals concerned with the treatment of victims of trauma, both in professional circles and by the legal system. We are a nonprofit independent scientific organization composed of respected scientists, clinicians, educators, legal scholars, and public policy analysts. Our mission is to promote the ethical application of psychological science to human welfare. We are committed to providing the public with accurate, research-based information about a variety of mental health issues and to preserving society’s commitment to protect its most vulnerable members.

Executive Officers

Directors

Advisory Board

Joyanna L. Silberg, PhD
Acting President, Coordinator, Trauma Disorders Services for Children, Sheppard Pratt Hospital, Baltimore, MD; Past President,
International Society for the Study of Dissociation.
Stephanie J. Dallam, RN, PhD
Secretary, Research Associate, Leadership Council; former Pediatric Surgery and Trauma Nurse Practitioner, University of
Missouri Health Sciences Center.
Phyllis T. Stien, RN, MSN
Treasurer, Supervising therapist and mental health consultant to early childhood education programs, Marquette, MI.

Ruth A. Blizard, PhD
Psychologist, Independent Practice, Vestal, NY
Robert Geffner, PhD, ABPN, ABPP
Founding President, Family Violence & Sexual Assault Institute; Founding President Institute on Violence, Abuse, and Trauma at Alliant International University, San Diego; Clinical Research Professor, Alliant International University.
Philip L. Kaplan, PhD
Psychologist Independent Practice, former Director of Psychology Service West Central Georgia Regional Hospital, Columbus, GA.
Toby Kleinman, Esq
Partner in law firm Adler & Kleinman in New Brunswick, NJ; Founder of the Center for Child Protection.
Alan W. Scheflin, JD, LLM, MA
Law Professor, Santa Clara University Law School, CA.

Dawn Alley, PhD
Director of the Public Policy and Community Relations Division at Alliant International University ‘s Institute on Violence, Abuse and Trauma; Adjunct Professor at Alliant International University, San Diego, CA.
James A. Chu, MD
Chief of Hospital Clinical Services, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA; Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, MA. David Clohessy, Director of SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests).
Christine Courtois, PhD
Psychologist, Private Practice, Washington, DC; Co-Founder and former Clinical and Training Director, The CENTER: Posttraumatic Disorders Program, The Psychatric Institute, Washington, DC.
Lisa DeMarni Cromer, PhD
Assistant Professor of Psychology, University of Tulsa, OK.
Constance Dalenberg, PhD
Professor of Psychology, Alliant University, California.
CoJean-Michel Darves-Bornoz, MD, PhD
Chief of Research, Psychobiologie des émotions, Université François-Rabelais, Tours, France.
Leah Dickstein, MD
Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Director of Attitudinal and Behavioral Medicine, University of Louisville School of Medicine, Louisville, KY.
Constance Dalenberg, PhD
Professor of Psychology, Alliant University, California.
Howard Dubowitz, MD, MS
Professor of Pediatrics; Chief, Division of Child Protection; Director, Center for Families, University of Maryland School of Medicine. Maryland, MD.
Richard Ducote, JD
Attorney at Law, New Orleans, LA.
Nancy S. Erickson, Esq
J.D. Brooklyn Law School , LL.M. Yale Law School, M.A. Forensic Psychology; former professor of law at New York Law School, Cornell, Ohio State, New York University, and Seton Hall Law School.
Lisa Fischel-Wolovick, JD, MSW
Mary Gail Frawley-O’Dea, PhD, Faculty and supervisor, North Carolina Institute for Clinical Pastoral Training; Clinical Psychologist and Psychoanalyst in private practice in Matthews, NC; Co-director Emeritus of the Manhattan Institute for Psychoanalysis.
Richard Gartner, PhD,
Clinical Psychologist and Psychoanalyst, the William Alanson White Psychoanalytic Institute in New York City.
David H. Gleaves, PhD
Department of Psychology, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand.
Judith H. Gold, MD, FRCP(C)
Psychiatrist, Halifax, Nova Scotia, CA.
Steven N. Gold, PhD
Professor, Center for Psychological Studies; Director, Trauma Resolution and Integration Program, Nova Southeastern University, Ft. Lauderdale, FL.
Seth L. Goldstein, JD
Executive Director, Child Abuse Forensic Institute, Napa, CA.
Hon. Sol Gothard, JD, MSW, ACSW
udge (retired) Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal, State of Louisiana, former chief judge for the Louisiana Jefferson Parish Juvenile Court, and a former faculty member for the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges.
Richard P. Kluft, MD, PhD
Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA.
Richard J. Loewenstein, MD
Medical Director of Trauma Disorders, Sheppard Pratt Health Systems, Baltimore, MD; Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD..
Herbert S. Lustig, MD
Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA; Distinguished Life Fellow, American Psychiatric Association Life Fellow, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
Joan Meier, Esq
Professor of Clinical Law and Director, Domestic Violence Legal Empowerment and Appeals Project (DV LEAP), George Washington University Law School.
Eli H. Newberger, MD
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School; Senior Associate in Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital; Former president, American Orthopsychiatric Association.
EEugenia Patru, MSW
Clinical and Forensic Social Worker, New Orleans.
Elizabeth Power, M.Ed
Training and Educational Consultant, E. Power & Associates, Franklin,Tennessee.
Frank W. Putnam, MD
Director of the Center for Safe and Healthy Children and Scientific Director of Every Child Succeeds at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital
Robert Pyles, MD
Clinical Instructor, Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, MA; Past President, Coalition for Patient Rights; former president, American Psychoanalytic Association.
Anna Salter, PhD
Consultant Wisconsin Department of Corrections; former faculty member of faculty of Dartmouth Medical School
Anna Scherzer, MD
Medical Director and Psychiatric Consultant, State of Arizona DES, Division of Developmental Disabilities; Private Practice in Psychiatry, Scottsdale, AZ.
Nancy B. Siegel, MSW
Private Consultant; Past Member Board of Directors, HC Sexual Assault Center; Past Chair, Howard County Council for Children and Youth, Columbia, MD.
Karen Shore, PhD
Founder and Past-President of the National Coalition of Mental Health Professionals and Consumers, Inc.
David Spiegel, MD
Professor and Associate Chair, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine; Medical Director, Complementary Medicine Clinic; Director, Psychosocial Treatment Lab, Stanford Health Services, Stanford, CA.
Geraldine Stahly, PhD
Social Psychologist, Professor, Department of Psychology, California State University, San Bernadino, CA.
Robert G. Stahl, Esq
Attorney in private practice in Law Offices of Robert G. Stahl, LLC. New Jersey. Former Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey.
Onno van der Hart, PhD
Professor, Department of Clinical Psychology, Utrecht University; Chief of Research, Cats-Polm Institute, Zeist, Netherlands.
Bessel A. van der Kolk, MD
Professor of Psychiatry, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA; Clinical Director of The Trauma Center, Human Resources Institute Hospital, Brookline, MA.
Frances S. Waters, MSW, DCSW, LMFT
Private Practice, Marquette, MI; Past President, International Society for the Study of Dissociation.
Charles L. Whitfield, MD, FASAM
Private Practice of Trauma Psychology and Addiction Medicine; Consultant at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, GA; Faculty Member, the Rutgers Institute on Alcohol Studies, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ (1978 to 2003).
Joan Zorza, JD
Editor of the Domestic Violence Report and founding editor of Sexual Assault Report, Legislative Chair, National Coalition Against Domestic Violence; Liaison, American Bar Association Commission on Domestic Violence; Former Senior Attorney, National Battered Women’s Law Project of the National Center on Women and Family Law.