22nd Annual Northern New England Conference on Child Maltreatment

Continuing the tradition of state-of-the-art, practical, and evidence-based education for all professionals working with abused and neglected children.

Speakers

Alexa Craig

Alexa Craig is a pediatric neurologist and clinical researcher whose work focuses on the treatment of seizures in newborns as a modifiable risk factor affecting developmental outcomes. She received a Masters in Science at Bath University in Health Psychology and an MD from the University of Vermont College of Medicine in 2006. She completed a pediatric residency at Maine Medical Center, an additional residency in Child Neurology at the University of Washington and Seattle Children’s Hospital, and a fellowship in Neonatal Neurology at Washington University. Dr. Craig’s primary research interest focus on the treatment of seizures in newborns as a modifiable risk factor affecting developmental outcomes. She is currently developing a research project which aims to assess the developmental impact of aggressive treatment of neonatal seizures. She is also collaborating with researchers at the University of New England to study motor movements in prematurely born infants and the early prediction of cerebral palsy.

Francine Garland Star

Francine Garland Star has worked to end domestic abuse and violence for over 30 years. Beginning her career in the movement to end domestic violence as a volunteer for Women Helping Battered Women in Burlington, VT, she served as the Community Response and Training Coordinator for Spruce Run Association in Bangor, Maine from 1986-2009 and as Executive Director of Hope and Justice Project in Aroostook County, Maine from 2009-2015. She is currently the Executive Director of the Maine Coalition to End Domestic Violence* (MCEDV) and serves on many statewide boards, including the Governor’s Commission on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, Maine’s Homicide Review Panel, the Justice Assistance Council, and the Victim Assistance Academy Advisory Council. Originally from Chapman, Maine, she is a graduate of Bates College, and served in the Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic. With extensive practical experience in the field, Francine has a deep understanding of the particular challenges to prevention and intervention in rural Maine.

Lisa Marchese

Lisa Marchese, Chief Criminal Division, Deputy Attorney General, received her BA degree in Political Science from the University of Maine at Orono. In 1986, she received her law degree from Franklin Pierce Law Center in Concord, New Hampshire. Following graduation, Lisa was hired to work in the Criminal Division of the Attorney General’s office. As a member of the Criminal Division, Lisa taught for many years at the Maine Criminal Justice Academy and handled extradition cases for several governors. She has prosecuted all types of criminal cases from OUI to welfare fraud to sexual assault to murder. For several years, Lisa served as the State’s first Statewide Drug Coordinator for drug prosecution matters. In 1997, Lisa became one of four statewide homicide prosecutors. In that capacity, she has handled over 100 cases involving murder or manslaughter charges. A substantial number of those cases have been complicated jury trials involving technical forensic evidence such as DNA, ballistics, fingerprints, pathology and state of mind. Lisa has chaired the Domestic Abuse Homicide Review panel for the past decade. This panel, which is legislatively mandated is a multidisciplinary group of individuals, including prosecutors, domestic abuse advocates, law enforcement, doctors and nurses, a psychologist, a judge and others who meet monthly to review all domestic violence related homicides in search of ways to reduce the number of people who die as a result of domestic abuse. In 2010, Lisa was awarded the prestigious Caroline Duby Glassman award by the Women’s Law Section of the Maine State Bar Association. In August of 2014, Attorney General Janet Mills named Lisa Chief of the Criminal Division. She is the first woman to serve in that capacity. In 2017, Governor LePage named Lisa to the University of Maine system Board of Trustees.

Courtney Goodwin

Courtney Goodwin, Esq. received her Bachelor of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies with a concentration in Political Science/Social Science from the University of Maine at Farmington and Juris Doctorate from the University of Maine School of Law. In 2013 she won the Upper Level Writing Project Award for her article “Aggravating Factors in Child Protection and the Need for Procedural Safeguards in Maine.” Following law school she worked for a law office located in Portland, Maine that specializes in immigration matters. She is now an Assistant Attorney General in the Child Protection Division of the Office of the Attorney General where she handles child protection proceedings in Lewiston and Rumford District Courts.

Dr. Lawrence R. Ricci

Dr. Lawrence R. Ricci is the Medical Director of the Spurwink Child Abuse Program and has been with the agency since 1994. He is one of only 350 pediatricians nationwide who are board certified in Child Abuse Pediatrics and the only one in the state of Maine. The Child Abuse Program is a multidisciplinary statewide referral center for Maine children. The program evaluates over 1,000 children and 250 adults annually for abuse concerns. Over the past 25 years, Dr. Ricci has evaluated and treated several thousand children impacted by violence, abuse, and neglect. He is on the consulting staff at Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital and is the Director of the Pediatric Advocacy Program and resident rotation. Dr. Ricci is also a Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at the Tufts Maine Medical Center College of Medicine.
Dr. Ricci has served on a number of state and national child abuse panels and is a former president of the Ray Helfer Society (2002-2004), an honorary society of several hundred physicians specializing in the care of abused children. He has developed numerous child abuse workshops throughout Maine and around the country; these have been presented to social workers, mental health professionals, legal professionals, and medical professionals. He frequently testifies in both civil and criminal court both in Maine and around the country and has published approximately 25 articles and book chapters in the field of child abuse evaluation and treatment.

Rochelle F. Hanson

Rochelle F. Hanson, Ph.D. is a Professor at the National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center, in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Medical University of South Carolina. Her research focuses on the dissemination and implementation of trauma-focused, evidence-based interventions. She is also interested in examining feasible and pragmatic ways to assess provider fidelity to evidence-based interventions, particularly as these relate to sustainability of implementation efforts in community practice settings. She has served as PI/Co-I on several related research and services grants funded by NIMH, Office for Victims of Crime, the Duke Endowment and SAMHSA. She is Principal Investigator for an NIMH-funded grant to test the effectiveness of learning collaboratives as a way to build and strengthen interprofessional relationships to sustain trauma-focused evidence-based interventions for youth and their families. She is also leading a new program to enhance integrated behavioral and physical health care for pediatric primary care patients and their caregivers who have experienced crime or other traumatic events. Dr. Hanson is a TFCBT certified national trainer and provides training both within and outside of the United States, as well as supervision and mentoring activities for psychology interns and postdoctoral fellows.

Sarah Labonte

Sarah Labonte, MSN, NPC-C, has been a nurse practitioner at the Spurwink Child Abuse Program since 2010. She has a bachelor’s degree in Nursing from Boston College and completed her master’s degree at the University of Southern Maine. She is nationally certified as a family nurse practitioner.  In addition to her position at Spurwink, Sarah also works as an RN at the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital at Maine Medical Center. When Sarah isn’t working she enjoys spending time with her husband Travis and their three dogs, two Brittanys and a Dalmatian.

8:00 AM  –  8:45 AM	Registration and Continental Breakfast
8:45 AM  –  9:00 AM	Introduction: Lawrence Ricci, MD & Eric Meyer, LCSW, MBA
9:00 AM  –  10:15 AM	Effective Screening for Trauma History & Trauma-Related Problems: Part 1 Participants will learn what traumatic stress is and why professionals working in many settings should be able to identify traumatized children and youth, and make effective referrals for assessment and treatment. Participants will learn to use specific, standardized tools and methods to do brief screening of children and adolescents for their histories of potentially traumatic events and common trauma-related difficulties. Common concerns by professionals the make them hesitate to ask children and youth about potentially traumatic events will be discussed.
10:15 AM  –  10:30 AM	Break with Refreshments
10:30 AM  –  11:45 AM	Effective Screening for Trauma History & Trauma-Related Problems: Part 2 Participants will learn what traumatic stress is and why professionals working in many settings should be able to identify traumatized children and youth, and make effective referrals for assessment and treatment. Participants will learn to use specific, standardized tools and methods to do brief screening of children and adolescents for their histories of potentially traumatic events and common trauma-related difficulties. Common concerns by professionals the make them hesitate to ask children and youth about potentially traumatic events will be discussed.
11:45 AM  –  1:00 PM	Lunch will be Served
1:00 PM  –  2:15 PM	Will we continue to ignore 15 million traumatized children? A call for innovation in MH services. Epidemiological research will be used to demonstrate that only approximately 10% of all abused and traumatized children and youth significantly improve on trauma-related problems in the current mental health system. Challenges and ideas for innovations in mental health interventions, service delivery structures and methods, the provider workforce, and the use of technology will be discussed in order to dramatically increase the reach of effective services.
2:15 PM  –  2:30 PM	Break with Refreshments
2:30 PM  –  3:45 PM	News You Can Use: Practice Implications of the Best Research from the Past Year. This workshop will identify 6-8 of the most important published research studies of the past year from the child abuse scientific literature. Methods and results of the studies will be presented and each will be reviewed from the perspective of clinicians and caseworkers working in community practice settings. The practical implications of the findings of the study for clinical and case management practice will be discussed.

Friday, October 13, 2017

8:00 AM  –  8:45 AM	Registration and Continental Breakfast
8:45 AM  –  9:45 AM	Introduction: Joyce Wientzen, LCSW & Eric Meyer, CEO, LCSW, MBA
9:00 AM  –  10:15 AM	The Impact of Domestic Abuse Homicide on Maine Children Domestic Abuse Homicide Review Panel members will discuss observations and recommendations they’ve gleaned from case reviews that reveal the impact on children as homicide victims and on surviving children of Maine’s domestic violence homicides. Speakers: Francine Garland Stark, Lisa Marchese
10:15 AM  –  10:30 AM	Break with Refreshments
10:30 AM  –  11:45 AM	Current Clinical Understanding of Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome in Maine This presentation will review the clinical presentation of babies affected by prenatal drug use. Speakers: Alexa Craig
11:45 AM  –  1:00 PM	Lunch served
1:00 PM  –  2:15 PM	Normal Sexual Abuse Exam: Proof or Not? In this presentation, the relevant aspects of the medical examination provided to children and adolescents when there are concerns of sexual abuse will be reviewed. Proper interpretations of examination findings in the context of the overall investigation will also be highlighted.
2:15 PM  –  2:30 PM	Break
2:30 PM  –  3:45 PM	Cognitive Errors and Biases in Child Abuse Decision Making This presentation will explore the various kinds of thinking errors, such as confirmation bias, anchoring, cultural bias, and premature closure that can adversely influence child abuse diagnostic assessments. Speakers: Larry Ricci

The Hilton Garden in Freeport has a block of rooms that can be reserved with mention of the conference.