Marjory Stoneman Douglas High Shooting – NSU Home to Experts for Media

Child & Adult Psychology Experts as well as National Expert on School Shooting Available to Media

Nova Southeastern University (NSU) is home to multiple experts who can provide insight and guidance related to the mass school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Below are brief bios on NSU’s experts:

 

MASS/SCHOOL SHOOTINGS

Scott Poland, Ed.D., a professor at Nova Southeastern University’s College of Psychology, is a nationally recognized expert on school crisis, youth violence, suicide intervention, self-injury, school safety, threat assessment, parenting and the delivery of psychological services in schools. He is a founding member of the National Emergency Assistance Team for the National Association of School Psychologists and serves as the Prevention Director for the American Association of Suicidology. He has led multiple national crisis teams following numerous school shootings and suicides and has assisted schools and communities after terrorism acts in New York, Washington, D.C. and Oklahoma. Poland served as the team leader of the crisis response team sent to Jefferson County Public Schools during the aftermath of the Columbine High School shootings. Dr. Poland has presented more than 1,000 workshops in all 50 states and has testified before Congress as a Subject Matter Expert.

 

 

CHILD AND ADULT PSYCHOLOGY/HOW TO COPE WITH TRAGEDIES

Child Psychology:

Ralph E. (Gene) Cash, Ph.D., ABPP, is a licensed and board certified (ABPP and NCSP) psychologist, professor in NSU’s College of Psychology. He is also the director of NSU’s School-related Psychological Assessment and Clinical Interventions clinic, former president of the Florida Association of School Psychologists (FASP), and former president of the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP). Dr. Cash is a past president of the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP); a former Florida representative to the NASP Delegate Assembly; and a former Southeast Regional Delegate Representative to the NASP Executive Council. His current research areas include suicide prevention, training of psychology students using simulated patients, fostering critical thinking in elementary school students, determining competencies necessary for doctoral level school psychologists, and assessing effects of public policy advocacy training on advocacy behaviors.

 

Jan Faust, Ph.D., is a professor at NSU’s College of Psychology. Her research interests include child-clinical and pediatric psychology; child abuse (sexual and physical) and neglect; child treatment outcome research; PTSD in children and adolescents; child adjustment to acute and chronic medical conditions; lifespan psychosis. She is the director of NSUs’ Child and Adolescent Traumatic Stress Program.  As such, she can address how to talk to your children about such tragedies. The NSU Child and Adolescent Traumatic Stress Program (CATSP) serves children exposed to traumatic or potentially traumatic stressors including all forms of child maltreatment, witnessing parent murder and domestic violence, exposure to natural disasters (e.g. hurricanes) and accidental injury death. In addition to the availability of services for children and adolescents, the families of these traumatized children may also obtain services. Family forensic services are available for children and their families who are divorcing or dissolving their parenting partnership.

 

Adult Psychology:

Steven Gold, Ph.D. is a professor in NSU’s Department of Clinical and School Psychology. His research interests and area of expertise are in the general area of psychological trauma, with a particular emphasis on posttraumatic stress disorder, dissociation, complex trauma, the psychological difficulties of adult survivors of prolonged child abuse (PCA), and hypnotherapy aimed at increasing trauma survivors’ coping, adaptive functioning, and resilience. He is director and founder (1990) of NSU’s Trauma Resolution & Integration Program (TRIP), which provides psychological services to adult survivors of all types of traumatic events, trains doctoral students in clinical practice with trauma survivors, and conducts ongoing research on trauma, dissociation, and related topics. The major form of treatment at TRIP for survivors of prolonged child abuse is Contextual Therapy, an approach developed by Dr. Gold that is based on the premise that most PCA survivors suffer not only from abuse traumatization, but also from growing up in circumstances that did not adequately transmit to them the intricate skills needed to effectively navigate the complexities of adult living.

 

FAMILY THERAPY/BRIEF THERAPY

Arlene Brett Gordon, Ph.D., is a licensed family therapist and adjunct faculty at Nova Southeastern University’s College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. As a family therapist, she is trained to work with people facing diverse challenges that affect their daily lives. She is the director of the Brief Therapy Institute (BTI), which includes NSU’s Family Therapy Clinic that provides counseling to individuals, couples, and families. She specializes in Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT), developed by Insoo Kim Berg and Steve de Shazer.

 

FAMILY THERAPY/TRAUMATOLOGIST

Kara S. Erolin, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Therapy at Nova Southeastern University’s College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences. She is a licensed marriage and family therapist, AAMFT Clinical Fellow, and AAMFT Approved Supervisor Candidate. She was visiting faculty at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas for three years and has held several adjunct positions using both online and classroom instructional formats.

 

FAMILY THERAPY/EQUINE THERAPY

Shelley K. Green, Ph.D., Professor of Family Therapy at Nova Southeastern University’s College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, has served as a faculty member at NSU since 1991. She previously taught at East Carolina University in the marriage and family therapy program (1989-1991). A graduate of Texas Tech University’s doctoral program in Family Therapy (1989), she is a Clinical Fellow with the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT) and a licensed family therapist in the state of Florida. Dr. Green served as the Director of the Doctoral Program in Family Therapy at NSU from 1996-2001, and was instrumental in the program achieving Candidacy Status with the Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education (COAMFTE) of the AAMFT. Active in clinical practice in the community, she serves as the co-director, with Dr. Douglas Flemons, of Context Consultants, Inc, where she specializes in working with couples regarding issues of sexuality and intimacy. Through the Equine-Assisted Family Therapy at NSU’s College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, she has introduced a relatively new method to students as a means to engage clients beyond an office.

 

FAMILY THERAPY/SUICIDE AND VIOLENCE PREVENTION

Douglas G. Flemons, Ph.D., LMFT is Professor of Family Therapy, Clinical Professor of Family Medicine, and Co-Director of the NSU Office of Suicide and Violence Prevention at Nova Southeastern University’s College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences. Author of books on writing (Writing Between the Lines), hypnosis and therapy (Of One Mind), psychotherapy and Eastern philosophy (Completing Distinctions), and suicide assessment (Relational Suicide Assessment, co-authored with Dr. Len Gralnik), he is also co-editor, with his wife and colleague, Dr. Shelley Green, of a book on brief sex therapy (Quickies). Dr. Flemons maintains a private practice in Fort Lauderdale and presents widely on hypnosis, psychotherapy, sexuality, suicide, writing, and other topics.

 

 

 

MEDIA CONTACTS

Julie Spechler, M.A. | Public Relations & Marketing Communications
(954) 262-5348 (office) | (954) 591-3361 (cell)
julies@nova.edu

Marla Oxenhandler | Public Relations & Marketing Communications
954-262-5315 (office) | 954-770-9204 (cell)
Marla.oxenhandler@nova.edu

 

 

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