Jessica Sisler
Jessica joined the Safe & Together team in February 2025. A passionate, empathetic, and results-driven marketing leader, Jessica has more than a decade of experience in brand management, digital marketing, content strategy, SEO, public relations, and leading cross-functional teams.
Throughout her career, Jessica has demonstrated success in creating meaningful connections between brands and consumers across a diverse range of industries. Jessica’s expertise lies not just in strategic marketing but also in the nuanced art of storytelling that turns casual consumers into loyal brand advocates.
Jessica thrives when leveraging her skills to support mission-driven organizations that make a positive impact and aims to bring more good into the world through her work.
Annie Dean
Annie joined as Chief Operating Officer at the Safe & Together Institute in November 2024. With 20+ years in operational leadership, she has been instrumental in leading teams tasked with large-scale change management and technology adoption. Her experience centers on technology-focused social enterprises, including Coursera, LinkedIn, and several startups across healthcare and workforce safety. Most recently, as CEO and co-founder of RecastSuccess, she built a profitable social enterprise focused on diversifying the customer success industry through career pathways for non-traditional candidates. She is passionate about improving worker satisfaction and safety for social service professionals.
Annie holds an Innovation Management & Entrepreneurship Master’s Certificate from HEC Paris and, as a native sign language speaker, brings unique perspectives on accessible communication and inclusive leadership. She has been part of four successful exits and serves as an advisor to several AI companies across EdTech and HealthTech.
Kimly Sills
Kimly, a 26-year child welfare veteran in Ontario, Canada, has been a passionate Safe & Together advocate since she discovered it seven years ago. Her journey began when she was tasked with supervising a specialized domestic violence protection team, developing the program and acting as the community liaison to improve relationships between Child Welfare and Violence Against Women sectors. Since that time, she introduced the Safe & Together™ Model to her agency and has grown the practice within by actively using it with every family impacted by domestic violence that she supervises. Kimly has dedicated her child welfare practice to becoming more domestic abuse–informed by coaching staff, supervisors, members of the legal department, and community partners to implement the Safe & Together principles, tools, and skills into their daily practice to improve outcomes for families and cross-system collaboration.
Kimly is bilingual and has worked in child welfare as a frontline worker, team supervisor, and program manager. Kimly’s experience as a supervisor/manager includes intake, clinical assessments, and ongoing family services, as well as working with foster families, children/youth in care, and public relations. She has been trained in the Signs of Safety (SOS), strength-based approach and guides staff to increase the implementation of SOS in their child welfare practice. Kimly understands first-hand the similarities and differences between the two models (SOS and S&T) and how they can work together clinically to reach optimum results in child, survivor, and/or worker safety, as well as increased engagement with fathers in a child welfare system.
Kimly also runs her own private practice as a clinical social worker providing individual and couples therapy. She specializes in working with individuals impacted by domestic violence, including survivors, family/friends trying to support them, and perpetrators motivated to make better, non-violent/controlling choices.
Rebecca Kalitz
Rebecca’s journey with the Safe & Together Institute began in 2024. Rebecca brings a solid educational foundation to her role with a Bachelor of Science in Finance and Investments from West Chester University and a Master of Science degree from Wilmington University. Prior to her tenure at Safe & Together, Rebecca served as the Director of Finance and IT for an entertainment attraction. While finance serves as the cornerstone of her expertise, Rebecca’s journey has ventured into the domains of information technology and human resources. She has cultivated a well-rounded skill set that uniquely positions her as a catalyst for progress within the Safe & Together Institute. At the heart of Rebecca’s approach lies a commitment to partnership and ensuring that business growth remains intertwined with organizational mission and goals. Her inclusive mindset is at the core of balanced decision-making.
Christine leads the Finance Team for Safe & Together since her joining in 2023. She has over 20 years of cumulative experience in the areas of finance and business, and change management. Christine is a certified Executive Coach from the Institute of Leadership at United Kingdom. She brings her experience of working in leadership coaching, management training and human resources to her work practice, along with her passion for a mindfulness-based approach. Having qualified in Computer Studies, she also has a wide-ranging experience of technology gained during her tenure in the technology arena.
Jackie Wruck
Jackie has been a Safe & Together Certified Trainer in Australia since 2017, which led her to eventually join the Safe & Together Institute staff as the Asia Pacific Regional Manager. Jackie lives in Queensland, Australia, and has been working within the community sector for over 20 years. This included working within government and non-government agencies that worked with vulnerable individuals and families in Australia.
Jackie has worked in the fields of child protection and domestic violence as a frontline practitioner in both advocating and crisis support of families. She has also worked in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organizations as a domestic violence specialist and would consult on cases that involved Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families. Jackie has the lived experience, knowledge, and understanding of the issue of domestic and family violence in the context of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families and was the cultural lead for the Walking With Dads program, which is grounded in the Safe & Together Model. Jackie has assisted in bringing both Safe & Together and the Child Protection Child Placement Principles framework together to enhance the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families in Australia to assist in keeping Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children out of the child protection system.
In addition to training on the Safe & Together Model, Jackie continued to use the Safe & Together Model directly with families as a child protection professional, coaching and consulting on cases with domestic violence. She continues to be committed to the safety and well-being of children and families through practice changes through the Safe & Together Model.
Jackie represents, assists, and supports Safe & Together Institute in the development and implementation of the model across Australia and Asia Pacific regions.
Donna Dukes
Donna joined the Safe & Together Institute in December 2022. She comes to us with a combination of both corporate and nonprofit experience. Previously, Donna held training coordinator positions in the financial sector with the Vanguard Group and Training The Street. In the nonprofit sector, she was dedicated to community service, both professionally and personally. As the training manager for United Way of Central Carolinas, she managed a leadership development program. Volunteering in her spare time, she became an integral part of domestic violence awareness, advocacy, and training. Appointed by the City Council and the Board of County Commissioners, she previously served two years as the Chair of the Domestic Violence Advisory Board in Charlotte, NC.
Donna holds a master’s degree in health and human performance and a bachelor’s degree in organizational communications. Donna has received the Volunteer of The Year award from United Family Services and a Commendation Award from the chief of the Charlotte Mecklenburg County Police Department and has had several appearances on local television. Academically, she consistently made the Dean’s List; was inducted into Lambda Pi Eta, the National Communication Association Honor Society; and was recognized by the North Carolina State Senate for her academic achievements. With a sense of humor and a lot of inspiration, Donna loves bringing joy and hope to others.
Nicola (Nic) Douglas
Nicola has 18 years of experience in the field of domestic abuse. Her passion for the issue began when she was an undergraduate, volunteering in a homeless hostel and working with women made homeless as they fled abuse. She went on to work as a frontline practitioner in a range of settings, including refuge and outreach as an Independent Domestic Violence Advisor (IDVA) and Independent Sexual Violence Advisor (ISVA).
Nicola’s interest lies in systems change, and she moved into strategic roles, successfully implementing programs to improve domestic abuse outcomes within social care, police, and the ambulance service. Nicola spent four years at Standing Together Against Domestic Abuse in the UK, with and alongside partners, to improve the way that systems respond to domestic abuse. This included leading a team of coordinators working in healthcare and child protection settings as well as developing a health-based accreditation scheme. Most recently, Nicola completed her Master’s in Criminology and Criminal Justice, achieving a distinction and award for best dissertation, which focused on the impact of the Domestic Abuse Act on strategic partnerships in the UK.
Kay Stevenson
Coming off of an employment history of managing several small businesses in Connecticut and enjoying the growth and expansion process, Kay is a founding employee of Safe & Together Institute, having started with David in 2006. Now overseeing finance, human resources and technology, Kay balances her commitment to the company’s growth with hobbies of gardening and novel writing.
Mandy Rousselle
Mandy joined the Safe and Together Institute in February 2022 as a bookkeeper. She studied early childhood development at the University of Maryland European Division in Germany. Prior to working for Safe & Together, Mandy did bookkeeping, customer service coaching, and admin support and managed a transportation charity in Canada for several years.
Janet Penza
Janet joined the Safe & Together Institute in 2022. She has a long history of supporting executives to achieve their goals.
Kim Jurgens
Kim started at the Safe & Together Institute in November 2021. She holds a diploma in business (Australia) and hotel management (South Africa). She began her career in South Africa working for a leading hotel chain in Event Management–Food and Beverage. She has lived and worked in South Africa, Australia, Singapore, Oman, and the United States and has worked in both the private sector on large-scale events globally—including Hong Kong, Malacca, Zambia, Mozambique, and the United States. Kim then began working in a project management capacity for the not-for-profit sector in Australia (Australian Institute of Management). Kim has a strong commitment to her community and has volunteered in suicide prevention in Australia and animal welfare in both South Africa and the United States.
As the Training Delivery Project Administrator, Kim provides logistic support to United Kingdom, United States, and Australia client leads. She maintains the training calendar, is a point of contact for clients and faculty alike, and is responsible for client correspondence once training dates have been confirmed.
Dorothy Striker
Dorothy has over 25 years of professional experience in the field of child welfare and domestic violence. In a career that has spanned from frontline casework to policy and program development, Dorothy has been involved in major family violence and differential response initiatives. Her areas of expertise include individual and family assessment, structured decision-making and risk assessment, CAPTA-related policy, practice model development, and quality assurance case reviews. Dorothy has also participated in various levels of all three of the federal Child and Family Services Reviews in Ohio. As a Safe & Together Certified Trainer since 2010, she has provided multi-day training and case consultations in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia.
Casie Burke, MSEd, PC
Casie has been a Safe & Together Certified Trainer since 2012. She has experience training and working with child welfare agencies as well as other community partners who support child welfare agencies (schools, domestic violence advocates, law enforcement, and mental health/substance abuse counselors). She has over 10 years of experience working directly in child welfare, holding various positions including intake and assessment, visitation, parent education, and supervisor.
Casie has provided consultation services within agencies surrounding the Safe & Together Model to staff, caseworkers, and management. She participated in the National Quality Improvement Center on Child Welfare Involved Families Experiencing Domestic Violence Listening Tour, where she could voice the current state of conditions and challenges and the potential direction for future research, investments and interventions. Casie is committed to providing training and support to professionals working with families and children surrounding the intersection of child welfare and domestic violence.
Beth Ann Morhardt
Beth Ann is an experienced domestic violence advocate, program director, consultant, and facilitator, with decades of rapport and relationship building with clients, colleagues, and collaborators. Through curricula development and training facilitation, Beth Ann has developed a reputation for authentic and soul-based work that enhances human-centered practice. Currently, Beth Ann consults as faculty with the Safe & Together Institute, providing domestic abuse–informed professional development for national and international agencies seeking to improve how services are provided to families living with the impacts of a pattern of coercive control.
Beth Ann is also the founder of Indeed It Is Time, a holistic professional development practice rooted in the experience-based certainty that it is Sacred in the System. This philosophical shifting and skill-based practice combines empathy, authenticity, and creativity with professional, concrete tools and skills to strengthen collaboration, encourage individual empowerment, and increase collective thriving. At the core of this practice is the proven concept that vulnerability is not the opposite of strength—it is the very foundation of strength that leads to deeper success for individuals, families, agencies, and communities. In both Indeed It Is Time and Safe & Together sessions, creating an authentic, safe, and mutually beneficial learning environment is always the priority. The confidence and contentment of professionals seeking knowledge and skills are prioritized equally with the broader goal of contributing to safer families and communities.
Danielle Martin, MSW
Danielle has more than 20 years of experience working with children and families within child welfare, early childhood development, and domestic violence settings. Her work with at-risk children and families has involved direct service provision, management, and administration. She initiated her career in the field of domestic violence creating new programming, advocating for additional services, and improving collaboration at a local level. With master’s degree in social work with an emphasis on child welfare, she served on the Michigan Governor’s task force for the prevention of child sexual abuse as a departmental representative.
Danielle’s focus has been on the provision of trauma-informed care for families and children experiencing child welfare intervention. She has worked closely with community partners to integrate trauma information and practices into schools, mental health, child welfare, and residential communities. Danielle has received the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Best Practice Award for her leadership in the development of local child trauma assessment programming.
She has trained the Safe & Together Model in Michigan and beyond since 2015.
Sarah L. Heuser
Sarah has nearly 25 years of experience working in the domestic and sexual violence field. Her roots are in direct service work with survivors in grassroots service agencies focused on crisis intervention, counseling, advocacy, outreach, support, and program development. She also has substantial experience in training, prevention, and awareness efforts and has worked with a broad spectrum of groups ranging from high school and college students to athletes, domestic violence advocates, child welfare, law enforcement, and the judiciary. Sarah has also served on multiple task forces and workgroups in Michigan to address policy issues.
A substantial focus of Sarah’s work has been on the intersection of domestic abuse and child welfare. Sarah was an early advocate for integrating the Safe & Together Model to Michigan and became a Certified Trainer for the Safe & Together Institute in 2015. Sarah has trained on the Model across the United States and in Scotland.
Lisa Fleischer, MSW, LSW
Lisa began her career in child welfare in 2003. She has served in the role of caseworker and supervisor, working long-term with families as well as supervising an Intimate Partner Violence (IPV)/Alternative Response (AR) Unit. Lisa has also been training on the Safe & Together Model since 2010.
Lisa previously worked as a social worker in an emergency room at a local hospital and a community instructor at the Ohio State University’s College of Social Work. She has a Master of Social Work and is a licensed social worker.
Lórien Castelle
Lórien has been an activist and advocate for social justice focusing on ending gender-based violence for over two decades. She has had the honor of working with several national organizations across the United States including work as a trainer for the National Center on Domestic Violence, a prevention consultant to the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence, a trainer and consultant for Major League Baseball (MLB), and currently for the Safe & Together Institute.
While working as the Director of Prevention for the New York State Coalition Against Domestic Violence, she was responsible for promoting best practices for preventing and responding to domestic violence and coordinating diverse stakeholders to design and implement community, regional, and state-level initiatives. She also worked with the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence to launch a statewide prevention initiative.
Lórien brings a wealth of experience with coaching, support, and training to both domestic violence programs and allies. She has specialized experience with community organizing, organizational development, and prevention strategies. In addition, Lórien has served on numerous national, statewide, and regional committees and is a sought-after trainer, meeting facilitator, and keynote speaker.
Rhonda Dagg, BSc, BSW
Rhonda has over 25 years of experience working in the child welfare field in a variety of roles including frontline worker, supervisor and business analyst. In her current role as a program specialist, Rhonda is a passionate advocate for families affected by domestic violence and a strong supporter of staff who work with these families. Rhonda has utilized the Safe & Together Model in her work since 2014, writing policies, coaching, and mentoring staff, and trains internationally for the Safe & Together Institute. In her personal time, she also creates educational material and videos for the community on gender-based violence and prevention.
Kristi Burre, MA
Kristi began her professional career over 20 years ago in local and state government, community partnerships, and system transformation. Most recently, she served as the Director of Children’s Initiatives for Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, focusing on child well-being and driving improvements with communication and coordination across all state agencies providing services to children and families. In this role, she prioritized system enhancements and advancing policy with early childhood education, early intervention and prevention services, maternal and infant health, child physical and mental health, and children services. Kristi has vast experience collaborating with local, state, federal, and private sector partners to align efforts and investments to have the largest possible impact on improving outcomes for children, families, and communities.
Kristi has worked extensively in the child protection and foster care system in the capacities of caseworker, supervisor, manager, and director. In addition to her public service work, she has held various roles teaching, training, and coaching for the last 22 years, including as a social and behavioral sciences adjunct instructor at Columbus State Community College and a trainer and executive coach with the Ohio Child Welfare Training Program.
Kristi has been a Safe & Together Institute Senior Faculty and Certified Trainer since 2011 and is committed to guiding child and family serving agencies to become more domestic abuse–informed. She has trained professionals in North America, Australia, and the United Kingdom from various disciplines, including child protection, domestic violence advocacy, law enforcement, education, behavioral health, juvenile justice, healthcare, and the legal community. She also coaches and mentors professionals from across the world involved with the Safe & Together Trainer Certification Program and observes training sessions for evaluation, feedback, and approval for certification.
Additional leadership roles have included chairing the Ohio Governor’s Children Services Transformation Advisory Council and Eliminating Racial Disparities in Infant Mortality Task Force. Kristi has also held leadership positions and appointments for many other state and local entities committed to protecting children and strengthening families, including the Alcohol, Drug Addiction, and Mental Health Board; Ohio Children’s Trust Fund Regional Prevention Council; Ohio Intimate Partner Violence Collaborative; and Ohio Early Childhood Advisory Council. She holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology, criminology, and psychology from Capital University and a master’s degree in sociology from Ohio University.
Ashley Bowers, MSW, LSW
Ashley has been a Certified Trainer with the Safe & Together Institute since 2012. She facilitates training and consultation services around the Safe & Together Model for child welfare professionals. Ashley is a licensed social worker who has worked throughout the child welfare field for over a decade. She has worked as a child welfare intake supervisor in both intake and ongoing departments.
In addition to training on the Safe & Together Model, Ashley has utilized the Model directly with families as a child welfare professional, coaching and consulting on cases with domestic violence. She continues to be committed to the safety and wellbeing of children and families through practice changes through the Safe & Together Model.
Kari Akins
With 20 years of experience in the child welfare system, Kari has served in multiple capacities including screening, intake and assessment for direct service, and community response and outreach at an administrative level. Kari is currently the Assistant Deputy Director of the Office of Families and Children at the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services responsible for state-level administration and oversight of child and adult protective services. Prior to this position, Kari was appointed to the Office of Children Services Transformation leading children services and foster care efforts in Ohio.
Kari’s work has emphasized community collaboration and education regarding child maltreatment and trauma, the intersection of domestic violence and child welfare practice, and coaching/supervision in child welfare. In 2010, Kari began her work with the Safe & Together Model as part of a pilot county in a statewide rollout of the Model, allowing her to be at the forefront of this practice in her state. Kari has served as an advocate on numerous local and state-level workgroups to address best practice policy around Intimate Partner Violence while providing education and training at the state and national level as a faculty member for the Safe & Together Institute.
Alison Simari
Alison joined the Safe & Together Institute in August 2021 as an Administrative Assistant for the Trainer Certification Program. Prior to this, she provided almost a decade of support to the Certified Trainer community at the Center for Nonviolent Communication in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Alison thrives in an environment where she can support the work of those positively impacting the world for the greater good. She is thrilled to be part of Safe & Together’s mission to be an agent of systemic change in the domestic violence field.
Minh-Chau Truong
Minh-Chau has been with the Safe & Together Institute since June of 2021 as the Virtual Academy Customer Experience Specialist. Her time with eLearning in the non-profit sector, with patients experiencing chronic pain and illness, and 15 years of customer service, back her lifelong goal of helping individuals pursue personal sustainability. Her goal at the Institute is to make the online learning process as easy as possible so that learners can focus on what matters most: maintaining themselves and peace at home.
Colleen Jameson
Colleen has 20 years of experience working at the intersection of mental health, domestic abuse, and education. She has worked as an educator and advocate in domestic violence shelters, teen safe houses, residential programs for at-risk youth, and programs for adults with disabilities.
For the past 10 years, Colleen has worked in rural Mississippi with children and families impacted by mental health. She serves on the inaugural Board of the domestic violence shelter in Oxford, Mississippi. In 2010, she authored a curriculum that was awarded an Iowa Women’s Foundation grant for implementation statewide. Colleen is passionate about making tools that equip individuals to be agents of positive change in the systems where they work and live.
Lindberg Chambliss
Lindberg joined Safe & Together Institute in June 2021 as Events Logistics Administrator. His professional career includes over fifteen years of experience in live music event coordination and marketing, artist management, and tour logistics. As an activist with a focus on equity for youth and equity through education, he volunteers with the Big Brothers Big Sisters program, and participates in projects that advocate for systemic and equitable policy change in K-12 education. Lindberg is passionate about social justice, personal growth, love, art, and adventure.
Jacob Linzenbold
Jacob has been with the Safe & Together Institute since March 2021. He works across the organization with each department to ensure that each team is on the same page and best serving survivors and advocates.
Jacob graduated from Penn State University and has been involved with several startup companies, giving him the skill set necessary to help with the different aspects of the organization. Jacob excels in providing mentorship and advice to prospective business founders and enjoys teaching students. In his spare time, he enjoys going on adventures and exploring nature with his fiancée and their dog.
Dana Schmersal, MSW – Resource Development Specialist
Dana Schmersal has been involved in child and family policy and programs for nine years, most recently managing Safe & Together trainings for child welfare staff across the state of Ohio. She has worked directly with families impacted by the juvenile justice system, provided training for child support staff working with families impacted by domestic violence, advocated for women’s reproductive rights, and served as communications director for a state and federal child advocacy organization and taught as an adjunct professor for the Interdisciplinary Child Welfare Institute at Capital University Law School. Currently, she is a member of the Institute’s Resource Development Team and coordinates the certified trainer mentoring program. She has completed both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in social work as well as a B.A. in criminal justice and has made advocacy for vulnerable populations and improvements in community and system responses the focus of her macro practice.
Peju Thompson
Peju has been with the Safe & Together Institute since July 2020 providing international accounting support for Safe & Together Institute’s business overseas.
Peju holds a bachelor’s degree in English literature from Rutgers University and a master’s degree in accounting from Fairleigh Dickinson University. Prior to working for Safe & Together, Peju was a staff accountant for both a mid-size CPA firm and in city government. In addition to her diverse professional experience, she enjoys working with people and endeavors to always positively impact others.
Leah K. Vejzović, LMSW
Leah has been working as a social worker in the fields of child welfare and domestic violence victim advocacy since 2007. She has experience as a child welfare services provider, a domestic and sexual assault victim advocate, a therapist specializing in work with adult and child survivors and perpetrators, a men’s behavior change program facilitator, and the coordinator of domestic violence training and response for the Department of Health & Human Services in Iowa.
Leah first became connected to the Safe & Together Institute during her tenure as state coordinator when she helped facilitate the implementation of the Safe & Together Model across Iowa. She came on board in 2020 as a resource development specialist, creating domestic abuse–informed curriculum, eLearning, and practice tools. She also worked to coordinate programming for the Institute’s events. Leah is passionate about equipping professionals with the tools they need to do effective work with families and engage in larger agency and systems change.
Ingryd Flores
Ingryd commenced her tenure at the Safe & Together Institute in June 2019. With a background in social behavioral science, she furthered her education by obtaining a bachelor’s degree in English with a minor in history from the University of California, Irvine. She also possesses fluent speaking, writing, and reading skills in Spanish.
Her professional journey began at the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO), where she contributed to a national leadership program aimed at supporting and training Latino elected and appointed officials on pertinent issues. Here, she developed a passion for empowering the Latino community towards naturalization and active civic engagement. Concurrently pursuing her education, she earned a paralegal diploma and subsequently served in roles focused on criminal and immigration law, conducting comprehensive research on various legal matters.
Ingryd’s conviction in the transformative power of education is evident in her role as a per diem substitute teacher, where she fosters a positive learning atmosphere and nurtures students’ desire for knowledge.
Currently serving as the TCP and Technology Administrator, Ingryd delivers top-tier technological support, demonstrating adeptness in managing event registrations and facilitating pre- and post-event evaluations with finesse. She prioritizes effective communication with learners and participants, ensuring their comfort and engagement throughout online courses and event proceedings.
Shelly Napoletano Flynn, MSW
Shelly began at the Safe & Together Institute in July 2018 as the Trainer Certification Program Manager overseeing the Institute’s Certified Trainer Expansion. Shelly’s professional career includes over 20 years of experience in the field of child welfare with a dual focus on direct practice with children and families and systems-level social work practice. With the focus on children birth through age eight and their families, her career spanned direct service, case management, and administration, which included intersections with statutory child protection, juvenile and family courts, mental health, substance abuse, domestic violence, and local crisis response teams.
Shelly’s experience in systems-level practice involved projects such as the evaluation and development of a community’s local capacity to holistically serve its at-risk population of children and families. Additionally, she evaluated and reported on the statewide supervision practices of Connecticut’s certified school social workers. As a result of this research, Shelly served on the State of Connecticut Department of Education’s task force to develop and implement properly aligned and discipline-specific evaluation standards for school-based social workers in Connecticut. Additionally, her work in systems practice led to the honor of being invited to present on local capacity development of a Birth Through Age Eight Children and Family Initiative to the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), a division of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services in Washington DC.
Anna Mitchell
Anna’s interest in women’s issues began when she studied for a degree in geography with gender studies at Edinburgh University in 1996. After working in various women’s organizations, she went on to gain her master’s degree in social work and began to think about the importance of engaging with men who abuse in order to increase the safety of women and children. She worked as a women’s service worker with the Caledonian System—an integrated approach to addressing domestic abuse combining a court-ordered program for men, aimed at changing their behavior, with support services for women and children. Anna co-authored the Caledonian System Women’s Service Manual and was seconded to the Equality Unit in the Scottish Government as a professional advisor to support the roll-out of this innovative system across Scotland.
Since 2012, she has been employed as Domestic Abuse Lead Officer for Edinburgh’s Public Protection Partnership with the remit to help coordinate domestic abuse services across the council, police, health, and the voluntary sector. Anna has completed a postgraduate diploma in public services leadership and led a number of initiatives in Edinburgh to improve systemic responses, not only to adult and child victims but to domestic abuse perpetrators, including the development of auditing tools, improvement plans, service pathways, policies, and training.
Ruth Reymundo Mandel
As co-owner of the Safe & Together Institute and a lived experience expert, Ruth leads the design of digital resources and tools that transform domestic abuse–informed practice into accessible solutions. Drawing from her personal experience with religious institutional abuse, she brings a crucial survivor and cultural perspective to product development, creating user-centric digital tools that bridge the gap between domestic abuse intervention frameworks and real-world implementation. Ruth specializes in developing solutions that make domestic abuse–informed practice more accessible to global social care systems and their users. Her approach to product development is deeply informed by lived experience, ensuring solutions effectively support those experiencing domestic abuse while dismantling systemic barriers through accessible design.
Ruth’s career spans over 25 years, beginning as a middle school teacher in post-revolutionary Nicaragua in 1995, where she developed a foundational understanding of social justice and violence prevention. Her journey includes roles as Assistant Director of Admissions at the Bryman School and the Art Institute of Phoenix, helping learners overcome educational barriers. After focusing on raising her three children, she worked as a sales-based trainer and implementation specialist, translating complex holistic medical treatment methodologies into highly regulated practice frameworks. As a professional business coach and graduate of the Business Finishing School, Ruth specialized in system optimization and practice management, developing expertise in resolving operational bottlenecks and implementation barriers to complex treatment plans. Her human-centered approach consistently delivers meaningful outcomes while maintaining focus on end-user needs and impact.
Ruth is also a published poet, visual artist, writer, and public speaker. She remains dedicated to creating digital solutions that help survivors and allies understand the patterns of abuse and trauma responses while addressing systemic barriers to effective practice through technology. Her unique combination of lived experience and professional expertise makes her particularly effective in designing domestic abuse–informed digital tools that serve both practitioners and survivors.
Brittany DiBella, MSW, DVS
Brittany DiBella has been with the Safe & Together Institute since 2015. Brittany has extensive experience developing curricula, e-learning content, and resources, as well as with providing consultation and training facilitation on the Safe & Together™ Model for a wide range of family-serving professionals. Brittany has over 10 years of experience in the field of domestic violence work including research and evaluation of New Jersey’s co-located advocate program; educating advocates, child welfare professionals and social work students on issues related to violence against women and children; direct-practice experience with survivors of trauma and interpersonal violence and work with adolescents impacted by violence. Brittany also served on New Jersey’s Child Fatality Review Board in 2017, is certified in Violence Against Women & Children from Rutgers University School of Social Work and is certified in New Jersey as a Domestic Violence Specialist.
Heidi Rankin, MPA – Associate Director
Heidi has over 30 years of experience in the sexual and domestic violence fields and social justice. She has worked in crisis counseling, program and policy development and advocacy in both the United States and Canada. Heidi received a Master’s in Public Administration with a concentration in domestic violence from the University of Colorado at Denver, the only program of its kind in the country. In her current role as Associate Director and North American Lead, she helps agencies navigate plans for systems change and supports efforts to build capacity through training and collaboration. Heidi also oversees the Institute training staff, faculty and mentors, manages training for Certified Trainers and presents nationally and internationally.
David Mandel, MA, LPC
With over 35 years of experience in the domestic violence and child welfare fields, David is the creator of the Safe & Together Model, a transformational approach to changing how systems and practitioners respond to domestic abuse when children are involved. He has identified how a perpetrator pattern–based approach can improve the ability to partner with survivors, intervene with perpetrators as parents, and improve outcomes for children.
David is the founder of the Safe & Together Institute, which works with governments and NGOs across the globe, including North America, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Japan, the United Kingdom, and Europe. Through their live training, organizational consulting, e-learning, and trainer certification, the Safe & Together Institute provides organizations and systems with a wide range of practice change tools. The Model has proven its relevance to multiple sectors, including family court, substance use, law enforcement, mental health, multi-agency efforts, and other disciplines.
David has written or co-written numerous journal articles, book chapters, and position papers, including his most recent one on the alignment of the Safe & Together Model with the children’s best interest framework. The Institute’s work is regularly the subject of research studies, including a current project examining the relevance of the Model in a First Nation context in Australia. He has just published his first book, Stop Blaming Mothers and Ignoring Fathers: How to Transform the Way We Keep Children Safe from Domestic Violence, which is available online through Amazon.com.
