Mental Health Issues of Child Maltreatment: Contemporary Strategies, Volume 2: Interventions & Intersectional Considerations & Applications

Paul Thomas Clements is a forensic psychiatric clinical specialist, a Certified Gang Specialist, and is Certified in the Danger Assessment. Practicing in the forensic nursing arena for over 30 years, Dr. Clements has provided consultation for hospital systems, EMTs, Child Protective Agency personnel, trauma/emergency nurses, psychiatric providers, and academic and corporate settings—each regarding vulnerability risk assessment, target-hardening, and decreasing the incidence of violence. Dr. Clements has provided consultation to public school systems and other child-related agencies related to child abuse assessment, and related to the aftermath of violence and/or violent death (including homicide of a child and gang-related deaths) for teachers and other classmates. Clements holds a Master’s degree in Child and Family Psychiatric/Mental Health Nursing and a Doctor of Philosophy in Forensic Psychiatric Nursing, both from the University of Pennsylvania, with research and practice that have surrounded the traumatic presentations and behaviors of children exposed to the homicide of a family member. Clements was inducted as a Distinguished Fellow in the International Association of Forensic Nurses in 2002, and was an inaugural Associate Editor of the Journal of Forensic Nursing from 2005-2012. Most recently, in 2021, he was inducted as the first Distinguished Fellow of the Academy of Forensic Nursing. Clements works as a Clinical Professor at the Center of Excellence in Forensic Nursing at Texas A & M University.

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David Solomon is an associate professor of psychology and the current director of the clinical psychology track of Western Carolina University’s Psychology MA program. He has multiple years of clinical experience working with children impacted by child maltreatment and other traumas through the National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center, Dee Norton Child Advocacy Center and Community Outreach Program – Esperanza (COPE) in Charleston, South Carolina, the Center for Children, Families, and Communities, and Shelterhouse of Midland and Gladwin Counties in Michigan. David focuses on exposing his students to evidence-based techniques, such as trauma-focused CBT and parent-child interact therapy, and his goal is to extend the reach of such treatments to underserved families.

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Ciera Schoonover is a licensed clinical psychologist and assistant professor of psychology at Middle Tennessee State University, where she serves as a member of the Clinical Psychology MA program faculty. She is certified as a Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) trainer and therapist. Ciera earned a dual master’s in social work and public health prior to earning a PhD in clinical psychology. Clinically, she has interests in prevention and intervention of child maltreatment, reducing the impact of trauma, disseminating evidence-based caregiving interventions, and increasing access of these interventions to underserved populations. She has provided assessment and intervention for children in state custody who experienced maltreatment and trauma, and interdisciplinary consultation for their systems through her work at Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s (VUMC) Center for Excellence for Children in State Custody. Currently, her primary role is mentoring graduate students through research and teaching. Ciera has numerous national and international conference presentations and publications on child maltreatment and trauma and disseminating evidence-based interventions.

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Dr. Barol has dedicated the past 44 years to serving and supporting people with Intellectual and Developmental Disability (IDD) who also have challenging behaviors and co-occurring mental health issues. She started out as a direct support worker and live-in “houseparent” and has served a community-based project director, residential program director, facility director and clinician. She served as the Clinical Director for the PA office of Developmental Program’s Statewide Training and Technical Assistance initiative focusing on individuals with dual diagnoses for 10 years. She has been working with Biographical timelines for over 30 years, and trained trainers in the process in Pennsylvania when she worked as the Clinical Director of the State-wide Training and Technical Assistance initiative, and through her consultation and training overseas. Her areas of special interest include: Positive Approaches with people with IDD and challenging behaviors including co-occurring mental illness, the effects of trauma, and neurological differences. She works on the behalf of these individuals through her clinical roles as well as through her experience in Group Process, Conflict Resolution, Partnership Building, Leadership Development, System Change, and Management. She is trained in EMDR, Biofeedback, and Neurofeedback and is integrating these modalities in her current teaching and clinical work. Dr Barol was the 2020 recipient of the NADD Earl L. Loschen, MD award for clinical practice. She is currently an Associate Professor at Widener University’s Center for Social Work Education and Associate Clinical Director of the Clinical Services for Vulnerable Adults clinic. She serves as co-Director of the Capacity Building Institute for Pennsylvania. Dr. Barol consults regularly in the U.S. and internationally.

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Soraya Seedat is the Professor of Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry (Faculty of Health Sciences) at Stellenbosch University (Cape Town, South Africa) and holds the South African Research Chair in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder from the Department of Science and Technology and National Research Foundation. In addition, she co-directs the Medical Research Council Unit on Anxiety and Stress Disorders. She has extensive research experience in the assessment and treatment of anxiety disorders, with a special interest in clinical and translational work in childhood and adult posttraumatic stress disorder. She has been the recipient of several awards including a World Federation of the Society of Biological Psychiatry Fellowship, a Lundbeck Institute Fellowship Award in Psychiatry, an MRC mid-career award, and an Anxiety Disorders Association of America Career Development Award. She has co-authored more than 180 peer reviewed journal articles and book chapters. She is the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Child and Adolescent Mental Health and a member of the editorial board of the journal AIDS Research and Treatment and the African Journal of Psychiatry.

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