Meet Our Team
Brian E. Bride, Ph.D., M.P.H., M.S.W.
Brian E. Bride is the Hill Crest Foundation Endowed Chair in Mental Health in the School of Social Work at the University of Alabama. His research has focused on the development, implementation, and evaluation of innovative programs and practices in the areas of mental health, substance misuse, and HIV prevention and intervention. Dr. Bride is particularly passionate about his research related to the mental health and well-being of the behavioral health and social services workforces. He is internationally recognized for his work on the conceptualization, measurement, and epidemiology of secondary traumatic stress. He is the developer of the Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale, which has been translated into more than two dozen languages. Dr. Bride has been named as one of the “world’s top 2% of scientists” and among the “top 50 global social work scholars.” His work has been featured in the Stanford Social Innovation Review, Newsweek, The Atlantic, and The Washington Post.
Karen Hangartner, LMSW
Karen Hangartner is Project Director for the Southern Regional Children’s Advocacy Center, a project of the National Children’s Advocacy Center (NCAC). The NCAC was the first Child Advocacy Center in the world, and continues to provide prevention and intervention services for child abuse victims in Huntsville/Madison County, AL. Ms. Hangartner holds a Masters in Social Work from The University of Alabama. She has been with the National Children’s Advocacy Center since 2003, spending four years in the Prevention department before beginning work with the Southern Regional Children’s Advocacy Center. As Project Director for SRCAC, Karen is responsible for developing and delivering training for Children’s Advocacy Centers and Multidisciplinary teams across 16 states and the District of Columbia. She has conducted more than 200 trainings for MDTs and CACs in the Southern region. She also presents at state, national and international conferences on a variety of topics including Secondary Traumatic Stress, Trauma Informed Multidisciplinary Teams, Team Functioning, and Leading in a Multidisciplinary Environment.
National Children's Advocacy Center
Alison Hendricks, LCSW
Alison Hendricks, LCSW, is a trainer and consultant who specializes in trauma-informed systems, secondary traumatic stress, and Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT). She is a National Trainer for TF-CBT and specializes in Culturally Modified TF-CBT with Latinx Children and Families. Alison is the lead author of four workbooks on TF-CBT, which have been widely disseminated and translated into multiple languages. She is co-author of the Child Welfare Trauma Training Toolkit (3rd Ed.), a product of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN). Alison is an Affiliate Member of the NCTSN and is Co-Chair of the Secondary Traumatic Stress Collaborative Group. She is also a consultant with the Secondary Traumatic Stress Innovations and Solutions Center. Alison worked with the Chadwick Center of Rady Children’s Hospital for nine years, first as a trauma therapist and then as Operations Manager of the Chadwick Trauma-Informed Systems Project. She currently provides training and consultation on TF-CBT, trauma-informed care, and secondary traumatic stress to programs across the country. Alison has presented at numerous conferences and has published several journal articles on a wide variety of topics related to childhood trauma and secondary traumatic stress. She graduated Summa Cum Laude with a BA in Psychology from Columbia University and completed her MSW at Hunter College School of Social Work. She lives in San Diego with her husband and daughter.
Françoise Mathieu, M.Ed., RP, CCC.
Françoise Mathieu is a Registered Psychotherapist and a compassion fatigue specialist. Her experience stems from over 25 years as a mental health professional, working as a crisis counsellor and trauma specialist in university counselling, military, law enforcement and other community mental health environments. Françoise is the Executive Director of TEND, whose aim is to offer consulting and training to helping professionals on topics related to secondary traumatic stress, burnout and organizational health. Since 2001, Françoise has given hundreds of presentations across North America to thousands of helping professionals in the fields of health care, child welfare, the criminal justice system and other similar high-stress, trauma-exposed professions. Françoise is the author of The Compassion Fatigue Workbook which was published by Routledge in 2012, as well as several articles and publications.
Dr. Ginny Sprang
Ginny Sprang, Ph.D., is a tenured professor in the College of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry at the University of Kentucky, and executive director of the UK Center on Trauma and Children. Dr. Sprang is a principal investigator of a Centers for Disease Control funded randomized control trial to prevent child sex trafficking in middle schools. She is also the Principal Investigator of the SAMHSA funded Category II Secondary Traumatic Stress Innovations and Solutions Center and former chair of the International Society of Traumatic Stress Studies Disaster and Terrorism Special Interest Group and Chair Emeritus of the Secondary Traumatic Stress Collaborative group for the National Child Traumatic Stress Network. She is member of the College of Medicine’s executive committee, and serves as a member of the Appointment, Promotion and Tenure Council for the Department of Psychiatry. Dr. Sprang has published extensively on topics such as child trauma, trauma informed care, the commercial sexual exploitation of minors, implementation and sustainability, disaster response and secondary traumatic stress. Her work involves the creation of translational tools, and the development, testing and implementation of evidence-based treatments and practices to treat those exposed to these traumatic experiences.
Cambria Rose Walsh, LCSW
Cambria Walsh is a Trauma-Informed Trainer and Consultant. She is a co-investigator on the University of Kentucky’s Secondary Traumatic Stress Innovations and Solutions Center, which is part of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN). She has been an associate with TEND Academy since 2016 and provides training to a wide range of audiences about Secondary Traumatic Stress and supporting agencies in developing organizational health. She previously worked for Chadwick Center for Children and Families at Rady Children’s Hospital where she was the Project Director of the Child Welfare Trauma-Informed Practices, Program and Policy Center - a Category II center in the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA). She helped co-author the Secondary Traumatic Stress in Child Welfare Practice: Trauma Informed Guidelines for Organizations. Cambria has been a member of the Secondary Traumatic Stress Consortium and since its inception in 2015.