New Associates Orientation Meeting
Day 2, Lunch Session: Overview, Discussion Prompts, Proposed JOD Associates

Overview and Purpose 
This working lunch features several individuals who have been involved in Vera’s Judicial Demonstration Oversight Initiative (JOD) as associates and technical assistance recipients. The purpose of this panel discussion is for new associates to learn about the experience of being an associate and receiving technical assistance using Vera’s model from individuals directly involved in similar efforts.

Discussion Prompts
In general, we’d like the panel guests to share with the new associates their experiences as an associate and/or recipient of technical assistance.  Some of the questions we would like them to respond to in this panel format include the following:
 
* What types of work did you do for Vera as an associate? 
* How often were you asked to work with Vera? 
* Did you have to rethink or retool the way in which you traditionally approached providing TA and training to follow Vera’s model?
* What did you like best about being an associate? What challenges did you experience as an associate? 
* In what ways did Vera support you in carrying out TA and training activities?  What did you find most helpful?
* What advice can you offer to the new associates? 

Invited Associates
Based on the high quality and varied assistance that the following individuals have provided JOD grantees and other communities interested in the work of JOD, they will take part in this discussion. 

1.  Scott H. Gibson (JOD Associate)
Sergeant Scott Gibson is the coordinator of the City of Alexandria Police Department's Domestic Violence Unit in Virginia. He supervises those employees who handle the worst domestic violence, domestic assault and battery, stalking, and other domestic relationship cases. The patrol divisions initially handle the majority of the cases; Sergeant Gibson's unit works on the more difficult cases. He has been the Department's liaison with the city's Domestic Violence Coordinating Council (Domestic Violence Intervention Project or DVIP) for the past ten years. The group meets monthly and is in daily contact, monitoring the system and cases as victims go through the criminal justice system. As a group they write grants, hire employees, and speak at city council meetings.

One of their new employees is a social worker hired through a V-STOP grant. Sergeant Gibson often takes her to the homes of reluctant victims to talk with them before their case goes to court. In Alexandria, cases go to trial two weeks from the date of arrest. Sergeant Gibson and his unit are involved in mediation between parties, and have worked on relocation of one party, property removal, gun ownership, children issues and childcare. He often refers persons in these situations to those who provide follow up care, such as the shelter, for assistance.

Because of the small number of persons in the Domestic Violence Unit, Sergeant Gibson also handles cases. He is the Police Department's contact person for media and any other questions for domestic related cases, questions or problems. He also trains all personnel in the Department and assists with citywide training in domestic violence issues, as well as a training program for the statewide training of policy makers in such issues. He has proposed and is currently proposing new and changed legislation in domestic violence issued for the state. In recent years, he has lobbied and brought about the amendment of several laws. 

Sergeant Gibson has also helped other departments and jurisdictions set up coordinating councils, write directives, and train their employees. He has recently helped the Department of Justice, Violence Against Women Grants Office and the International Associations of Chiefs of Police in writing a law enforcement officer's guide to enforcing orders of protection nationwide.


2.  James E. Henderson (JOD TA Recipient and Best Practices Disseminator)
Mr. Henderson is a probation officer responsible for overseeing the policies and practices of the Intensive Probation for Domestic Violence Offenders program in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He is assigned to the Washtenaw County Domestic Violence Unit as part of the Judicial Oversight Demonstration Initiative.  In this capacity, Mr. Henderson works from a system perspective to enhance victim safety and defendant accountability.  Since 1995, Mr. Henderson has been facilitating batterer intervention groups within the Detroit metropolitan area. 

In 1998, Mr. Henderson was appointed by the Mayor of Ann Arbor to serve on the Ann Arbor Domestic Violence Coordinating Board. He served for two terms as a Regional Representative for the Batterer Intervention Services Coalition of Michigan and has been active with this coalition since 1997.  He has also been an active member of the Arab American Domestic Violence Coalition since 2001.  In 2002, Mr. Henderson received a certificate of appreciation for outstanding service on behalf of crime victims from the Washtenaw County Prosecutors office.  Most recently, he was appointed by the Michigan Domestic Violence Prevention and Treatment Boards to participate in the Grants to Encourage Arrests (GTEA) advisory Task Force.

Mr. Henderson has designed and conducted trainings on the effective interviewing of domestic violence offenders and victims. He has endeavored to change the focus of the victim interview from that of “information gatherer” to that of “information provider”.  In addition, Mr. Henderson trains on the utilization of probation group reporting to gain better compliance, and using the community to assist in the monitoring of batterers and the enhancement of victims and children’s safety.  Mr. Henderson has served as faculty for several organizations including the Michigan Judicial Institute, Batterer Intervention Services Coalition of Michigan, Greenbook, The Battered Women’s Justice Project, American Probation & Parole Association, and the National Association of Pretrial Services Agencies. 

Mr. Henderson has been a Certified Addition Counselor II since 1987 and an Internationally Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor since 1990. He received his Master's degree in social work from the University of Michigan in 1995.  Before joining the criminal justice system in 1993, he worked as the clinical director of Straight, Inc., a family oriented substance abuse program for drug using young people and their families.

1.  Laney Gibbes (JOD Associate)
Laney Gibbes has worked in the area of family violence and sexual assault since 1989.  She has a Masters in Social Work, and from 1995 to 1999, Ms. Gibbes was a certified domestic violence counselor providing court ordered interventions to female offenders.  Other work experiences have included working as an Advocate at a rape crisis center and a safehouse for domestic violence victims, Associate Director of AMEND (Abusive Men Exploring New Directions), and Executive Director of the Colorado Coalition Against Domestic Violence.   For the past three years, Ms. Gibbes has provided consulting services in the area of domestic violence, sexual assault and victim's issues.  She currently has a private psychotherapy practice in Craig, Colorado.




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