The Georgia Coalition Against Domestic Violence is pleased to present our board of directors for the 2010-2011 service term. This board has a complimentary set of skills, education, and experience to propel GCADV to a greater place of strength, understanding and accountability.
Michele Bedingfield is working to break the cycle of domestic violence and open the door to a better future for men, women and children.
After graduating from Reinhart College in 1991 and LaGrange College in 1993, Ms. Bedingfield began working in the Georgia Court System as a Probation Supervisor and later as a Program Coordinator. She served as the Executive Director of The Pregnancy Center in LaGrange before becoming a private contractor with the Department of Family and Children Services.
In September 2006, Ms. Bedingfield accepted the position as the Executive Director of Harmony House Domestic Violence Shelter, Inc. Since then, the organization has received certification from the Family Violence Unit of the Department of Human Services. Under her supervision, Harmony House offers safety, shelter, and support to families that are involved with domestic violence. Since their doors opened in October of 2005, the staff and volunteers have assisted over 2,000 individuals.
Aparna Bhattacharyya was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia. She has served as Executive Director of Raksha since 1998. Aparna graduated from Georgia State University with a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice. She has volunteered and worked as a Victim Advocate for 5 years for the city of Atlanta’s Victim Witness Assistance Program (VWAP). She also worked as a Project coordinator/Employment Specialist for the Newcomers’ Network’s Refugee Family Violence Prevention Project (where she developed and implemented the License to Freedom Project).
Prior to becoming and employee of Raksha Inc., she also volunteered and served as a steering committee member of Raksha Inc., since its inception in 1995. As a representative of Raksha, she has served as founding Task Force member and Board Secretary for International Women’s House and a founding member of Tapestri, the Immigrant and Refugee Coalition challenging gender based oppression.
She has served as a member of the Georgia Advisory Committee for the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, board Vice President for Tapestri, Inc, an Advisory Board member for the National Network to End Violence Against Immigrant Women and Advisory Board Member for Georgia State’s School of Social Work. She is currently a board member for the Dekalb County Domestic Violence Task Force and part of Class of 2010 of Leadership Atlanta.
Anna Blau has been Chief Executive Officer of International Women’s House in Stone Mountain for 13 years. The shelter focuses primarily on refugee and immigrant women and their children who are victims of family violence. Herself a refugee, Ms. Blau remembers well coming to this country as a young child and not being able to speak English. Her family were Holocaust survivors who overcame language, cultural and financial barriers. As a result, she brings a unique experience to those with special needs in the underserved refugee communities.
Ms. Blau has a Master’s Degree in Counseling from Georgia State University and a Bachelors in Education from Oglethorpe University.
She is a past winner of the Sunshine Lady Peace Foundation’s Award for National Excellence and is also a recipient of the Georgia Criminal Justice Coordinating Council’s Eagle Award for Outstanding Advocacy in Georgia. She is a former past president of the Northside Atlanta Jaycee Women and received numerous national speaking awards during her tenure with the Jaycee Women.
Dr. Maiysha Clairborne is an American Board Certified Family Physician who completed her medical degree at Morehouse School of Medicine and her residency in Family Medicine at Florida Hospital in Orlando, FL. She completed her post graduate trainings in acupuncture with The Academy of Pain Research Acupuncture and the International Academy of Medical Acupuncture. The Founder and CEO of MBS Wellness, Dr. Clairborne serves as the integrative wellness consultant. With nearly a decade of experience, Dr. Clairborne focuses on creating and preserving mental, physical, and spiritual balance to promote and maintain optimal health through the integration of western medicine with alternative therapies such as acupuncture, energy medicine, clinical nutrition, and holistic life coaching. Dr. Clairborne serves as an intermediary for patients who want the experience of holistic/natural medicine, but want the expertise, comfort, and familiarity of a traditionally trained family physician.
Dr. Clairborne is also a child witness survivor to Domestic Violence. For over 15 years she grew up watching her mother being abused. During her residency, Dr. Clairborne co-created a program to educate physicians on sensitive screening and action plans for encountering domestic violence in the office setting.
Stephanie Davis is the Executive Director of Georgia Women for a Change, a non-profit public policy institute with a gender lens that represents Georgia activists on issues across a spectrum of issues including health care, economic justice, and challenging violence against women and girls. Georgia Women has introduced legislation to set a minimum age for prostitution in Georgia as a way to redirect minors to social services instead of incarceration. Ms. Davis served as the first Policy Advisor on Women’s Issues to Mayor Shirley Franklin where she coordinated the “Dear John” campaign to end child prostitution in Atlanta. As the first director of the Atlanta Women’s Foundation where she served for 11 years, Ms. Davis was responsible for raising several million dollars, establishing an endowment and positioning the Foundation to be the fastest growing women’s fund in the country. Ms. Davis currently serves on the Board of The White House Project to promote women’s leadership in all spheres.
Heidi Day is the Founder and Executive Director of Chayil Inc. Chayil Inc.,(pronounced Ky-eel) is a non-profit organization that helps domestic violence victims THRIVE. This program utilizes an innovative Life Coaching model, the Chayil Personal Development curriculum to bring beauty and peace from the ashes of the victims lives. It is Heidi’s desire that this ground-breaking intervention will change the face of domestic violence intervention and provide a conduit of healing for victims of domestic violence and concerned women within the community.
Chayil was born from Heidi’s burning desire to truly change lives. Heidi is no stranger to life’s hardships. The suffering of women, including Heidi’s own pain is the motivating force behind her life. Heidi attended Oakwood University, earning a B.S. degree in Industrial/Organizational Psychology and went on to pursue Life Coaching training from the Graduate School of Coaching. Heidi has spoken and conducted workshops all over the country on domestic violence, self esteem and creating and living your “Divine Ideal.” From a child she knew she wanted to help others and always had a passion for helping her “sisters.” After working in various areas of Behavioral Health she went on to pursue experience in corporate America in professional sales. The spirit of volunteerism has been a part of Heidi’s fabric from her earliest years. From that time to the present she has volunteered in various women agencies and shelters.
It was in surrendering her all to God that Heidi discovered her “Divine Ideal.” It is in reaching out that she is fulfilled within. Heidi now pursues healing, her own and that of her sisters with an insatiable passion because she has discovered that this is not simply her life journey but her life calling. Heidi is the Past Vice President of The Dogwood Festival Board and the past Advisory Board Member of Visions Anew.
Dr. Mesha Ellis is a licensed psychologist who specializes in providing psychological assessment, testing, and forensic evaluation services for children, adolescents, adults, and families. She has over 10 years of assessment and treatment experience. In addition to providing evaluation and treatment services, Dr. Ellis also conducts intervention research. She has co-authored several peer-reviewed publications as well as presented at professional conferences. She is licensed to practice as a psychologist in Georgia, Tennessee and California.
Dr. Ellis is dedicated to reducing the effects of trauma on adults and children. She is the founder of Ellis Evaluation and Consulting Services, a psychological practice dedicated to assisting youth and adults maintain optimal health through the provision of evaluations designed to increase understanding of emotional and behavioral issues.
Dr. Ellis has volunteered at Domestic Violence shelters and was previously on faculty at Pepperdine University. Currently she serves as a faculty member of Morehouse School of Medicine, Department of Community Health and Preventative Medicine. Dr. Ellis looks forward to creating opportunities with GCADV to develop and implement public health initiatives and supporting survivors of domestic violence.
Dr. Maya Gupta earned her BA from Columbia University and her MS and PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Georgia, where her research focused on applying information about the connections between animal cruelty and domestic violence to enhance typologies of domestic violence perpetration. She has provided training or guidance on this topic to the National Network to End Domestic Violence, the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, the American Bar Association Commission on Domestic Violence, the National Alliance to End Domestic Abuse, and local/state agencies in the fields of domestic violence, child protective services, adult protective services, law enforcement, counseling and mental health, animal protection and veterinary medicine. Her clinical training included work with both adult and child victims of violence, as well as with perpetrators. She is currently Executive Director of Ahimsa House, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping the human and animal victims of domestic violence across Georgia reach safety together. She previously served as the Program Evaluator for the Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Addictive Diseases in the Georgia Department of Human Resources. Dr. Gupta also currently holds advisory roles with the American Psychological Association, the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, the National Link Coalition and the California-based organization Not Without My Pet.
Matthew Levy is a Real Estate Broker and the owner and CEO of Abacus Property Management, Inc., an Atlanta based company that specializes in running non-profit corporations on behalf of all volunteer Boards of Directors. Mr. Levy’s company is a precious metal sponsor of the Georgia Chapter of the Community Association Institute, and he has personally written for their Common Sense quarterly publication. Mr. Levy has most recently worked to adopt and maintain the off-leash dog park at Brook Run Park in Dunwoody. Prior to his career in real estate and business, Mr. Levy worked for the Georgia Institute of Technology in both fundraising and assisting the Boards of the more than 50 regional Georgia Tech Clubs throughout the United States identify and accomplish their various goals. Mr. Levy holds a BS from the Ivan Allen School of Management at Georgia Tech and in his spare time is grateful to enjoy the company of his wife and his two children.
Joel London is a Certified Health Education Specialist and has been on staff as a Health Communication Specialist at the National Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) since 1999. In 1998 he received his Masters in Public Health from Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health in Atlanta, Georgia. Joel served as president of the Rollins School of Public Health Alumni Board from 2002-2003. His major areas of experience and training include social marketing, media relations, and mass media training. He is married and has two children.
Jasmine Williams Miller is the Director of Programs for Partnership Against Domestic Violence. She is a Licensed Master Social Worker with over 20 years experience working in clinical and community settings. Ms. Williams Miller has worked in the field of domestic violence and sexual assault for the past 15 years. Before coming to PADV she worked as the Fatality Review Coordinator for the Georgia Commission on Family Violence. This process involved working with communities across the state to review domestic violence homicides.
Ms. Williams Miller spent several years working in the rape crisis movement, working with Dekalb Rape Crisis Center as the Director of Victim Services as well as the Director of Prevention and Education. In this capacity she conducted trainings and workshops on rape, sexual assault and family violence. She is also a skilled group facilitator currently running support groups for survivors of sexual abuse and sexual assault.
She has served in various volunteer capacities including the past president of the board of directors for Men Stopping Violence, an organization dedicated to ending men’s violence against women.
Lisa Volentine has worked for the Marriott Corporation since 1997, and has been working at the largest Atlanta airport property hotel, the Atlanta Airport Marriott (a 30 million plus property) for the last six years as Director of Finance and Accounting. Ms. Volentine’s focus is to provide financial leadership in order to drive positive financial results. She has been deployed on several special Marriott fiscal projects in other communities and received the Special Contribution Award for work done on a task force in New Orleans in 2006.
Ms. Volentine believes that there is no cause more worthy than the work we do, is very excited about the idea of serving on the GCADV board and hopes to greatly contribute to the future success of this organization.
Amy is the Executive Director of Rome’s domestic violence shelter program and has worked with the agency since 2000. Prior to her work with Hospitality House, she spent time as an intensive case manager for adults with mental illness in Indiana and Vermont. She also worked as a family advocate for a non-profit child advocacy center in Rome. Ms. Weaver served on the Board of Directors for Big Brothers/Big Sisters in Northwest Georgia. For more than 15 years, the focus of her work has been victim advocacy. Ms. Weaver believes in working from a consensus model, respecting all voices and allowing all involved to communicate openly in order to provide the best possible support for those we serve. She looks forward serving on GCADV’s Board of Directors to further the mission of our work and to unify our collective voice for victims of violence in Georgia.
Shannon Willis Clark is the Executive Director of Peace Place, Inc. located in Winder, GA. She has been in this position for approximately one year. Prior to this Ms. Clark was the Director of Turning Point Battered Women’s Program in Alexandria Louisiana. Ms. Clark has had experience working in the field of domestic violence since 1998, working additionally at domestic violence programs in Fort Collins Colorado, and Ruston, Louisiana. She holds a Masters of Education degree in Professional Leadership and Counseling from the University of Louisiana at Monroe. She has been certified as an instructor from the Department of Justice, Office of Homeland Security in the fields of domestic violence and abuse later in life. She is a qualified expert witness in the field of domestic violence and has testified on seven separate occasions. She is a consultant for domestic violence programs and has assisted programs with best practices in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. She has served on several committees during her life experience as an advocate including Piedmont Domestic Violence Task Force, Louisiana Coalition against Domestic Violence- Board of Directors-Nominating Committee, The Governor’s Office on Women’s Policy Committee on Quality Assurances, The Rapides Parish Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Task Force, The Homeless Coalition, The Children’s Cabinet, and the Fetal Infant Mortality Review Community Action Team. Ms. Clark is a survivor of domestic violence.
