Dr. Gizane Indart, Executive Director
Dr. Indart is a bilingual and bicultural psychologist with more than 20 years experience working with traumatized children and their families. She is a seasoned public speaker and trainer who has presented locally, nationally and internationally on the impact of abuse and neglect in early development, attachment difficulties in children exposed to maltreatment, and sexualized behaviors in children. In March, she was awarded the prestigious National Children's Advocacy Center Outstanding Service Award for her work in building and supporting an outstanding multidisciplinary team. Dr. Indart is a Fellow with the Child Trauma Academy under the direction of Dr. Bruce Perry. She is a member of the International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, the Advisory Counsel for the Colorado Coalition of Adoptive Families, and the Women's Foundation of Colorado Program Committee.

Jesse Andrews, Director, Assessment and Treatment
Jesse is a licensed professional counselor with over a decade of experience in nonprofits providing direct service in mental health and educational settings. He specializes in individual, family and group therapy with traumatized children, youth and their families. He has provided client-centered treatment in many settings including: school-based, in-home, outpatient, day treatment and youth corrections. Jesse is passionate about providing the highest quality of care to children, youth and families and leads his team with these values as a guiding force. He is a new member of the DCAC team and is excited to bring his skills, strengths and interests to the organization.

Becky Bethards, Training Manager/Senior Child & Family Therapist
Becky Bethards is a licensed clinical social worker with an emphasis on children, trauma and community collaboration. Becky is also a trained forensic interviewer. Becky has taken the lead in implementing and coordinating an integrated evaluation system that includes NCATrak. Becky has also played a lead role in the development and expansion of the successful pre-school pilot program, “Denver Safe from the Start.” In 2009, Becky took over management of DCAC's growing training and consulting program. She is in a train-the-trainer program with the ChildTrauma Academy and the Neuroseuqential Model of Therapeutics.

Jodi L. Byrnes, Manager, Forensic Interview and Evaluation Program
Jodi Brynes came to DCAC in 2010 with 12 years of experience as a senior social caseworker with the Denver Department of Human Services. At DDHS, Jodi worked with at-risk and fractured families, with a key focus on assessing the safety of children and determining their need for treatment, in-home supervision, or out-of-home placements. Jodi brings to DCAC an extensive knowledge of community resources as well as long-term relationships with law enforcement, court, and health and human service professionals throughout the metro area. She is a licensed professional counselor.

Kimberly Collins, Victim Advocate
Kim joined DCAC with the goal of making a difference in the post-traumatic recovery of children through education, support, and care for them and their care-takers. Until she accepted the victim advocate position in the fall of 2009, she interned with the DCAC multidisciplinary team while working as a victim specialist with the Denver Police Department's Cold Case Unit. Before that, she was an intern with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in Washington DC. Kim is pursuing a master's degree in forensic psychology at the University of Denver. She holds a bachelor's degree in psychology from the Colorado Christian University.

Angela Davidson, Assessment and Treatment Program Manager/Prevention Manager
Angela Davidson is a bilingual, bicultural therapist with more than eight years of direct clinical experience in working with traumatized children and their families. Special areas of interest for Angela are: early childhood development, the impact of trauma on the developing child and the effects of immigration on young children. At DCAC, Angela has played a major role in supporting the growth of DCAC's Spanish-speaking caseload. She has also been a lead player in the development and expansion of the successful pre-school pilot program, “Denver Safe from the Start,” which focuses on at-risk children and families.

Catherine Ann Hay, Child and Family Therapist
Cathy is a master's level marriage and family therapist with extensive experience in working with child and adolescent survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence. She also specializes in working with children who have special needs or severe emotional disturbances, as well as with youth caught up in the criminal justice system. While pursuing her master's degree at Pepperdine University, Cathy worked as an intake specialist and therapist with the Coalition to End Family Violence in California where she became expert in crisis management and meeting the immediate needs of mothers and children traumatized by violence.

Raquel Hernandez, Victim Advocate
Prior to joining DCAC in 2007, Raquel worked as a victim advocate intern with COVA (Colorado Organization for Victim Assistance), the Westminster Police Department and Project Safeguard. While she provides services for all victims of crime, Raquel specializes in bilingual, bicultural support for Spanish-speaking victims and their families. She coordinates referrals to community resources and provides ongoing support as victims progress through the Criminal Justice System. Raquel has experience in providing crisis intervention at crime scenes, and she is also experienced in providing language interpretation between victims and members of the criminal investigation and prosecution teams.

Andrew Mackintosh, Finance & Operations Director
Andrew has been actively engaged in community service and social justice since childhood, following in the footsteps of his parents who produced community projects for the City of Denver including the Center for Environmental Learning, Women's Gold, the Metropolitan Science Center, and Mackintosh Academy. He is a full time family man, part time student and volunteer, and is a member for life on the board of Best Pets Colorado, an organization dedicated to finding permanent homes for shelter animals. In 2006, Andrew worked in collaboration with the Denver branch of the National League of American Pen Women to produce the Tapestry for Peace, a 250-foot mixed-media tapestry bearing interpretations of peace by national Pen Women branches, schools and nonprofit organizations. He recently left his position of 12 years with Boulder County AIDS Project and is very excited to be working with the DCAC community.

Sonia Marines, Bilingual Child and Family Therapist
Sonia Marines is a bilingual and bicultural therapist. She earned a master’s degree in counseling from The University of Texas at San Antonio. While pursuing her graduate studies, Sonia completed a one-year counseling internship at the Children’s Bereavement Center of South Texas. Sonia is passionate about helping children and teens who have experienced trauma by supporting them through the healing process. In addition to working at DCAC, Sonia volunteers at Judi’s House where she facilitates grief support groups.

Jenna Oglesby, Bilingual Forensic Interviewer
Jenna joined DCAC in 2010 as a bilingual, bicultural Forensic Interviewer. She has a diverse background that includes significant experience abroad working with traumatized children and their families, as well as a spell in the Colorado General Assembly as a Legislative Assistant. After working as a Child Development Analyst, focusing on pre-school and elementary art programs in Spain, and with several development agencies in Costa Rica, she has decided to focus her efforts on the children suffering abuse and neglect in the community in which she was raised. She graduated summa cum laude from Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas with a degree in Spanish and Psychology. Jenna is excited to have the opportunity to play a vital role in the development of the Spanish-speaking Forensic Interview program here at DCAC, the first of such programs in the Denver area.

Mandy M. Rigg, Fundraising Consultant/Grantwriter
Mandy has worked with the Denver Children’s Advocacy Center since 1993 and she takes great joy in having participated in its incredible growth and development.  Mandy has worked with nonprofit organizations since 1990 when she joined the Colorado Nonprofit Association.  She spent six years at the association as editor of Nonprofit Colorado and director of information services.  After that she helped to build a start-up publishing company for nonprofit grantseekers (headed up by Richard Male, founder of the Community Resource Center) where she was editor for five major grant guides—New York, New Jersey, California, Pennsylvania and Ohio.  Mandy became a consultant in 2000 and has since worked with many Colorado, national and international nonprofits—but DCAC is like family!

Jessica Siekmeier, Prevention Specialist
Jessica joined DCAC in 2010 to work with at-risk children and families in the Denver Safe from the Start program. Jessica graduated from Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with a degree in Spanish, Journalism and International Development. As part of her studies, she spent six months abroad living with a Honduran family. Since then, Jessica has worked as a field interviewer for social ministry in a network of Grand Rapids congregations, and as a family educator and advocate with the Healthy Homes Coalition of West Michigan to help inner city families prevent lead poisoning. Jessica has recently returned from Ecuador where she served as the liaison between medical staff and patients in a rural hospital.

Laurel VanderMeulen, Forensic Interviewer
When Lauri joined DCAC in 2007, she already had 17 years of experience working on crimes against children. After an award-winning career as a police officer and detective, Lauri was looking for a change within her field. In addition to her forensic interviewing skills with children, and her understanding of criminal investigations, she brings a wealth of additional knowledge in children's legal issues concerning physical abuse, sexual abuse and neglect. Lauri has also worked as a teacher, training police officers, other professionals and students about child abuse and the law. She is a very welcome addition to our multi-disciplinary team and the Forensic Interview and Evaluation Program.

Virginia L. Vargas, Prevention Specialist
Virginia Vargas joined DCAC in 2010 as a bilingual, bicultural prevention specialist for DCAC's growing Denver Safe from the Start program. Born in Venezuela, Virginia came to the U.S. as a child, giving her a unique understanding of the difficulties faced by many of the immigrants served by our prevention program. Virginia's previous position was as assistant teacher at the Goddard School for Early Childhood Development. While obtaining her degree in Youth Ministry at Colorado Christian University, she worked as a nanny for families with young children, volunteered as a youth mentor, and served as a summer camp and after-school counselor.

Candace Wengert, Fundraising & Communications
Candace considers herself a Coloradoan having lived here for 34 years, but she was born and raised in California. Candace attended the University of California, earning a bachelor's degree in Theatre Arts. All the world is a stage and she used her skills in many varied positions from the restaurant industry where she trained servers, opened new restaurants and implemented new menus to the air express industry where she was a courier and customer service agent. Working in the nonprofit field is a gift to her learning. Working at Judi's House, support for children grieving loss of a parent or sibling, enhanced Candace's skills for volunteer coordination including implementing a food program to feed families before evening groups. Candace feels it is rewarding to see families have dinner together and a moment of normalcy when they are under great stress in their lives. Candace is excited to be a new member of the DCAC team.

Consultants
Anne DePrince, PhD. - Research Director Psychology, University of Denver
Bruce Perry, M.D., PhD. - Senior Fellow, ChildTrauma Academy
Jerry Yager, PsyD. - Executive Director, Denver Children's Home
Kathryn Wells. MD, Medical Director- Denver Family Crisis Center-Denver Health Medical Center
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics-University of Colorado