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Standards, Training and Practices Subcommittee Members
The role of the Standards, Training and Practices subcommittee is to identify and recommend essential,
minimum standards for network member center credentialing and quality service as well as accompanying
best practices trainings and program evaluation to support the maintenance of these recommended standards.
This subcommittee will submit their recommendations to both the Lifeline's leadership and the Lifeline
Steering Committee.
Thomas Joiner, Ph.D. (joiner@psy.fsu.edu)
Chairperson, Certification and Training Subcommittee
Dr. Joiner is the Bright-Burton professor and director of the University Psychology Clinic for the Department of
Psychology at Florida State University. Dr. Joiner's work is on the psychology, neurobiology, and treatment of suicidal
behavior, depression, anxiety, and eating disorders. Author of more than 320 peer-reviewed publications, Dr. Joiner was
recently awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship. He was elected Fellow of the American Psychological Association and received
the Young Investigator Award from the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression, the Shakow Award
for Early Career Achievement from the Division of Clinical Psychology of the American Psychological Association, the
Shneidman Award for excellence in suicide research from the American Association of Suicidology, and the Award for
Distinguished Scientific Early Career Contributions from the American Psychological Association. He also has received
research grants from the National Institute of Mental Health and various foundations. His 11th book, entitled Why People
Die By Suicide, was published in 2005 by Harvard University Press.
Madelyn Gould, Ph.D., M.P.H. (GouldM@childpsych.columbia.edu)
Ms. Gould is a Professor in Child Psychiatry and Public Health (Epidemiology) at Columbia University, College of Physicians
and Surgeons, and a Research Scientist at the New York State Psychiatric Institute. Her long-standing research interests
include the epidemiology of youth suicide, as well as the evaluation of youth suicide prevention interventions. Dr. Gould
has received numerous federally funded grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIMH) and the Centers for Disease
Control (CDC) for studies examining risk factors for teenage suicide, various aspects of cluster suicides, the impact of
the media on suicide, the effect of a peer's suicide on fellow students, suicide postvention programs in schools, the
effect of youth suicide screening programs, the utility of telephone crisis services for teenagers, and has received
grants funded from the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to evaluate crisis hotline outcomes
for adults.
She also received a W.T. Grant Faculty Scholar's Award to examine psychosocial risk factors for teenage suicide and a
Distinguished Investigator Award from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention to investigate the role of the media
in the initiation of suicide clusters. Her participation in numerous state and national government commissions include
the 1978 President's Commission on Mental Health and the Secretary of Health and Human Services? Task Force on Youth
Suicide in 1989. In addition, she authored the chapter on youth suicide prevention for the Surgeon General's 1999 National
Suicide Prevention Strategy, and served as a leadership consultant for the Surgeon General's Leadership Working Group for
the National Suicide Prevention Strategy. Dr. Gould was also a founding member of the New York State Suicide Prevention
Council and has been actively engaged in the development of the suicide prevention plan for New York State. She contributed
to the Center for Disease Control's community response plan for suicide clusters (1988) and recommendations to optimize
media reporting of suicide (1994), and was a member of an international workgroup, sponsored by the American Foundation
for Suicide Prevention and the Annenberg Public Policy Center, which updated these media recommendations in 2001. The
recipient of the Shneidman Award for Research from the American Association of Suicidology (AAS) in 1991, the New York
State Office of Mental Health Research Award in 2002, and the 2006 American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP)
Research Award, Dr. Gould has a strong commitment to applying her research to program and policy development.
Marshall Knudson, Ph.D. (mknudson@alachua.co.fl.us)
Dr. Knudson has been the director of the Alachua County Crisis Center (Gainesville, FL) for the last 20 years and has
worked in the field of crisis and suicide intervention for more than 25 years. He holds the positions of adjunct faculty
in the University of Florida's departments of psychology and counselor education and affiliate staff in the University's
Counseling Center. Dr. Knudson is a licensed psychologist and has been active on the local, State, and national level as
a speaker, consultant, trainer, and interventionist in the areas of suicide, crisis, and community trauma response. He is
also recognized for his work in the field of crisis center issues, including such topics as the use of volunteers and
paraprofessionals, related training models, and the expanded role of crisis centers in their communities. Dr. Knudson is
a senior certification examiner and a member of the certification committee with the American Association of Suicidology.
He is also a member of the Florida Governor's Suicide Prevention Taskforce.
Lesley Levin, M.S.W. (llevin@bhrworldwide.org)
Ms. Levin is president of Behavioral Health Response (BHR), a not-for-profit, private corporation that provides 24/7 mental
health crisis call center services to the residents of St. Louis and seven surrounding Missouri counties. The call center
handles more than 12,000 calls a month. Ms. Levin has more than 35 years of experience in the medical, mental health, and
substance abuse fields. Prior to joining BHR, Ms. Levin worked for Personal Performance Consultants (PPC), an international
employee assistance program. Her responsibilities at PPC included the management of the 24/7 call center that handled all
of the EAP and managed care calls. When Medco Behavioral Care (one of the Nation's largest managed behavioral care firms)
purchased PPC, Ms. Levin became a vice president for Medco's National Account Administration. Today, Medco is Magellan
Behavioral Care.
Ms. Levin has been a Commission for Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) surveyor since 1999 and an AAS surveyor
since 2000. She has had both inpatient and outpatient psychiatric and substance abuse treatment experience, including serving
as a hospital social work director and the director of an inpatient substance abuse program. She has also been a guest on the
Phil Donahue Show and the Today Show.
Gary McConahay, Ph.D. (mcconahay1@netscape.org)
Dr. McConahay has 25 of years continuous experience in suicide prevention. Starting as a crisis line volunteer, Dr. McConahay
eventually became the executive director of a suicide prevention agency. He has worked as a mobile crisis clinician and has
supervised crisis teams and outpatient treatment teams. Dr. McConahay has personally intervened with more than 5,000 people
at elevated risk of suicide, including at least 1,000 people in hospital emergency rooms, jails, and other public facilities.
Dr. McConahay has been active in training others in suicide intervention skills and has been part of the suicide prevention
efforts of Oregon, California, Washington, Tennessee, Virginia, the U.S. Army, the U.S. Air Force, and the nation of Scotland.
He actively assisted in the development of the State of Oregon youth and elder suicide prevention plans and currently serves
on the Technical Advisory Workgroup for the DHS Health Services "Connecting Youth" project.
Currently, Dr. McConahay is the clinical director of Oregon Regional Behavioral Services, a statewide nonprofit organization
providing housing and services for persons with mental illnesses. He also contracts and consults with government and nonprofit
agencies on suicide prevention and promotes community mental health, and is a senior coaching trainer of the Applied Suicide
Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) workshop. Dr. McConahay supports suicide survivors on a pro bono basis and operates a
private practice in Grants Pass, OR.
Brian Mishara (mishara.brian@uqam.ca)
Professor Mishara is professor of psychology and Director of the Centre for Research and Intervention on
Suicide and Euthanasia (CRISE) at the University of Quebec at Montreal. His publications, including six books in English
and five in French in the areas of suicidology and gerontology, include research on the effectiveness of suicide prevention
programs, studies of how children develop an understanding of suicide, theories of the development of suicidality, ethical
issues in research, euthanasia and "assisted suicide," and evaluations of helpline effectiveness. Besides his university
activities, Professor Mishara was a founder of Suicide Action Montreal, the Montreal regional suicide prevention centre
and the Quebec Association of Suicidology. He is vice president of the International Association for Suicide Prevention
and a past president of the Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention. He was the recipient of the 1994-1995 Bora Laskin
Canadian National Fellowship on Human Rights Research for his work on human rights issues regarding the involvement of
physicians and family members in assisted suicide and euthanasia.
Shawn Christopher Shea, M.D. (sheainte@worldpath.net)
Dr. Shea is recognized nationally as a prominent leader in suicide prevention and clinical interviewing. He founded and is
the Director of the Training Institute for Suicide Assessment and Clinical Interviewing, a training and consultation service
providing workshops, consultations, and quality assurance design in mental health assessments for both mental health
professionals and primary care clinicians. He is also an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the Dartmouth School
of Medicine and in private practice.
Dr. Shea is the author of Psychiatric Interviewing: The Art of Understanding, 2nd Edition. In their first years of publication,
both the first and second editions were honored by being chosen by the Medical Library Association for the Brandon/Hill List
as one of the 16 most important books in the field of psychiatry. His next book The Practical Art of Suicide Assessment by
John Wiley & Sons, Inc., first published in 1999 and more recently released as an expanded paperback in 2002, is considered
a modern classic in the field of suicidology. In November of 2004, he published his first book for the general public, the
best selling Happiness Is, subtitled Unexpected Answers to Practical Questions in Curious Times.
Dr. Shea created and is featured on the innovative learning module, "Suicide Assessment for Primary Care Physicians" on the
CD-ROM produced by GlaxoSmithKline entitled, The Hidden Diagnosis: Uncovering Anxiety & Depressive Disorders. He also created
the full-length DVD Transforming Angry Resistance: From Theory to Practice in which one of his most popular workshops was
captured live by the cameras and production team of the Eli Lilly pharmaceutical corporation.
Kathryn VanBoskirk, C.S.W. (kathrynvanboskirk@earthlink.net)
Ms. VanBoskirk has over 30 years of experience in clinical mental health services as a therapist, advocate, and educator. She
has taught at the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Work. She is a licensed clinical social worker and served as a
training consultant in suicide intervention for the California State Department of Mental Health for 5 years. Since that time,
she has trained trainers in suicide intervention through Living Works Education, Inc., throughout the United States, Europe,
Scandinavia, Australia, and Asia. Currently, she is a consultant in Sedona, AZ.
Glenn Currier, MD, MPH (Glenn_Currier@URMC.Rochester.edu)
Glenn Currier is Director of the Center for Disaster Medicine and Mass Casualty Management and is an Associate Professor of
Psychiatry and of Emergency Medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York, USA. He received
his medical degree at the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and a Master's degree in Public Health from the Department
of Epidemiology and Public Health at Yale University, where he specialized in health services research. Dr. Currier's residency
training in psychiatry and internal medicine was also at Yale. Before coming to Rochester in 1999, he was Director of Emergency
and Consultation Psychiatry at the Los Angeles County-University of Southern California Medical Center, Los Angeles, California, USA.
Dr. Currier is past president of the American Association for Emergency Psychiatry. He is also a member of the Committee
on Emergency Services of the American Psychiatric Association and the behavioral treatment committee of the American College
of Emergency Physicians. He is author or co-author of a number of publications, focused primarily on health services research
and treatment of the mentally ill in emergency settings.
Dr. Currier is the P.I. on an NIMH funded K-23 career development award. This project is a randomized controlled
clinical trial of a services intervention to link discharged emergency department patients into ongoing ambulatory
care through the use of a mobile crisis team. The project is designed to assure safe and effective community-based
care of suicidal patients and also to curtail overuse of emergency departments for sub-acute mental health problems.
Part of this project involves implementing community-wide data surveillance of medical and mental health service use
after ED discharge.
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