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Liss Hart-Haviv
Executive Director
Liss Hart- Haviv is the Founding
Executive Director of Take Root and has worked to
develop the agency since March, 2002. A Fulbright
Scholar in cultural anthropology, she received her
bachelor’s degree with highest honors in
interdisciplinary studies from UC Berkeley in
1998 as a University Medal semi-finalist and her department's student commencement speaker. Her background in
non-profit administration and community
programs includes a college education
program for inmates at San Quentin State Prison,
and providing teaching asistance for over-crowded inner-city school classrooms.
Liss's written work on family abduction has been published in the Washington Post's Insight Magazine and the Wisconsin Law Journal. She is frequently intervied as an issue expert by media outlets including the Today Show, Court-TV, the LA Times, the Washington Post, and the St. Louis Post Dispatch. As Take Root's Executive Director she leads training workshops on abduction and recovery for law enforcement, mental health professionals, lawyers, and case managers across the country. She has been a keynote speaker at national and regional conferences, and was a featured speaker on the missing child resources panel at the Department of Justice's 2006 national juvenile justice conference opened by First Lady Laura Bush. She is also member of the guest faculty at the National Judicial College.
Liss was abducted by
her mother at the age of 9, re abducted by her
father six months later, then hidden for two years
by her mother.
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Janet Brodsky, MSW, LICSW
Clinical Director
Janet Brodsky has been in social work since 1978, and is considered an expert in the field of traumatic stress counseling. She earned her Masters degree in Social Work at the University of Washington in 1986, and coordinated the Traumatic Stress Program at Harborview Medical Center from its inception in 1995 through March 2003. Through her business - Seattle Trauma Associates - Ms. Brodsky provides assessment and treatment to children, teens and adults from a wide variety of ethnic and cultural communities who have experienced catastrophic trauma. In addition, she provides mentoring for new therapists, training and consultation locally and nationally, on issues including assessment of PTSD and a training for professionals called “Beyond Hot Baths: How to Stay Afloat in the Field Long Term”. Ms. Brodsky has published articles related to her work, and in 2000, she was nominated for the Federal Crime Victim Service Award, highlighting her work on behalf of bank personnel who had experienced armed robberies.
Ms. Brodsky has served as Take Root’s Clinical Director since January, 2003, following 6 months as a volunteer Peer Support Facilitator. She oversees the psychological and emotional well being of program participants, facilitates support programs and activities, provides consultation to families and professionals, and aids in the development of educational resources and materials.
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Susan Connolly, Esq.
Family Court Education Coordinator
Attorney Connolly is a principal in the firm of Asselin & Connolly, Attorneys LLC, of New London, Connecticut. She received her Juris Doctorate in 1985 from the University of Bridgeport where she served as Executive Managing Editor for the University of Bridgeport Law Review. Attorney Connolly is a nationally recognized expert in family law, most particularly with regards to issues affecting children. She is frequently appointed by Connecticut courts as counsel to and/or guardian ad litem for minor children in the more complex and difficult cases, including parental abduction cases. She is currently serving on the Executive Committee of the Conn. Bar Assoc. Family Law Section and as the Immediate Past President of the New London County Bar Association. However, from the inception of her career as a family lawyer, the one constant has been her unwavering commitment to the rights of and the effective representation of children’s interests in our court system. She received the CT Department of Children & Families First Annual Statewide "Partners for Children" Recognition and is the founder of and continues to serve as Chair to the Committee of Counsel for Children. She is also the co-founder of the Early Intervention Program, a program she designed and implemented to insulate children from the emotional trauma that is the otherwise unavoidable consequence of high conflict divorces.
Attorney Connolly has served Take Root since October, 2002, helping to develop educational resources for lawyers and judges, and providing consultation to families and legal professionals. |
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Dr. Linda Gunsberg
Clinical Consultant
Dr. Linda Gunsberg is a clinical psychologist. She was the first Clinical and Research Director of Take Root (2002-2004) and continues her active involvement in Take Root as a Clinical Consultant. She is founder and Chair of the Family Forensics Training Program at the Washington Square Institute for Psychotherapy and Mental Health and coeditor of the recently published volume, A Handbook of Divorce and Custody: Forensic, Developemental, and Clinical Perspectives. She has published widely on family matters, and has appeared as a guest expert on the Oprah Winfrey Show; Nancy Grace, Closing Arguments, Court TV; Lisa Bloom and Vinnie Polatin, Open Court, Court TV; and the Montel Williams Show. |
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