Domestic Violence Consultant and Expert Witness Testimony
Melissa is currently the Director of International Training at Global Rights for Women.  She has a wealth of experience as the recent former executive director of Domestic Abuse Intervention Programs (DAIP), also known as “the Duluth Model.”  Prior to working in Duluth as the executive director and a trainer on “the Duluth Model” for many years, she was the executive director of Advocates for Family Peace (AFFP) where she worked for 17 years.  AFFP is a local multi-county domestic violence program that provides advocacy, emergency shelter, transitional housing, batterers intervention program (BIP), and supervised visitation program. She has also organized and lead two Coordinated Community Response(CCR) programs to address domestic violence. Melissa has co-facilitated groups for men who batter and women who use violence in Duluth, St. Louis County, and Itasca County, Minnesota and recently as part of an international research project through videoconference software (VCS).

Areas of expertise related to domestic violence

Customized Training
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  • Developing and organizing a Coordinated Community Response (CCR)
  • Addressing women’s use of violence in a CCR
  • Advocacy for victims of domestic violence
  • Facilitating men’s behavior change programs
  • Facilitating women’s non-violence programs
  • Parenting by men who batter
  • Supervised visitation in cases of domestic violence 
  • Development of risk assessments in a CCR
  • Enhanced facilitation skills in court ordered groups
  • Addressing domestic violence in the family court context
  • Domestic violence and the Catholic Church
  • Domestic violence expert witness court consultation and testimony
  • Keynote speeches on domestic violence
Workshops and training for:
  • NGOs and advocacy organizations
  • Batterers Intervention Programs
  • Custody evaluators, mediators, and GALs
  • Social Service agencies
  • Mental Health Professionals
  • Substance Abuse agencies and professionals
  • Law Enforcement agencies and personnel
  • Prosecutors, Defense Attorneys seeking expert witness
  • Family and juvenile court attorneys seeking expert witness

Consultations

  • Government Agencies
  • NGOs and Nonprofits
  • Gender-based Violence Programs
  • Faith Communities
  • Advocacy Organizations