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Committees, Special Interest Groups and Liaisons

The Helfer Executive Committee established a new award program to support the work of Helfer Committees. Two awards were announced on January 1. Please select this link for descriptions of the projects being funded.

There’s much to be done and we really need you to help our Society fulfill its mission of leading our field. Please consider where you’d like to participate (must be a member of the Society) and contact the chair(s) listed below. Some committees or special interest groups (SIGs) may have limited membership, so act soon!

Committee members may login to download Guidelines for Helfer Society Committees, approved by the Executive Committee, in the Resources section in the Member Center.

Committees

Awards Committee

Nancy Harper - [email protected]

Mission: To select the physician who has made the greatest contribution to child abuse pediatrics.

Annual Meeting Committee

Jim Anderst - [email protected]; and Tara Holloran - [email protected]

Mission: To work with the President to program an annual scientific meeting for the Ray Helfer Society, and oversee its implementation.

Education Committee

Kathryn Wells - [email protected]; Emily Killough - [email protected]

Executive Committee

Lori Frasier – [email protected]

This committee is responsible for leading the Helfer Society.

Fellowship Program Directors Committee

Megan Letson - [email protected]; Natalie Kissoon - [email protected]

Mission: To facilitate excellence in clinical and research training in the field of Child Abuse Pediatrics by supporting the growth and development of Child Abuse Pediatric Fellowship Programs.

Goals:

  1. To facilitate the development of collaborative relationships between CAP Fellowship program directors.
  2. To facilitate communication and collaboration around issues affecting CAP fellowship programs including but not limited to program development, accreditation, work force, funding, and curriculum design.
  3. To provide a forum to share best practices and new innovations in CAP fellowship training.
  4. To support CAP fellowship program directors in monitoring and responding to new developments in fellowship training and accreditation requirements.
  5. To represent the interests of CAP fellowships and fellowship program directors to other organizations and regulatory agencies.

Human Trafficking Committee

Jordan Greenbaum - [email protected]

The Human Trafficking Committee maintains a resource on this subject within the Society's web site. Please select Human Trafficking (login required) to view this resource.

Membership Committee

Steve Boos - [email protected]

The committee votes on Regular (Full) membership and Scholar membership to the Helfer Society. The committee reviews applications and decides on membership after receiving input from the general membership.

Mental Health Committee

Brooks Keeshin - [email protected]; Heather Forkey - [email protected]

Mission: To advance the knowledge and expertise of Helfer members regarding the short and long-term impact of maltreatment on the mental health and well-being of children and their families, including advances in research, education, treatment and public policy.

Aims:

  1. To support Helfer members in developing mental health policies and programs and thereby provide comprehensive services to maltreated children and their families.
  2. Improve the patient care and other professional efforts of Helfer members regarding the mental health and well-being of child maltreatment victims and their families.
  3. Develop program submissions to the annual meetings that seek to fulfill the group's mission.

Nominations Committee

Nancy Harper - [email protected]

This committee develops a list of candidates for electing the Executive Committee, every two years.

Public Relations Committee

Chris Greeley - [email protected]

Purpose: To discuss and generate the Helfer Society’s public responses to current and anticipated controversies and debates which occur in the field of Child Abuse Pediatrics.

Scope: The scope of the committee includes issues affecting our professional practice, the research and science in our field of practice and public policy affecting families and children.

Aims:

Primary Aim

The primary aim of the committee is to provide the Helfer Society a mechanism for a public voice on issues which affect the field of Child Abuse Pediatrics.

Secondary Aims

  1. To provide a vehicle for the Helfer Society to generate public comments on issues in the media.
  2. To provide the Helfer Society a vehicle for publically addressing challenging scientific, policy and professional issues concerning Child Abuse Pediatrics.
  3. To provide a mechanism for Society members to engage in the public policy and media arena as part of their clinical practice. This committee would provide resources or policy recommendations as directed by the committee chair or Society president.

Research Committee

Kate Henry - [email protected]; Samantha Schilling - [email protected]

Mission: To support research by Helfer members at all levels. Committee members will share in setting the agenda of the committee, though our priorities will include:

  1. Facilitating research collaboration between Helfer members.
  2. Improving opportunities for basic training in research methodology to Helfer member.
  3. Improving the ability of Helfer members, especially fellows, to obtain research funding.

Guidelines for Research Recruitment via Helfer Approved by Research Committee

Scholars Committee

Alex Young - [email protected]; Heather Williams - [email protected] 

Mission: This committee will strive to support scholar members in their pursuit of their careers in Child Abuse Pediatrics. The committee will actively contribute to the priorities of the committee. Priorities include:

  • Planning and implementation of the Helfer Pre-Conference and Job Fair which is sponsored by the Scholar Committee.
  • Facilitating collaboration among Scholar members, including but not limited to mentoring, research, program development, and educational efforts.

Well-Being Committee

Andrea Asnes - [email protected]; Mandy O'Hara - [email protected]

Mission: To advance the knowledge and expertise of Helfer members regarding the short and long-term impact of maltreatment on the well-being of children, their families and the professionals who provide care to them - including advances in research, education, treatment and public policy.

Aims:

  1. To support Helfer members in developing policies and programs and thereby provide comprehensive services to maltreated children and their families.
  2. Improve the patient care and other professional efforts of Helfer members regarding the well-being of child maltreatment victims, their families and the professionals who provide their care.
  3. Promote the well-being of Helferites by attending to the needs of members to address the dangers of burnout and vicarious traumatization as well as others stresses like illnesses, lawsuits, deaths of loved ones.
  4. Develop program submissions to the annual meetings that seek to fulfill the group's mission.

Special Interest Groups (SIGs)

Child Fatality SIG

Michael Durfee - [email protected]; Randy Alexander - [email protected]

International Child Protection Development SIG

Aaron Miller - [email protected]

Mission: For our members who have the time and capacity to develop sustainable projects abroad, Helfer can serve the role of connector and can provide materials that you can adapt for your project (member login may be required to access certain pages):

We have created this global map here on the Member Directory page of all the countries where we live and where we work abroad. You can search by country or by language and learn about work being done abroad. Make sure you have added your international work here - go to My Community → My Profile → Edit Profile to enter the countries where you have worked abroad and write a 2-liner describing the scope of the work.

Helfer’s TEACH page includes presentations written by Helfer members and peer-reviewed by the TEACH committee, which you can download and adapt as needed. ICANHELP – Introduction to Child Abuse and Neglect for Health Professionals – is an 8-hour curriculum designed for low- and middle-income countries which has been adapted and used in Malawi, Namibia, Jordan and Sudan.

If you’re starting to consider developing a project in another country, consider also joining ISPCAN – International Society for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect – where you can connect with professionals from health, social services and law enforcement in countries across the world.


International Helfer Members SIG

Gabriel Otterman - [email protected]; Michelle Shouldice - [email protected]

This Interest Group, which is not a committee, is leading activities of significant interest among Canadian, European, Australian and New Zealander physicians dedicated to the field of child maltreatment.

Legislative Advocacy SIG

Jim Crawford-Jakubiak - [email protected]

Prevention SIG

Nina Agrawal - [email protected]; Ann Lenane - [email protected]

Substance Abuse SIG

Stephanie Deutsch - [email protected]

Substance exposure negatively impacts infant and child health and is a risk factor for maltreatment. Children and families affected by substance exposure interface with child welfare systems disproportionately. Our SIG is established to further discussion and research around ensuring accurate identification of exposed infants and children, improving safety outcomes for children affected by substance exposure, to disseminate info around relevant legislation/policy related to substance exposed infants and children, and establish best practice for the evaluation of potential substance exposure.

Liaisons

National Child Abuse Coalition

Allison Jackson - [email protected]