Robert Geffner, Ph.D. ABPP, ABPN
Founding President
Robert Geffner, Ph.D., is: Founding President of the Family Violence and Sexual Assault Institute in San Diego, CA; Founding President of Alliant International University’s (AIU) Institute on Violence, Abuse and Trauma (IVAT); Clinical Research Professor of Psychology at the California School of Professional Psychology, AIU, San Diego; Licensed Psychologist and Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist in California and Texas; Editor of three internationally disseminated journals and Co-Editor of one; and former clinical director of a large private practice mental health clinic in East Texas for over 15 years. He has a Diplomate in Clinical Neuropsychology and one in Family Psychology. He served as an adjunct faculty member for the National Judicial College for 10 years, and was a former Professor of Psychology at the University of Texas at Tyler for 16 years. Dr. Geffner is the President of the Trauma Psychology Division of the American Psychological Association. He has been a researcher, trainer, practitioner, and consultant for more than 30 years.

Publications include treatment manuals (e.g., Treatment of Women Arrested for Domestic Violence, 2002; Ending Spouse/Partner Abuse, 2000), co-edited books concerning family violence and child maltreatment (e.g., Children Exposed to Violence, 2008; Identifying & Treating Youth Who Sexually Offend, 2005; Identifying & Treating Sex Offenders, 2004; Effects of Intimate Partner Violence on Children, 2003; Domestic Violence Offenders, 2002; Bullying Behavior, 2001; The Cost of Child Maltreatment, 2001; and Children Exposed to Domestic Violence, 2000), and numerous book c
hapters, journal articles and research papers concerning family violence, trauma, sexual assault, child abuse, family and child psychology, custody issues, forensic psychology, neuropsychology, and diagnostic assessment. He has also served on several national and state committees
dealing with various aspects of family psychology, family violence, child abuse, and family law. He has presented over 450 keynote addresses, plenaries, workshops, and seminars at international, national, regional, and state conferences or meetings.

Sandi Capuano Morrison, M.A.
Interim Executive Director
Programs & Training Manager
Sandi Capuano Morrison received her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Colorado-Boulder in Psychology with a focus in Women’s Studies in 1996. Her commitment to domestic violence survivors began after volunteering at a battered women’s shelter as part of a course on Gandhi’s philosophy of ahimsa, nonviolent resistance, and satyagrapha.

Sandi was a victim advocate at Boulder County Safehouse and then Children’s Counselor at Alternatives to Violence domestic violence shelter before moving to Boston in 1998 and graduating from Boston College with her Masters Degree in Counseling Psychology in 2000. It was at BC that Sandi became certified as a Batterer Intervention Program Facilitator and assisted with research on the process and efficacy of offender programs. She became the Program Director of the IMPACT Batterer Intervention Program and ran offender groups for 5 years in Boston suburbs.

After moving to San Diego in 2005, Sandi managed the countywide domestic violence & sexual assault 24-hour hotline & volunteer program and then the city of San Diego’s Rape Crisis Center at the Center for Community Solutions. In that position she was a member of both the San Diego Sexual Assault Response Team and the Sex Offender Management Council and became certified by California’s Office of Emergency Services as a Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault counselor. She was also a Trauma Intervention Program (TIP) volunteer.

Sandi is committed to empowerment-based, survivor-informed programs & processes as well as offender accountability. She has interests in Restorative Justice, Holistic Healing, Cultural Competency, Human Rights and Social Justice.

Malou Indon
Interim Assistant Director
Marketing and Events Coordinator

Malou Indon is the Marketing and Events Coordinator of the Institute on Violence, Abuse and Trauma (IVAT), in San Diego, CA.  She has a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from St. Louis University, Philippines.  Prior to joining IVAT she spent more than 19 years in the pharmaceutical industry.  She started as a Medical Representative before being promoted as a Medical Communication Specialist.  In both positions, she was responsible for the execution of national, regional and local promotional activities specific to the Anti-Asthma and Anti-Infective markets.  She received several recognitions for excellence in sales.

In 1997, Malou was promoted as the Continuing Education Officer for Cardiology, responsible for market shaping and expansion by providing Continuing Medical Education (CME) modules, programs related to Hypertension and smoking cessation.  Her other responsibilities were planning and implementing scientific lectures locally and internationally, product launches and managing key opinion leaders and providing development programs for speakers.  She worked with various medical societies, including WHO Non-Communicable Diseases Department for programs related to hypertension management and Smoking Cessation Campaign in the Philippines.  In 2002 she advanced as a Medical Education and Development Group Manager to handle Continuing Education programs in Diabetes.  She was also designated as the local gatekeeper for the Asia Pacific and International Global Opinion Leaders’ in Diabetes Management Program.

Michelle Fries
Bookstore Manager

Patricia Smith
Training & Continuing Education Coordinator

Originally from the West Coast, Patricia is glad to be back.  Over sixteen years ago, she joined in the service provider role almost by accident, but realized it was meant to be.  Since coming into this field, she has never looked at a day and thought “why am I here?”  As a survivor of 18 years of domestic violence, she can’t imagine not doing this work.    

Patricia has over 16 years of experience in direct and indirect service in programs regarding violence against women.  She has been a direct service provider, as well as in a supervisory capacity in residential programs, to include emergency shelter and transitional living facilities.  She has extensive experience in handling crisis and has forever been a problem solver, both personally and professionally. 

She has worked serving adult & children’s needs, sexual violence victims, and served in an outreach capacity.  She has been a presenter for a number of years, to diverse audiences on a variety of topics regarding violence against women on a state, as well as national level.  She has presented to professionals such as law enforcement, medical providers, attorneys, and social workers. 
Patricia has worked with incarcerated women and teens, both male and female.  She has started programs from the ground up, such as the Adopt-A-Family for the Holidays program which is in its 14th successful year;  assisted in the first in the Big Bend of Florida area Spanish speaking support group, and International Thanksgiving just to name a few. 

She has served as the Battered /Formerly Battered Women’s Caucus Chair – Florida, and the Women of Color Caucus Chair as an agency Chair in Tallahassee, Florida.
This work is important to me so that my children and grandchildren will have a better chance in having a life without violence.

Teresa Lass
Programs and Volunteer Coordinator.

Teresa joined IVAT in November, 2012 as the Programs and Volunteer Coordinator. Prior to that, she spent more than 20 years at UC San Diego in a variety of departments as well as 10 years as the owner/operator of a small administrative services business.

She brings a broad base of knowledge of local non-profits, management and business experience and also a passion for our cause. In the late 90’s she and her husband started their family and adopted two infant sons. Both had special needs, lacked prenatal care and experienced medical trauma as infants. Just as the adoptions were being finalized, they became birth-parents of a baby girl. Over the next few years, they learned about attachment issues, effects of prenatal drug exposure and how trauma had affected their sons before and after they were born. They have spent the past ten years researching and studying dozens of therapies and treatments to best meet their children’s needs.

Teresa has also worked with a local marriage and family therapist to create and teach effective family interventions and parenting techniques for families who face challenging behaviors with their children. They specialize in non-traditional families that come together through adoption, fostering, kinship, blended relationships and with children who have experienced early trauma. She is excited about the matching of her professional experience and personal passion and how that will allow her to contribute to IVAT’s objectives and success.

Robert Geffner, Ph.D. is a licensed clinician (Psychologist and Marriage & Family Therapist in both California and Texas) and directed a full-service private practice mental health clinic in East Texas for over 15 years prior to relocating to California 11 years ago. In this capacity, he regularly conducted custody and/or visitation evaluations for the courts, did evaluations of child abuse and domestic violence cases for criminal and civil courts and Child Protective Services (CPS), as well as supervised visitations in his clinic. He conducted evaluation (state and federal), and treatment programs for both victims and offenders of child abuse, sexual assault, and intimate partner violence. He also provided counseling and mediation to families involved in custody disputes or child maltreatment, and regularly conducted psychological and parenting evaluations. Dr. Geffner has trained mental health professionals, judges, attorneys, and others concerning appropriate procedures to use in these types of evaluations for over 20 years. Since relocating, he has been involved in the development and presentation of training programs that meet the requirements for domestic violence training for custody evaluators in California and in other states, and has conducted training workshops concerning appropriate procedures and techniques for custody and psychological evaluations for children and adults, as well as the relationship and dynamics of family violence and child maltreatment with respect to child custody, criminal, or personal injury cases.

Jonathan Venn, Ph.D., is Clinical and Forensic Supervisor at Alliant International University. He is a licensed Clinical and Forensic Psychologist in the State of California. He holds two Diplomates from the American Board of Professional Psychology: one in Clinical Psychology and one in Forensic Psychology. These are the highest levels of recognition in these professions. Jon has 38 years of experience in providing psychological services. He graduated from Northwestern University with a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology. He has been licensed since 1983 and he is licensed in four states. He has been a Naval officer, he has served on the staff of a Fortune 500 corporation and he has served on the faculties of five universities. He has been employed by two state agencies and as a small business owner he has held a number of state and federal contracts. He has testified 200 times in criminal, juvenile, disability and personal injury proceedings. He has published original articles on clinical and forensic psychology in peer-reviewed journals. His research interests include the detection of malingering. Currently he is providing a variety of clinical, assessment, educational and forensic services.

Brittany Zelgowski, Psy.D., recently graduated from Argosy University in Washington, DC with a doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology (specialization in Forensic Psychology).  Previous to that, Dr. Zelgowski graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology in 2006 and from Argosy University with a Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology in 2008.  While working on her graduate degree, Dr. Zelgowski completed three part-time supervised yearly practica. These practica centered on offering psychotherapy to adults with severe mental illness in a correctional facility, completing court-ordered assessments for children and adolescents, and conducting assessment and therapy for children and adults through a private practice. In conjunction with these practica, Dr. Zelgowski worked full-time as a substance abuse counselor for the Federal Government at a court-ordered residential treatment facility and then at Georgetown University as a research project coordinator.  Dr. Zelgowski recently completed her doctoral internship training at Yale University School of Medicine where she worked with adults involved in the criminal justice system dealing with substance abuse problems and/or domestic violence (perpetrators and victims), and conducted research on the effects of childhood sexual abuse. Dr. Zelgowski joined the forensic consulting team at the FVSAI in July 2011, functioning under the supervision of Robert Geffner, Ph.D., ABPP, ABN and Jessica McManus, Psy.D., as a postdoctoral fellow in forensic and clinical psychology.

Brenda Aranda, M.A. is a fifth year clinical psychology Ph.D. student at the Clinical Psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology (CSPP) at Alliant International University (AIU). She has a masters depress in psychology from CSPP at AIU. She has completed 15-hour training on intimate partner violence and 15-hour training on child abuse. She has co-authored some peer reviewed journal articles concerning family violence and custody and book chapter concerning child abuse and custody issues and will be a co-presenter at the International Conference on Violence, Abuse, and Trauma this year on the topic of child custody evaluations. Ms. Aranda has extensive clinical training in providing psychological services (i.e. individual and group therapy, crisis intervention, and assessment). She is also an Assistant Editor for four internationally disseminated journals: Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment and Trauma, the Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, the Journal of Child and Adolescent Trauma, and the Journal of Emotional Abuse. She has previously been an editorial assistant for the Journal of Child Custody. She has been a member of the forensic consulting team at the Family Violence & Sexual Assault Institute (FVSAI), functioning under the supervision of Dr. Geffner for the past three years.

Leslie Gretter, M.A. is a doctoral candidate in the Clinical Psychology program at the California School of Professional Psychology (CSPP) at Alliant International University. She is a sixth year Psy.D. student currently completing her dissertation, a qualitative investigation of child custody evaluators, and will graduate in 2011. Ms. Gretter is a graduate of Northeastern University, earning a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology in 2002. Ms. Gretter has completed a clinical practicum at the Center for Autism Research, Evaluation, and Service (CARES) providing behavioral therapy to children with Autism spectrum disorders as well as supporting their families. In her first clinical internship Ms. Gretter provided group and individual therapy to inpatients and outpatients at Bayview Hospital. At Bayview Hospital Ms. Gretter was also responsible for conducting psychological evaluations and worked closely with supervisors, psychiatrists, and hospital staff in her role as Lead Testing Intern. Additionally, Ms. Gretter has also worked at The Italian Home for Children, a residential treatment program for children with severe emotional problems, The Brookline Center, with seriously mentally ill adults, and New Alternative’s Foster Family Agency, providing support to high-risk adolescents and their foster families. Ms. Gretter joined the forensic consulting team at the Institute of Violence, Abuse, and Trauma (IVAT), as an Intern under the supervision of Dr. Geffner, in July of 2009. She is currently a psychological assistant working on the Forensic Consulting Team and offering individual therapy for kids and adults on a sliding scale basis.

Monique Oglesby is a 5th year doctorate student in the Psy.D. Program at the California School of Professional Psychology at Alliant International University. She has an emphasis in Forensic Psychology and obtained her Master’s Degree in May 2006. She has completed the 3 mandatory 40 hours of training for custody evaluators, as well as the 15 hour training on Intimate Partner Violence. She has also completed semester courses in Forensic Psychology, School Violence Prevention, and Clinical Inference Forensics. Ms. Oglesby was a co-presenter at the International Conference on Violence, Abuse and Trauma in 2007 and 2008 on the topic of child custody. She has practicum experience conducting individual and group therapy and crisis intervention. She completed her internship in which she conducted assessments, individual, and group therapy for offenders who were on parole or probation. Ms. Oglesby continues to work as a Psychosocial Rehabilitation Specialist at Vista Balboa Crisis Center for the past two years. She has also worked at the Institute on Violence, Abuse and Trauma as a Conference Assistant and/or a Special Projects Assistant for the past three years. She has been a member of the forensic consulting team at the Family Violence and Sexual Assault Institute at Alliant International University for the past two years under the supervision of Robert Geffner, Ph.D., ABPP, ABPN.

Brianna Pepiton, Psy.D. graduated from the California School of Professional Psychology (CSPP) at Alliant International University (AIU) with a doctorate degree in Clinical Psychology, and an emphasis in forensics.  She became licensed as a clinical psychologist in December of 2009.  Dr. Pepiton earned a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Louisiana State University in 2004.  She is currently in her 6th year of providing individual, group and family therapy to severally mentally ill adults who have a dual diagnosis.  Dr. Pepiton has worked in the forensic field since 2006 and became a certified custody evaluator in 2008.  Her forensic experience includes working at juvenile hall, providing court-ordered re-unification therapy, monitoring supervised visits between a parent and child(ren), conducting custody evaluations and critiquing the custody evaluations conducted by others.  Dr. Pepiton has also worked as a Child Development Counselor at the San Diego Center for Children, providing for children with severe emotional problems.  In addition to working as the Supervising Psychologist at IVAT, Dr. Pepiton currently works as the staff psychologist at Alpine Special Treatment Centers, and provides services to transitional aged youth as well as adults in a locked facility.  Dr. Pepiton joined the forensic consulting team at the FVSAI, functioning under the supervision of Dr. Geffner as a postdoctoral fellow, in September of 2008, and has continued with the agency as the Supervising Psychologist beginning in June of 2010.