Karen Irene Kalergis is the president of Mani Partners Strategic Communications. She was the product coordinator for the OVC VTT, a project to develop an online repository to help first responders and victim service organizations become more vicarious trauma-informed, and the project director for the OVC Resiliency Project, which created and piloted an organizational resiliency model for child abuse agencies. In her nearly 30 years of experience in the victim services field, Ms. Kalergis has focused on addressing how victim service providers are impacted by their work. She is a writer and storyteller, and infuses her presentations with information from research and practice wisdom. She has provided training to law enforcement, prosecutors, victim advocates, teachers, and health care workers in urban, rural, and tribal communities. In 2015, Ms. Kalergis was awarded the prestigious National Crime Victim Service Award, which honors extraordinary individuals and programs. She also assists organizations with implementation of victims’ rights, model standards, strategic planning, and State Victim Assistance Academies.

Katherine Manners, M.Ed., LMFT is a senior partner at Resilience Works, providing training, technical assistance, and consultation to victim service, law enforcement, legal and crisis responder programs. She has more than 30 years of organizational consulting and training experience on the topics of trauma-informed care, vicarious trauma and homicide bereavement. Most recently, Ms. Manners has served as the resource coordinator for the OVC Vicarious Trauma Toolkit, providing research and material development. Currently, she is a Subject Matter Expert for the Collective Healing Project with the International Association of Chiefs of Police. She is the co-founder and author of a program and curriculum that provides information and support to direct service advocates on secondary traumatic stress, organizational development, and self-care. She provides crisis intervention counseling and critical incident debriefings, therapy, for people victims of crime and providers and first responders. 

*OVC TTAC instructors have no vested interest in any products, instruments, devices, or materials that may be used in this training.