Claudia Black is an addiction author, speaker and trainer. She is author of Straight Talk and My Dad Loves Me, My Dad Has a Disease. She holds a Doctorate of Philosophy in Social Psychology from Columbia Pacific University, and a Masters Degree in Social Work and Bachelor of Arts Degree in Social Welfare from the University of Washington. She is a Clinical Consultant for The Meadows Treatment Center in Wickenburg, Arizona; she serves on the Advisory Board for the National Association of Children of Alcoholics, and the Advisory Council of the Moyer Foundation. Black has represented World Service Al-Anon Family Groups on Capitol Hill and on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada. Her workshops have been presented to wide array of audiences, including military academies, prison systems, medical schools, and mental health and addiction programs.

Christine Sloss is a clinical psychologist in the Family Addiction Service at CAMH, where she helped develop and evaluate programs for family members of persons who have substance use disorders. Her book is called Families CARE – Helping Families Cope And Relate Effectively to Persons with Substance Use Problems. Her recent clinical work and research is focused on promoting resilience in children affected by familial substance use and/or concurrent disorders. She has presented on this and other related topics at community forums, client workshops, training seminars, conferences, and schools.

Steve Hall has worked in the field of safety and security for over 20 years. He is an expert in youth issues, crisis intervention and management, trauma response strategies and community development. Steve is also well versed in building agency capacity and resiliency through the development and delivery of customized safety training modules. Steve has worked for Correctional Services; Portage Drug Dependencies Programs in Quebec, Ontario and Italy; Probation Services of Ontario; Provincial Child Advocate; Kids Help Phone and most recently as Community Safety Consultant for Toronto Community Housing within several portfolios including the Jane Finch corridor.