Betsey has been in the healing profession for sixteen years. She is trained as a yoga instructor through the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centers. Her life journey took her to West Africa to be a health educator with the Peace Corps. For the past ten years she has been practicing massage and craniosacral therapy. Her offices are in Towson and University of Maryland Medical Center for Integrative Medicine. Betsey co-facilitates Sacred Parenting Circles to create community for parents. She brings to KEEP THE CONNECTION℠ Workshops her understanding of the challenges of single parenting

Barbara Sugarman Grochal, Deputy Director of the Schools
Conflict Resolution Education Programs at the Center for Dispute Resolution at the University of Maryland School of Law, has a  background in conflict resolution work, business, and education.

Carol Klein has been teaching for over 45 years.  She earned her B.S. in Elementary Education from the University of Maryland, her certification in Early Childhood Education from Towson College and Masters credits in Guidance and Counseling from Loyola College.

Cheryl Phillips was a preschool teacher for twos and threes for eight years. Later, she earned her BS in Early Childhood Education from Towson University. She taught first and third grades for a total of 10 years. She also taught Special Education for 1 year and gained knowledge about learning differences and modifications that would enhance her students' education. She received several awards of recognition for excellence in education.

Cheryl earned her Master's Degree in School Counseling from Loyola College in Maryland. She worked with individual children, parents, teachers, and groups of children. She has also developed school wide programs that fostered cooperation by having students work for the benefit of the school community. Cheryl is working toward earning her license to become an LCPC. While she enjoyed her years as a classroom teacher, Cheryl prefers to work one-to-one and to facilitate group sessions.

Cheryl lives in Baltimore, MD with her husband of 29 years. They have two daughters, one son-in-law, and two grandchildren (who are the light of their lives!).

Her web site is http://www.harmonious-solutions.net

Dr. Provan has experience working with a diverse range of populations and in a variety of settings, including an inpatient psychiatric hospital, outpatient mental health clinic, substance abuse, assisted living, nursing home, and a college counseling center. She specializes in the treatment of adolescents and adults with emotional, behavioral, and health concerns, and provides individual, group, and family therapy. Her interests include providing psychotherapy for individuals suffering from longstanding patterns of interpersonal difficulties, mood disorders, adjustment to life stressors, parenting issues, and helping families with children who have severe food allergies.

Jill now lives in Owings Mills, MD with her husband and is a stay-at-home mom to her three sons, 17, 13, and 7 months.

Judith was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She started her career in education as a Hebrew teacher in a bilingual school. After five years, she moved to Israel where she completed her Masters' degree at the University of Haifa. She worked with disadvantaged communities and contributed to research in Cooperative Learning. She then moved to Baltimore to work as a bilingual curriculum developer and later as a supervisor at the Success for All Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to the education of children-at-risk. For the past four years she has been teaching Spanish to 7th and 8th graders. Having lived and raised a family in three different countries, she had the need and opportunity to transverse several cultural and language barriers, developing the ability to reach across the barriers and to understand the problems of bilingual communities. Judith resides in Baltimore with her Argentinian husband and three bilingual sons.

Highly experienced educational and community organizer interested in creating or leading educational community partnerships or community development initiatives. Committed to developing community action by identifying issues, analyzing statistics, conferring with community agencies and people in contact with the community and developing and leading action plans. Open to permanent opportunities or consulting positions.

Wendy began her career as a parent education teacher for the Baltimore City Public Schools in the 1970's before assuming full-time responsibilities as Director of the Complaint Unit of the Consumer Protection Division of the Maryland Office of  the Attorney General. She then became Director of Development and External relations at The Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth.  While at Hopkins she received her Master's Degree in ABS (Applied Behavioral Sciences) and used her job experiences as a senior level manager plus her educational background to work with individuals, groups and large organizations.  She consults, facilitates, and coaches  clients to manage problematic issues involving change, working together effectively, conflict resolution, strategic planning, family life, etc.

Wendy is certified to administer the MBTI (Myers Briggs Type Indicator) and especially enjoys working with groups to facilitate growth and development.  She has been married for almost 47 years and has 2 grown children and 2 grandchildren.

Jane was born in Bueno Aires, Argentina where she received her BA in Early Childhood Education. After emigrating to the United States with her husband, she earned her MA in Early Childhood Education at Antioch University, Columbia, MD. Her background in teaching makes her particularly sensitive to the needs of young children.

Jane lives in Baltimore with her husband and she has two grown daughters and two young granddaughters

Marni’s varied professional life has included hiring, training, and monitoring all graduate level instructional staff of the Stanley H. Kaplan Educational Center, Counseling at the Jewish Vocational Service, Staff Assistant to Congresswoman Barbara Mikulski.  Marni’s sensitivity, coupled with her compassion for children and their parents makes her an ideal candidate for facilitating our workshops.

Celia is a retired elementary teacher who enjoyed 25 non-consecutive years of teaching in Harford County, Md.  Her experience lies with second and fourth graders.  During the years she spent rearing her own two girls, she tutored privately and also began a small business that involved meeting with parents at preschools to provide various comprehension techniques to employ while reading quality material to their preschoolers. At that time, she also taught parents how to work with their own children to enhance their school experiences.  Celia provided parents with strategies and materials to use while tutoring their own children. She continued to meet with the parents weekly or biweekly to encourage, counsel, and update lessons for them.  She spent 2 years as a testing facilitator for Harford Community College at a boys' home in Fallston, Maryland.  Celia also taught Adult Basic Education for HHC before returning to the public schools

Jo-Ellen's 30-year career on the faculty of Stevenson University has earned her many distinguished honors and awards:

• Jo-Ellen Turner Ed.D. Endowed Scholarship in English
• The President's Medal (May, 2007)
• Tree Dedication on Stevenson campus in honor of 30 years of service in the English Department  (2008)
• Member of President's Advisory Council (2007 -)
• Member of the Advisory Council for Quality Nursing Education (2007-)
• Commencement Address, January Graduation Exercises  (2003)
• Outstanding Teaching Award (2002)
• Who's Who Among America's Teachers (2002, 2003,  2004)
• Convocation Speaker (faculty representative), August 2002

Jo-Ellen has chosen to facilitate KEEP THE CONNECTION WORKSHOPS as her latest endeavor to once again excel.