Film TEAM

Documentary Film Team

PRODUCER: Robbyn Peters Bennett, MA, LMHC, Child Mental Health Specialist:  Robbyn’s doorway into this issue is from the perspective of a mother, grandmother and also as a psychotherapist.  Robbyn holds a Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute.  She has received advanced training in Jungian Analytic theory.  She was the Administrative and Clinical Director of a 200-bed inpatient psychiatric program, where she developed and implemented an outpatient therapy program as well as the Parental-Child Foundations Program aimed at early intervention and treatment of attachment failures and pregnancy related psychological illness.  Robbyn was also the Clinical Director of a long-term residential treatment center for mentally ill children.  She is a psychotherapist, administrator, educator and child advocate.  She provides therapy to families involved with Child Protective Services, and provides parenting assessments for the Department of Child & Family Services.  Currently she has a private practice in Bellingham, Washington.  Robbyn is a board advisor for the US Alliance to End the Hitting of Children http://endhittingusa.org/.

Director:  Susan Kucera is an experienced, professional documentary film maker.   She has been behind the camera for over twenty years, from Bolex 16mm film specializing in time-lapse for stock footage to High Tech Red One Digital Camera professional. Susan also teaches media salons and Red One “field trips” at Akaku Television Station in Maui HI.  Work samples: http://cinepartners.org/www.Cinepartners.org/Home.html

Cinematographer:

• Britannica Films, 1991, working for Dr. Richard Kucera for stock footage.

Screenwriter:

• Jack London’s ‘Sea Wolf: Voyage of the Ghost,’ 2000, Screenplay adaptation, Optioned
• Work-for-hire adaptation of Fup, 2002, by Jim Dodge for Schur Productions
• Freeland, 2005, Original screenplay, Butchers Run

Film Maker:

• 6 commercials aired by Comcast, 2009 -2010
• Trading on thin Air, full length feature Documentary, 2010, Director, Editor , Cinematographer and Producer, licensed to Gravitas Ventures for distribution nationwide.  Distributed widely on Netflix, Hulu, Vudu, iTunes, Amazon, Rogers Cable Canada andmany other platforms.  http://tradingonthinair.com/tradingonthinair.com/Welcome.html
• Tango…..is Life, 2011, Director, Co -Producer, Cinematographer, Editor (recently completed), Gawain Bantle ‘For the Love of Tango’ co-producer; Broadway’s Jorge Torres
• Improv(e), 2012 (in production) Executive Producer, Director, Producer, Cinematographer, Editor collaborating with the Unusual Suspects Theatre Company    President’s Award 2008  —
• Afraid of the Dark, Humanity at the Crossroads, 2012, Cinematographer and Story Development (pre-production)

Key Interviewee:Dr. Bruce Perry, PhD, MD has agreed to be interviewed on the developmental and neuropsychological impact of spanking children.  He is the Senior Fellow of The ChildTrauma Academy (www.ChildTrauma.org) in Houston and an Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Feinberg School of Medicine of Northwestern University in Chicago. He is a clinician and researcher in children’s mental health and the neurosciences, and an internationally-recognized authority on children in crisis. From 1993-2001, he was the Thomas S. Trammell Research Professor of Psychiatry at Baylor College of Medicine and Chief of Psychiatry at Texas Children’s Hospital. He is currently Senior Fellow at the ChildTrauma Academy, which is a leading center of research and education on child maltreatment. He also serves as Senior Consultant to the Alberta Ministry of Children’s Services in Canada.   He has published many books and articles including “The Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics,” “The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog,” and “Born for Love,” with reviews such as “A profound lesson in simple humanity.” -O, Oprah’s Magazine.  www.childtrauma.org/

Collaborator:  Ross W. Greene, Ph.D., Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and the originator of the Collaborative Problem Solving approach.  He is the author of the highly acclaimed books “The Explosive Child” and “Lost at School.”  The Stanley Medical Research Institute, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the U.S. Department of Education, and the Maine Juvenile Justice Advisory Group, has funded his research.  He consults extensively to general and special education schools, inpatient and residential facilities, and systems of juvenile detention, and lectures widely throughout the world.  Dr. Greene is Director of Lives of the Balance,  and originator of the CPS model. He is also Associate Clinical Professor in Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, staff psychologist at the Cambridge Health Alliance, Senior Lecturer in the school psychology program in the Department of Education at Tufts University, and adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at Virginia Tech. Dr. Ross consults extensively to families, general and special education schools, inpatient and residential facilities, and systems of juvenile detention, and lectures widely throughout the world. His research has been funded by, among others, the National Institute on Drug Abuse/National Institutes of Mental Health, the Stanley Medical Research Institute, the U.S. Department of Education, and the Maine Juvenile Justice Advisory Group.  www.livesinthebalance.org/

COLLABORATOR: Victor Vieth, JD, Executive Director, National Child Protection Training Center  http://www.ncptc.org/ Dr. Vieth provides intensive instruction for undergraduate students and current professionals in the field on how to better recognize, react, and respond to children who are being abused.

Dr. Vieth earned his Juris Doctor from Hamline University School of Law (HUSL). While studying at HUSL, he received the American Jurisprudence award for achievement in the study of Constitutional law and served as editor-in-chief of the Law Review.   He has trained thousands of child protection professionals from all 50 states, two U.S. Territories, and 17 countries on numerous topics pertaining to child abuse investigations, prosecutions and prevention. He gained national recognition for his work in addressing child abuse in small communities as a prosecutor in rural Minnesota. Dr. Vieth has been named to the President’s Honor Roll of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children. The Young Lawyers Division of the American Bar Association named him one of “21 Young Lawyers Leading us Into the 21st Century.”

He has published countless articles related to the investigation, prosecution and prevention of child abuse and neglect and is also the author of Unto the Third Generation, a bold initiative that outlines the necessary steps we must all take to eliminate child abuse in America in three generations.

COLLABORATOR: Dr. John Allan, PhD, Child Developmental Psychologist Dr. Allan is Professor Emeritus of Counseling Psychology at the University of British Columbia and the author of numerous articles and books on play therapy and school counseling, some of which are translated into Japanese, Russian, Italian and Arabic.

Dr. Allan was a Senior Training Analyst with the Pacific Northwest Society of Jungian Analysts, and is now retired living on Pender Island and in Vancouver, BC.  Dr. Allan has more than 45 years clinical experience working with both “typical” children in classrooms and those physically and sexually abused, emotionally neglected and terminally ill.  Over this time he has developed an intimate understanding of the inner world of children, and the impact of punishing forms of discipline upon their psyches and development.

• Inscapes of the Child’s World won the 1987 – 1988 Best Book Award from the Canadian Guidance and Counseling Association. Inscapes has been translated into Russian and Japanese and is currently in its 6th printing.
• Written Paths to Healing: Education and Jungian Child Counseling, co-author Judi Bertoia (1992 ) ;
• Empowering Students: Classroom Discussion Themes for Teachers and Counselors, co-author J. Na irne (1992;
• Children as Storytellers: A Bridge to Success in Reading and Writing, co-author C. Martin (1995); and
• Violence Prevention: A Group Discussion Approach, co-authors J. Nairne & J. Majcher (1996).

COLLABORATOR: Dr. George Davis, MD Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist Dr. Davis is the Director of Psychiatric Services with the Juvenile Justice Division, Department of Children, Youth and Families, NM and also the Medical Director of the Children’s Community Mental Health Clinic, Bernalillo County Juvenile Detention Center in Albuquerque, NM.  Dr. Davis is a psychiatrist, educator, and speaker.  His involvement in a state-wide research committees ranging from Pharmacy and Therapeutics, Public Health Service, Indian Hospital Child Morbidity and the Children’s Behavioral Health Redesign have given him a systems understanding of child mental health issues.  He is the author of innumerable lectures on child development and trauma, including Frontal Lobe Function in Adolescent Delinquents, Brain and Behavior, and Infant and Early Childhood Development. Dr. Davis has worked extensively with the Juvenile Justice System and the Department of Child and Family Services and understands the profound injuries that violence in all its forms has on the developing brain of a child. Dr. Davis is a Fellow with Child Trauma Academy  http://www.childtrauma.org/index.php/about-cta/cta-fellows.

COLLABORATOR: Deb Sendek, Executive Director of Center for Effective Discipline  http://stophitting.org/  Deb has over thirty years experience working in the field of child abuse and neglect prevention.  Deb spent twenty-one years working at Children’s Hospital in Columbus, OH (currently Nationwide Children’s Hospital) where she was involved in the creation of the Family Support Program, a treatment program for child and adolescent victims of sexual abuse and their non-offending family members.  Deb became Director of the Family Support Program and later helped to establish Prevent Child Abuse Ohio, the Ohio chapter for Prevent Child Abuse America within the child abuse programs at the hospital.  Deb holds a master’s degree in child development/family relations and has completed post graduate work in clinical child psychology.  Currently, Deb specializes with the Center for Effective Discipline (CED), a program of NCPTC.  She is Prevention Specialist for NCPTC and provides educational information to professionals and parents/caregivers on the effects of corporal punishment of children and alternatives to its use.  Deb also works to eliminate corporal punishment in all schools and provides alternative discipline strategies for educators.

Editor: Liz Darrow, BA Liz studied film, political theater, and dance at Fairhaven College in Bellingham, WA. She has been editing for ten years. She is editor for the local non-profit ClayforEarth and does freelance editing work with local production company Handcrank Films. She has taught video production and editing in the Bellingham School District and at Explorations Academy in Bellingham. She has screened several short films in film festivals around the Northwest. Liz enjoys collaborating with local musicians, dancers, jugglers, puppeteers and visual artists to create fun and engaging art in public spaces. As a parent she feels strongly about issues of justice and equal rights for children, and is inspired to bring these issues into public awareness with her artwork.