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Community Resilience Initiative

STAFF

Becky Turner

Interim Executive Director

Becky Turner (she/her) joined the CRI team as Director of Community Engagement in 2022 and brings a background in public education and nonprofit leadership, including executive experience supporting individuals navigating reentry after incarceration. A lifelong resident of the Walla Walla Valley, she is deeply invested in strengthening communities locally and beyond, helping expand CRI’s reach into a global network of resilience through cross-sector collaboration. Outside of work, Becky enjoys gardening and Sunday dinner with her extended family, where she is the assigned dessert maker.

TRAINERS

Teresa Posakony

Emerging Wisdom

Teresa Posakony is a leader and innovator in the Self-Healing and Resilient Communities movement. She works with individuals, organizations, and communities globally to help us realize our innate capacity to flourish. Teresa is a passionate student, researching at the intersection of neuroscience, anatomy, energy medicine, and somatic (body) intelligence. She loves seeing the change that happens when people discover the dynamic intelligence of their bodies and learn how to work with it. Teresa is the author of the courses Moving from Trauma Informed Care to Healing Centered Practices, Wellness Leadership, and Self-Regulation for Early Learners: Trauma Informed Strategies and Practices; co-author for the course Restorative Anatomy for Self-Regulation. ​

Karen Vielle

KVL Mindful Living Solutions

Karen Vielle is the owner of KVL Mindful Living Solutions in Spokane, WA. After working 23 years in public education as a School Psychologist and 20 years as a yoga instructor, in 2002 became certified as a Mindfulness Coach through the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Program.

Rick Griffin

Master Trainer

Rick (he/him) is the former Executive Director for CRI and our current Master Trainer. With more than twenty years of experience in non-profit administration, Rick has first-hand experience with building organizations that use a trauma-informed approach in both internal operations and service delivery. Under Rick’s guidance, CRI has become a leading voice in the field of trauma and resilience. His dedication to resilience, and his commitment to creating a citizenry conversant in the science of trauma, are an inspiration to all who know him.

FOUNDER

Theresa Barila pic

Theresa Barila

she/her

Founder, Community Resilience Initiative

Theresa “Teri” Barila is the founder of CRI. With a background in biology and 20 years as a Research Biologist, Teri bridged science and practice when she moved into community engagement work over two decades ago. Recognized internationally, she has dedicated her career to training communities in trauma, resilience, and capacity building.

BOARD

Dwayne Delaney

Board President

Dwayne Delaney is the Regional Prevention Coordinator from Farmville Crossroads CSB. He initially started working as a Prevention Specialist at Crossroads. A Virginia native, Dwayne was raised in Amelia County and has provided services within the surrounding counties for approximately 13 years. He has provided IIHS, MHS and worked with the re-entry community to help make change. Within his time, prevention has really opened his eyes to different avenues to help influence, educate, and provide change. Overall, as a a Regional Prevention Coordinator, Dwayne plays a crucial role in promoting health and well-being in the community by focusing on prevention and early intervention strategies.

John Kiepe

Treasurer

John Kiepe hails from Spokane, WA and has significant experience in the world of finance, including serving on several other nonprofit boards. We will update this page soon with more information about Mr. Kiepe.

Heather Keyes

MSW

Heather Williams Keyes is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Certified Social Work Manager in Lynchburg, Virginia. She has over 20 years of experience as a social worker working with individuals across the life span. Heather graduated from Longwood University with a bachelor’s degree in social work. She then went on to receive her master’s in social work at Radford University. She has worked in a variety of settings during her career to include outpatient, inpatient, emergency services, substance use treatment, foster care, healthcare facilities. She is currently in the role of Director of Behavioral Health at a Federally Qualified Health Center look-a-like in Lynchburg, Virginia. In this role and a previous role of the same setting, she has developed programs for integrated care and supported medical professionals in bridging the gap between physical health and emotional health. She is passionate about holistic care and supporting patients to see the connection between their brain and their body. She is the Trauma Informed Champion in her current role. In this capacity, she has helped leadership develop trauma informed practices in the clinic. She is also the owner of Resiliency Counseling and Consulting, LLC where she works with individuals, families, students and local businesses to address burnout, undermotivation, emotional and physical health to be successful in living a resilient life. She has served on boards for Emergency Services at the state level task with process and flow for state-wide initiatives. She is currently on the board of her local Continuum of Care which supports the homeless response services in Lynchburg, Virginia and the surrounding counties. She received the Behavioral Health Team of the Year award in 2017 from the Virginia Healthcare Foundation. She lives in Lynchburg, Virginia with her husband, three sons, 2 dogs and a cat. She has the pleasure of being a bonus mom and has a total of 8 children and five grandchildren. She enjoys the outdoors/nature, reading and cooking.

Mary Koval

Director

Mary Koval holds a BA and MA in Sociology from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. She has experience in human services and higher education as both an administrator and faculty member. Ms. Koval presents workshops on diversity, social inequality, and leadership development, and is certified in Trauma-Informed Care, Trauma Supportive Care, Windmills: Changing Perceptions of Ability, and John Maxwell Leadership & Coaching.

Rick Griffin

Master Trainer

Rick (he/him) is the former Executive Director for CRI and our current Master Trainer. With more than twenty years of experience in non-profit administration, Rick has first-hand experience with building organizations that use a trauma-informed approach in both internal operations and service delivery. Under Rick’s guidance, CRI has become a leading voice in the field of trauma and resilience. His dedication to resilience, and his commitment to creating a citizenry conversant in the science of trauma, are an inspiration to all who know him.

Dr. Christine Fuselier

Director

Dr. Christine Fuselier is a business leader, leadership engineer, diversity, and emotional intelligence consultant, published author, and academic leader. She has had a successful, progressive 30-year career in the corporate finance industry where she has held positions of department manager, operations manager, global operations manager, and vice president. Currently Christine is the Market Ethics & Compliance Officer liaison and Division Director for Culture and Values at HCA Healthcare where she is responsible for guiding to operationalize & localize our enterprise and division-specific Culture and Values initiatives and goals by advancing health equity, colleague sense of belonging; working in our communities on health awareness and education. She leads and guides Colleague Networks in professional development, recruitment, community and driving colleague sense of belonging that fosters supporting inclusive cultures where all colleagues can thrive. Prior to joining HCA Healthcare, Christine was the Dean of Instruction at Bryant & Stratton College where she led the academic team in growth, retention, engagements and increased graduation rates. Christine was a business owner of The Leadership Doctor, an executive leadership consulting firm where she conducted, workshops, trainings, masterminds, Artificial Intelligence, transformational tables and consulted leaders to excellence across industries on people leadership, diversity, emotional intelligence and executive presence.  She created the “Stack your Deck” collection of card games centered around Inclusion, emotional intelligence, self-esteem and leadership. people can learn and grow in play. Christine is a lifelong learner, which is demonstrated in her extensive educational background, including five academic degrees (an Associate’s in broadcast communications, a Bachelor’s in speech communications, a Master’s in business administration, a Master’s in organization management, and a Doctorate in organizational leadership). Christine is Myers, Briggs, DISC, EQ, AI Ethics and Trauma Informed Certified.

Kristine Blitt

Director

Please join CRI in welcoming Kristine Blitt to our Board of Directors. Her profile will be updated shortly.
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