ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Dr. Valerie Appleton
Dr. Appleton held an EdD in Educational Psychology from the University of San Francisco. She was one of the first doctoral interns to work in the University of San Francisco’s Center for Child and Family Development Community Counseling Center. Dr. Appleton was a professor and Dean at Eastern Washington University in Cheney, Washington where she taught art therapy. She was also a mentor to many other art therapists who praised her unique teaching style. Her publications include: “Avenues of Hope: Art Therapy and the Resolution of Trauma”, “An Art Therapy Protocol for the Medical Trauma Setting”, “Team building in educational settings”, “School crisis intervention: Building effective crisis management teams”, and “Using art in group counseling with Native American youth.” We are sad to report her untimely death in 2005. We are grateful to Dr. Appleton for her unique art therapy contribution to Disastershock: How to Cope with the Emotional Stress of a Major Disaster.
Dr. Brian Gerrard
Dr. Gerrard has a PhD in Sociology, from the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia and a PhD in Counseling Psychology, from the University of Toronto. Dr. Gerrard is an Emeritus faculty member of the University of San Francisco where he developed the masters MFT program and for 14 years served as MFT Coordinator. His orientation emphasizes an integration of family systems and problem-solving approaches. He is an experienced administrator and has been Chair of the USF Counseling Psychology Department three times. Currently, he is a member of the Board, Center for Child and Family Development, Western Institute for Social Research. The Center, co-founded by Dr. Gerrard, has for years managed the largest longest-running School-Based Family Counseling program of its type in the USA. Its Mission Possible Program has served more than 20,000 children and families in over 70 Bay area schools. He is also Chair of the Institute for School-Based Family Counseling and Symposium Director for the Oxford Symposium in School-Based Family Counseling. Currently, Dr. Gerrard is the Chief Administrative Officer and a Core Faculty Member in the Western Institute for Social Research in Berkeley, California. He is senior editor of the books School-Based Family Counseling for Crisis and Disaster: Global Perspectives (Routledge, 2023), and School-Based Family Counseling with Refugees and Immigrants (Routledge, 2022).
Dr. Suzanne Giraudo
Suzanne Giraudo is Clinical Director of the Kalmanovitz Child Development Center Dept. of Pediatrics at California Pacific Medical Center. Dr. Giraudo is apsychologist working with children, adolescents, young adults and families and is active in the Medical Center’s community health programs for over 25 years. In addition, she served on the Children and Families Commission for San Francisco for 12 years , is currently a member of the San Francisco Health Commission, is a trustee for DeMarillac Academy, on the advisory board of the University of San Francisco Health Professions. Dr. Giraudo has served on the boards of many non profits including Hamilton Family Center, Home Away From Homelessness and Catholic Charities, Coleman Advocates. She has given many presentations and participated in research in the fields, of education, health, child development and mental/behavioral health. Dr. Giraudo has been honored for her contributions with the Bank of America Local Heroes Award, The California Pacific Medical Center’s Presidents Award and State Legislature 12 th Assembly District Woman of the Year Award. Suzanne is a native San Franciscan and lives in the City with her husband.
Dr. Emily S. Girault
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Dr. Girault had a PhD in Education from Stanford University. She was an Emerita faculty member in the Counseling Psychology department at the University of San Francisco. She taught courses in Group Counseling, Family Therapy, Personality, and Marital and Family Therapy Fieldwork. Dr. Girault was instrumental in developing the Counseling Psychology department’s first off-campus marital and family therapy program in Palo Alto, California, which became the model for 4 other university off-campus programs. She was also co-founder of the University of San Francisco’s Center for Child & Family Development. The Center has for years managed the largest longest-running School-Based Family Counseling program of its type in the USA. Its Mission Possible Program has served more than 20,000 children and families in over 70 Bay area schools. Dr. Girault was a founding member of the Institute for School-Based Family Counseling and played an important role in developing the Oxford Symposium in School-Based Family Counseling. Her co-authored article “Resource Personnel Workshops: A Team Approach to Educational Change” was published in the journal Social Education. Dr. Girault’s research interests were in school-based family counseling, reflective teaching, and psychological type (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator). We are sad to report that Emily died in 2022.
Dr. Sue Linville Shaffer
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Sue Linville Shaffer has an Ed.D. in Counseling Psychology from the University of San Francisco. She taught as a member of Adjunct Faculty at the University of San Francisco in the Graduate Program in Counseling Psychology from 1989 to 2018. Sue served as a consultant and bereavement specialist for Mid-Peninsula Pathways Hospice from 1990 to 2005, designing and facilitating hospice groups and providing bereavement in-service trainings to hospitals and nursing staffs in the Bay Area. Beginning in 2006, Sue became a consultant and clinical staff member at Kara, a nonprofit grief counseling agency providing grief and trauma support to individuals families and children in Palo Alto, California. She served as Director of Clinical Services for the agency from 2006 - 2020. Between 2011 and 2016 Sue participated in the Advanced Critical Incident Stress Management Team Bay Area (CISM), facilitating debriefings and crisis interventions in varied settings including schools, agencies, and workplaces Bay-Area wide. For 30 years Sue has maintained a clinical private practice in Menlo Park, California. She currently works with individuals, young adults, and families as well as facilitating groups for Young Widows and Widowers, Daughters Grieving Loss of Mother, and other groups related to healing following trauma and complicated loss.