Dr. Farkas contributed to the establishment of the Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation. She has been the Co-Principal Investigator of the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center since 1994 and a professor in Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at Boston University. She has authored and co-authored over 100 articles in professional journals, four textbooks, a dozen book chapters, and nine multi-media training package; and is on a myriad of editorial review boards and advisory boards. Dr. Farkas has been working in various capacities in the field of psychiatric rehabilitation and recovery that have enabled her to promote the use of effective strategies and programs with diverse populations around the globe. She has been the Vice President of the World Association of Psychosocial Rehabilitation (WAPR) and the President of the National Association of Rehabilitation Research and Training Centers (NARRTC and nd the Director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Center in Psychiatric Rehabilitation. She has received numerous awards for her contributions to the field including a Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of “…her outstanding contributions to the pre-eminence and practice of psychosocial rehabilitation.”

Dr. Sullivan Soydan is an Assistant Clinical Professor at the College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences: Sargent College at Boston University. Anne is presently a consultant for Supported Education initiatives, most recently at the Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation and has worked with the Center since 1985. Most recently, she was the project director of the Boston University-based Supported Education Program, developing and implementing service programs for young adults with psychiatric disabilities as they return to college and providing statewide technical assistance and consultation in supported education. Currently, Anne is conducting research, training, and consultation in the areas of educational support, and reasonable accommodations; program and curriculum development; program evaluation; and eating disorders and trauma and quality of care in women with psychiatric disabilities.

Dr. Gagne worked in numerous research, training, and service projects at the Center. Dr. Gagne was a senior training associate and spent her time training and consulting with mental health programs in the United States and internationally. She was the associate director of the Services Division of the Center, which develops, delivers, and evaluates innovative services for people with psychiatric disabilities. She developed many training programs and courses for mental health professionals and people who use mental health services.

Dr. Cohen was Associate Executive Director at the Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation and research associate professor of rehabilitation counseling at Boston University. Dr. Cohen developed psychiatric rehabilitation and case management training technology and wrote numerous journal articles, books, book chapters, and monographs.

Ms. McNamara began her career in 1978 providing services for people with psychiatric disabilities in community programs, and in 1985 she began teaching the skills of psychiatric rehabilitation to providers in the mental health field. For 15 years, Ms. McNamara worked as an Adjunct Clinical Assistant Professor in the Rehabilitation Counseling Program at Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at Boston University. She has co-authored several articles and curricula on psychiatric rehabilitation. She created the Professional Development Program, which offers various options for continuing education through the Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation. Currently, Ms. McNamara works as the Product Specialist in the Training Division at the Center.

Dr. Nemec is an internationally-recognized trainer in psychiatric rehabilitation and was the Director of the academic specialization in psychiatric rehabilitation at Boston University (now closed). She has played an important role on the curriculum development team for the Boston University’s Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation as well as for regional training projects in psychiatric rehabilitation and academic curriculum development for undergraduate and graduate programs in health and rehabilitation sciences. As an active contributor to the Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association, Pat was a key member of the task force groups that developed the USPRA Language Guidelines and the most recent revision of the USPRA Multicultural Principles. She was a founding member of the Consortium of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Educators.

Dr. Cohen is the executive vice president for strategic services and partners at PTC. Dr. Cohen is responsible for PTC’s global human resources, customer care, technical support, enterprise consulting partners, global services consulting and operations, Product First™ practice and education services. Dr. Cohen joined PTC in January 1998 when PTC acquired Computervision. Prior to the acquisition, he served with Computervision for four years as senior vice president for human development and organizational productivity. Before joining Computervision, Dr. Cohen was the president of Possibilities Inc., an executive consulting firm specializing in organizational change and executive coaching, where he served for thirteen years. Dr. Cohen has authored or co-authored several books on leadership and organizational change, including The Wellness Sourcebook, Ethical Leadership, Leadership Myths and Realities, and The Possibilities Economy: New Capital Development.  He has also published many professional articles and a series of training manuals.

Mr. Forbess was the Associate Director of Training at the Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation at Boston University. He began his career as a provider, supervisor, and manager in community mental health centers in Texas and Maine. He received his Masters of Science Degree in Social Work from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1978 and joined the Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation as a Senior Training Associate in 1985. Since that time he has provided training and technical assistance to a wide range of mental health agencies throughout the United States and Canada in order to implement psychiatric rehabilitation, person-centered service planning, and other services guided by values considered central to facilitating a person’s recovery from mental illness. He has developed and assisted with the development of training technologies, manuals, guides, and program curricula and has co-authored published articles and book chapters on psychiatric rehabilitation and case management.