The Alliance for Behavioral Care home office is in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. All clinical members work in Broward County, Florida.
Dr. Besner is active in the American Psychological Association, currently serving as chair of PICK42, (Practice Information Clearinghouse of Knowledge for Division 42), the Division of Independent Practitioners. She is past president of the Broward County Psychological Association and the Women's section of Division 12, Clinical Psychology, of the American Psychological Association. Active in many community organizations she has received numerous awards on both a local and state level including the Outstanding Contribution by a Psychologist to the Community from the Florida Psychological Association.
Dr. Besner has numerous publications including three books: Gay and Lesbian Students: Understanding Their Needs; Training Professionals Who Work with Gays and Lesbians; and Understanding and Solving Your Police Marriage Problems. Following the tragic events in Columbine, Colorado Dr. Besner co-authored a booklet entitled Coming Together to help parents and students recognize warning signs for violence and to develop coping strategies for dealing with bullies. She was instrumental in introducing a violence prevention campaign for youth to the Broward County community that was incorporated into the local public school system.
When Dr. Besner is not working, she enjoys spending time with her family, outdoor activities and reading.
Dr. Blake earned a Diplomate in Forensic Psychology from the American College of Forensic Examiners. Since 1987, she has provided psychological assessments, competency evaluations and testimony for juvenile and adult offenders for the Broward County courts.
Dr. Blake has been a child advocate for over thirty years and helped established the Good Grief Program in Broward County for children and adolescents who have suffered the death of a loved one. She has served on several non-profit boards and served as an advisor to foundations and public service organizations. Dr. Blake is the co-author of Help Me Stop Smoking and Comprehensive-Child Assessment Program.
Dr. Blake has diversified business interests and enjoys sailing, growing orchids and flying in her husband’s home built airplanes.
Dr. Ferguson is currently President of two Florida corporations. Alternate Family Care, Inc. provides psychiatric residential care and related services to children and families throughout southeast Florida. Alternate Family Care, which is accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, won the prestigious Codman Award in 2001 in the Behavioral Healthcare category for using outcome measures to improve patient care through use of its Resolution Focused Therapy model of care. A second corporation, The Centre for Innovative Solutions, Inc., provides foster care services, training, consultation, and employee leasing services.
Dr. Ferguson serves on many local and statewide boards and committees. He serves on the State Advisory Committee for Exceptional Student Education for the Florida Department of Education, is President of the Broward County Children's Consortium, and is Past Chairman of the State Advisory Board for the Multi-Agency Network for Severely Emotionally Disturbed Children (SEDNET).
Dr. Ferguson is married with three children and is a Ruling Elder at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Dr. Jack Mitchell is presently functioning as an entrepreneur; developing real estate investments, providing marketing assistance for a number of companies, and continuing to provide Human Resources consulting for a number of Florida-based companies.
For the past 10 years, Dr. Mitchell was the President of one of the largest HR consulting and training firms in all of South Florida. During this time, he specialized in executive leadership coaching and management training.
Prior to his presidency with the HR consulting firm, Dr. Mitchell was an independent consultant, again specializing in executive leadership and management development. His corporate experience included roles as a Senior Vice President of Human Resources for one of the largest advertising and public relations firms in the world, headquartered in New York.
Prior to this corporate experience he functioned as a psychological counselor and pastoral minister. Dr. Mitchell was a former Catholic priest, and as such, was assigned to the Vatican in Rome, Italy. He holds a doctoral degree in international law, and advanced degrees in psychological counseling and in theology.
Dr. Joel Kimmel is a licensed psychologist who has been in private practice for more than 30 years. He received his Bachelor's degree from Queens College and his Doctorate from Hofstra University. Currently, Dr. Kimmel manages a group mental health practice in Coral Springs Florida. In his practice, Dr. Kimmel provides individual psychotherapy and conducts psychological assessments of children and adults.
Throughout his career, Dr. Kimmel has also served in many different capacities. He has been the Team Psychologist for the Child Protection Team of Broward County where he participated in the investigation of cases of reported child abuse. He has been the adolescent program psychologist for several chemical dependency treatment programs, both free standing and hospital based. Dr. Kimmel has also served as a consultant to several corporations resolving employee conflicts and developing Violence in the Workplace prevention programs. For several years, Dr. Kimmel conducted extensive executive level evaluations for Alamo Rent-A-Car. He has also provided many Critical Incident Stress Debriefings. Dr. Kimmel developed and still manages the Threat of Violence telephone hotline for employees of Broward Health, formerly the North Broward Hospital District. He continues to conduct psychological evaluations for admission to private schools, for identifying learning disorders and classroom accommodations, and for class placements. He is also a frequent guest on Topical Currents, WLRN 91.3 FM (NPR) radio.
While not at work, Dr. Kimmel enjoys spending time with his family, reading, and do-it-yourself projects. He also has great passion for the March of the Living and is integrally involved in its development.
