Our Staff
Paul Smokowski, PhD, MSW, LCSW, TF-CBT, CP
Executive Director
Email: paul.smokowski@ncyvpc.org
Phone: (919) 428-5716
Dr. Smokowski is Executive Director for the North Carolina Youth Violence Prevention Center. He has an interdisciplinary background in social welfare, criminology, child development, and public health. Dr. Smokowski has served as a Full Professor at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, Arizona State University, and the University of Kansas. His research teams have
had more than $20 million worth of federal funding to design, implement, and evaluate community-based prevention initiatives. As a prolific author, he has published more than 120 articles, book chapters, and books on issues related to adverse childhood experiences, bullying, risk, resilience, acculturation, adolescent mental health, family stress, and youth violence prevention, Dr. Smokowski has received numerous national awards for his youth violence prevention research. He served on the National Institutes of Health’s Youth Violence Consortium, and was a member of the inaugural class of Health Protection Research Awardees funded by the Center for Disease Control’s Office of the Director. Dr. Smokowski directed the Latino Acculturation and Health Project and the Entre Dos Mundos/Between Two Worlds program for helping Latino immigrant families cope with acculturation stressors. His published books include Becoming Bicultural: Risk and Resilience in Latino Youth (2010; NYU Press) and Bullying and Victimization Across the Life Span: Playground Politics and Power (2020; Springer).
Martica Bacallao, PhD, MSW, MA, LCSW, TF-CBT, IFS, TEP
Victim Services Director
Email: martica.bacallao@ncyvpc.org
Dr. Martica Bacallao serves as the NC Youth Violence Prevention Center’s Victim Services Director. Dr. Bacallao has worked with culturally diverse families in rural communities, particularly the Latinx population, in community-based mental health agencies and public schools. As a certified Trainer, Educator, Practitioner in psychodrama, sociometry and group psychotherapy, she has facilitated psychodrama groups and trainings at mental health agencies, public schools and universities. Dr. Bacallao has supervised implementation of youth violence prevention programs for community-based research projects, including the Making Choices socio-emotional skills training program, Entre Dos Mundos/Between Two Worlds bicultural skills training program, the Positive Action program, Parenting Wisely and Teen Courts in schools. She is a licensed clinical social worker, who facilitates trauma-focused psychotherapy, using creative arts, internal family systems and trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy.
Ashley Prows-Beard, LCSW, TF-CBT
Senior Therapist
Email: ashley.prows-beard@ncyvpc.org
Ashley Prows-Beard graduated with her Bachelor of Psychology (BS) from Appalachian State University in December 2015. She took one year off and decided to pursue her Masters of Social Work online, from Louisiana State University. She graduated with her MSW in December 2018. She is currently a licensed (LCSW) through the NC Social Work Certification and Licensure Board to provide clinical therapy. Ashley’s occupational background includes providing case management services to homeless women and children, conducting Applied Behavioral Analysis therapy for children who have autism, and serving the domestic violence and sexual assault populations through clinical counseling.
Brianna DeDeaux, MAEd, LCMHCA, TF-CBT
Clinical Therapist and Social Media Manager
Email: brianna.dedeaux@ncyvpc.org
Phone: (910) 390-0393
Stephanie “Stephy” Edwards, MSW, LCSWA
Clinical Therapist and SEE-IT Coordinator
Email: stephanie.edwards@ncyvpc.org
Phone: (618) 823-7800
Emily Locklear, MSW, LCSWA, TF-CBT
Clinical Therapist, Intake Coordinator
Work Phone: (910) 316-7123
Email: emily.locklear@ncyvpc.org
Amber Culbreth-Thorndyke, BSW
School Justice Partnership Coordinator
Office: (910) 739-3064
Jordan Hendren, BSW
Teen Court Coordinator
Judy Ray
Parenting Wisely Facilitator
Brittany Twitty, MSW
Director of Training
Certifications: Youth Mental Health First Aid Trainer, Community Resiliency Model Trainer
Mike Brill
Community-Based Crime Reduction Coordinator, Lead Violence Interrupter, CVI Site Coordinator
BS in Health and Physical Education, BS in Driver Education
Leon Burden
Violence Interrupter, Colors of Life Executive Director
Lisa Smith
Operations and Grant Manager
Hannah Lowry
Volunteer Services Coordinator