Rev. Dr. Naomi Paget BCC, FBI Chaplain and Crisis Interventionist, is a certified member of the American Red Cross Spiritual Response Team -Task Force and Divisional Advisor, Denver Seminary Critical Incident Stress Management Team, and Director of the California Disaster Relief Chaplain program. She is a certified crisis chaplain, instructor and curriculum writer, awarded Fellowship in American Association of Experts in Traumatic Stress /National Academy of Crisis Management, and is serving as the Chairman of the National-Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters (National VOAD) Emotional/Spiritual Care Committee. Dr. Paget is a published author and ICISF Approved Instructor for many crisis and trauma courses, consulting for several national and international organizations in various fields of trauma and disaster care. She earned her doctorate from Golden Gate.
Naomi Paget
KC Peterson
K.C. Peterson is a 28 year veteran of the California Fire Service. K.C. co-led the CISM team at Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District, the largest fire district in Northern California. He has also served as a Supervising Chaplain in the Sacramento Area Fire Chaplaincy and is a former member of the Federation of Fire Chaplains. He is a CISM Team Developer, helping organizations and areas start and maintain Teams. K.C. has been instructor for the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation since the mid 1990’s. He lives with his wife, Rose, and a big dog in Shenandoah Valley, Virginia.
Wendy Norris
- Founder & CEO of Texas LODD Task Force
- Master Certified Chaplain & Instructor for Federation of Fire Chaplains
- Presiding officer for Governor’s Advisory Panel for the Star of Texas Award
Wendy is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Texas LODD Task Force. She is a Master Certified Chaplain and instructor with the Federation of Fire Chaplains and an instructor for Crisis Training Center. She also helped develop peer support curriculum for Texas A&M TEEX and serves as an adjunct instructor for them.
Wendy is the Presiding Officer on the Governor’s Advisory Panel for the Star of Texas Awards for injured and fallen first responders and serves as a chaplain, PIO, and first responder for the Forest Bend Fire Department. She serves as the coordinator for the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation’s Texas LAST.
Wendy has worked on response teams for local, state, and national disasters, including 9/11, Hurricanes Katrina, Ike, and Harvey, the Santa Fe ISD, El Paso Walmart, Yes! Prep school and Uvalde Robb Elementary school shootings, and led the LODD Task Force response after the West Explosion in West, Texas.
Wendy gained extensive experience in caring for the long-term needs of families and loved ones of homicide victims after serving for two years as a public information officer for the City of Santa Fe Resiliency Center and then the Gulf Coast Center following the mass shooting at the Santa Fe High School in 2018. She is currently working alongside the Texas Department of Health & Human Services Disaster Behavioral Health and other leading first responder agencies in Texas to develop programs, policies, and guidelines to care for and support first responders struggling with mental health issues, especially following a mass fatality incident.
Ron Bielger
- Professional Firefighter Chaplain
- Master’s degrees in Chaplaincy & Counseling
- Denver Fire Peer Support team
Rev. Ron Biegler, CCISM, MDiv, MA is a Fire Chaplain to professional and volunteer firefighters and their families. As Chaplain, Ron comes alongside people, in good times as well as in crises providing support in trauma response, grief, suicide prevention, and marriage & relationship coaching. He also teaches and mentors others entering the field of Emergency- Responder Chaplaincy.
Ron completed his Master of Divinity (Chaplaincy) at Denver Seminary. He also completed his Master of Arts (Counseling – Crisis Response and Trauma) at Liberty University. Ron has trained extensively with the ICISF and AACC earning numerous certificates in trauma, crisis, resiliency, grief and suicide related topics among others. He has also earned the ICISF’s CCISM designation (Certified in Critical Incident Stress Management).
Ron served over 25 years on the Denver Fire Department (retired) where he was supervisor of a Fire/Rescue team, member of the Denver Fire Peer Support team (still current), facilitator of CISM Debriefings and trainer/mentor to professional fire-fighters.
Ron is approved by the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation (ICISF) to teach Assisting Individuals in Crisis, Group Crisis Intervention (GRIN) and Psychological Body Armor (PBA). Ron also teaches Operational Stress First Aid (OSFA), CISM Practicum (CP), and Communication During Crisis (CIC).
Chris Brown
Chris is the Chaplain Coordinator for Southern Baptist Disaster Relief in the State of Virginia. He also serves as a chaplain for the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team. He has been involved in disaster relief for over 17 years and has served as a pastor in Fredericksburg, Virginia for more than 27 years. Chris is an approved instructor for the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation. In addition, he also serves on the Rappahannock EMS Council in Fredericksburg, Virginia assisting groups and individuals of local EMS and law enforcement agencies with training, counseling and stress management.
Shari Forward
- Executive Dir. Galveston County CISM
- Retired Captain Friendswood PD
- 30+ years instructor experience
Shari Forward has been a member of the Law Enforcement family for over 38 years. She retired as a Captain from the Friendswood Police Department. The Santa Fe, Texas Police Department held her reserve police officer commission after retirement.
She is the Executive Director and team leader for the Galveston County Critical Incident Stress Management Support Team (CISM) which is a volunteer crisis intervention support program originally developed for emergency responders, which has evolved into crisis support for many organizations and businesses.
Shari joined the team at the Gulf Coast Center, the local Mental Health Authorities, where she is a part time trainer, teaching Crisis Intervention Techniques (CIT), Mental Health First Aid, Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST), De-Escalation Techniques, ICISF CISM GRIN (Basic Group and Assisting Individuals in Crisis) Training, and other mental health courses.
She is a volunteer with Team Rubicon, a Veteran Disaster Relief Team, as the Well-being Lead for the Southeast Texas Region. She was also a Special Investigator with the Galveston County District Attorney’s Office.
Shari has been an instructor at the local community colleges Police Academies for over 30 years and is currently an instructor for the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation (ICISF), and the Crisis Training Center Team. Shari holds a Master’s Certification from the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement (TCOLE), is a TCOLE Instructor and certified Mental Health Officer. She holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration, is a graduate of the Law Enforcement Management Institute (LEMIT), as well as a graduate of The DEA Drug Unit Commanders Academy, and the 217th Session of the FBI National Academy.