Early Childhood Mental Health Program
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Ginny Sprang, Ph.D, Executive Director
Ginny Sprang, Ph.D., is a Professor in the College of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry. Dr. Sprang served as a Visiting Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Colorado, Irving Harris Program in Child Development and Infant Mental Health during her sabbatical. Dr. Sprang is a Principal Investigator and Executive Director of the Center on Trauma and Children, a center whose mission is dedicated to the enhancement of the health and well-being of children and their families through research, service and dissemination of information about child trauma. Dr. Sprang serves as Principal Investigator for many of CTAC’s state and federal grants and contracts. She served as a member of the National Steering Committee for the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN), is the current Co-Chair of the Secondary Traumatic Stress Committee for the NCTSN, and is the Chair of the Terrorism and Disaster Special Interest Group of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies. Her scholarship focuses on the clinical, forensic and empirical aspects of traumatic stress and the efficacy and effectiveness of treatments to address the biopsychosocial impact of violence against children. Dr. Sprang has published extensively in the leading journals focusing on trauma, maltreatment, and treatment efficacy in adults and children. |
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Otto Kaak, M.D., Associate Director Dr. Kaak is a Professor of Psychiatry, Pediatrics, and Social Work at the University of Kentucky, where he has worked since 1972. He is currently an Associate Director of the University's Center on Trauma and Children, and primarily assists in evaluating families, referred by the Courts and Cabinet for Families and Children, with open, substantiated cases of abuse or neglect. Dr. Kaak conducts numerous workshops and trainings across the Commonwealth, related to the subjects of Attachment, Brain Development, and Treating Behavior Disordered Children. He is a member of the American Academy of Chilld and Adolescent Psychiatry, and the former Director of the University's Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Division. He instituted and directed the University's Triple Board Residency Training Program for fifteen years. |
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Jennifer Aldarondo, Ph.D.
Jennifer Aldarondo, Ph.D. earned a doctorate from Indiana University in 2000, a master's degree from Mississippi State University in 1994, and a bachelor's degree from Mississippi State University in 1992. She completed her internship in general psychology at Madison State Hospital in 2000, and her post-doctoral training at Cummins Mental Health Center in 2001. She has been licensed at the master's and doctoral level in Indiana, and as a Licensed Psychologist in Kentucky since 2002. Her current position is a Psychologist/Clinician/Team leader, with duties that include: assessment of families and children who have an open case with the Cabinet for Health and Family Services which include identifying strengths and weaknesses, how the family interacts with each other, and psychological and developmental examinations. In addition, she generates reports for the Cabinet to aid in making decisions or treatment plans, the supervision of doctoral level clinicians, and conducting school-based/community trainings on skills to use with traumatized children. |
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Bettye Cheves, BSN, MSN
Bettye Cheves, BSN, MSN, is a psychiatric nurse and a key member of the treatment team at the CATS clinic. Ms. Cheves is a highly skilled play therapist with over 30 years of experience working with maltreated children and their families, and an expert on attachment spectrum disorders and relational interventions. |