Bruce Chapman – Founder

Bruce Chapman is the President and Founder of Handle With Care. Bruce is an expert in the fields of behavior management, unarmed use-of-force and the use of both physical and therapeutic mechanical restraints. Throughout his 34 year career, he has developed five separate proprietary training programs to help specialized agencies that care for children as young as three years old to geriatric facilities caring for the elderly to maximum security forensic and correctional facilities dealing with the highest risk levels.

Bruce created Handle With Care® technology from 1973 through 1984 on the locked psychiatric unit of Pennsylvania  Hospital in Philadelphia, where he was regarded as the hospital’s authority on the prevention and management of aggression and suicide. Read More

Hilary Adler, Esq. – Vice President and in-house counsel for HWC

Born and raised NYer.  If you are in the area and need any tourist information of where to go or what to see in NYC give me a shout out.  Alumni of Hunter College High School (4-10) and Horace Mann High School (11-12), University of California and Brooklyn Law School.

Jeanette Smith – Accounting Dept. & Office Manager

Jeanette was born and raised in the Bronx. Jeanette has over 30 years of office experience. Jeanette came to Handle With Care about 5 years ago. She is currently raising her grandson who has Child Onset Bipolar Disorder and is deeply committed to the mission and philosophy of Handle With Care as she understands its importance and applicability to parents and caretakers responsible for special needs children.

Joy Ann Savino (aka Nickie) – Training, seminar & scheduling coordinator

Joy is also in charge of customer relations and is generally the first HWC voice you hear.  Joy has a full plate, in addition to her Handle With Care responsibilities, she has her own business as a mediation and conflict resolution trainer as well as a Facilitator for the world renowned “Alternatives to Violence Program”.  Joy brings with her over 20 years of mediation and was the  director of a NYS funded Mediation Center.  Feel free to speak to her about HWC or any of the other programs and trainings she is involved with.  Her favorite pastimes are playing with her grandchildren, dogs, cats, gardening and the beach.

HANDLE WITH CARE TRAINERS

Matt Benbow – Trainer

Matt has been a Handle With Care trainer for over a decade.  He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration and a minor in Psychology.  After college, Matt became a Juvenile Detention Officer and has worked in the Juvenile Justice field for over 20 years in various capacities including Training Specialist for the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission, and Assistant Human Resources Administrator and Director of Training for Dallas County Juvenile Justice.

Most recently Matt is working full time as a consultant and trainer.  In addition to Handle With Care, Matt provides other juvenile curricula training including: Strategies for Juvenile Supervision, HIV/AIDS, STD’s and Refusal Skills, Juvenile Law, Legal Liabilities, Juvenile Rights, TJPC Standards and programs, including; Progressive Sanctions, Post Legislative Update, and Other Varied Topics in Juvenile Justice.

Greg Brown

Greg has been a Handle With Care trainer for over two decades.  In fact Greg was present when Bruce Chapman discovered the PRT in 1974.  He has a Bachelor of Science degree from Pennsylvania State University, College of Human Development in Individual and Family Studies and Geriatrics.  Greg brings over thirty years of experience working with inpatient psychiatry and community mental health.  He has supervised and provided case management and social services for homeless, community and inpatient persons with mental health needs.

Greg has run self-defense after school programs designed for children grades 3-12 along with women, men and children self defense classes.  Greg is a Master in Aikido, a martial art based on harmony and non-resistance where he holds the rank of 5th degree black belt.

Gene Cavaliere

Gene has been a Handle With Care Instructor and Master Trainer for over 10 years. In 1999 when the human service and juvenile justice systems came under national media and even congressional scrutiny for poor restraint outcomes, Gene got involved. He sat on committees that started taking a closer look at restraint, and began to methodically review various restraint programs.   Besides reviewing the literature, Gene attended week-long training programs across the country.  Gene discovered HWC at a conference in Bolton’s Landing, NY; and felt that HWC had all the answers which other restraint systems did not and could not address.  To this day, Gene gets personal “thank you” notes  from direct care givers who are confident and satisfied when they “go to work” trained in HWC.

Gene has BA degrees from Roger Williams University (Social Science) and the University of Rhode Island (Psychology), and a Master’s Degree from the University of Rhode Island (Education/Counseling). Gene has 30 years of experience in child and residential care.  He served 20 plus years as a board member for the Rhode Island Council of Resource Providers (RICORP) and was the Executive  Program Director of a large residential school in Rhode Island.  Gene also offers several specialized training workshops such as Intro to Direct Care Work, BrainWorks, Trauma Theory, Aggressive Youth, and Attachment Theory.

Gene currently resides in Chepachet, RI, with his wife Linda; and has four adult children. His hobbies include working with solar power, bicycling, chopping firewood and making maple syrup in late winter.

David Elliott

Dave has been using Handle With Care since 1994. He has his Bachelors of Arts in Communications with a Concentration on Public Relations and a Minor in Business Administration/Human Resource Management from California State University, Sacramento. In May, 2004, he received a Masters in Social Work and in 2006 he received his license as a Clinical Social Worker (LCSW).   In addition to Handle With Care training, Dave continues to work in youth services where he has over a decade worth of experience including working at a residential treatment facility, foster family agency, psychiatric hospital, and group homes.  Currently, he is the director of a foster family agency in Sacramento and has a small private practice doing supervised visitation, mediation, and therapy.

Kirby Jones

Kirby N. Jones is a certified Health, Safety and Security Trainer with 33 years of dedicated New Jersey State services.  Kirby has 17 years of experience working in the NJ Department of Developmental Disabilities (DDD) where in 1979 he developed the first Sensory Stimulation program, and whose lobbying efforts led to the successful launch of DDD’s first verbal program three years later.  In 1986, Kirby was chosen along with only six other trainers to launch the New Jersey Human Resource Development Institute training academy.

Kirby’s devotion to New Jersey’s special needs population is represented by his 23 years of involvement with the Special Olympics where he currently serves a volunteer coach and part-time Director of Exercise and Wellness.

A two-time All-American collegiate wrestler, Kirby graduated from Delaware State College with a Bachelor of Science in Physical Education couple with a Psychology minor.  Kirby has 19 years of experience in Brazilian Ju-Jit-Su under Master Lee Chambers.  For the years 1974-1975, Kirby has held the title of Mr. Delaware.  Kirby is also credited with founding G.E.M (Good Enough for Me), a mentoring program for school age children.  He also has more than a decade of experience as a Handle With Care Master Instructor.

Beyond his professional experience, Kirby has a lovely wife, Tyra, and is a proud dad of six “count ‘em” great children: Shaun, Kye, Brock, Aniia-Nai, LaBrea and Marshal.

Motto: “Make a positive impact on the world. And have fun doing it!”

James McDonald

James McDonald is based in Albuquerque, New Mexico and has been supporting people with severe challenging behaviors for over fifteen years. During that time he has taught and used various restraints recognized by the state of New Mexico. In 1999, James began working for Adelante Development Center. At this time, the agency was using physical restraints on a daily basis. In 2001, James became an instructor for one of only two courses approved by the New Mexico Department of Health. Although restraints were cut down drastically, it paled in comparison to the fact that the continued physical injuries sustained and the risks being taken were too much.

James knew it was time for a change. In 2004, he took it upon himself to travel to a workshop in Dallas where he was able to meet with Matt Benbow. Upon returning from the inspiring workshop, he met with NMDOH and gained approval for use of the HWC system throughout New Mexico. Since then, James has worked closely with the HWC team to become a Master Instructor. Adelante is now down to less than a dozen restraints per year, even though they support twice as many people as they did in 1999.

“ I truly accredit our accomplishments to Bruce, our system, and the multitude of Trainers I have interacted with, learned from and certified for HWC.”

Betty Norwood

Betty has been a Handle with Care Trainer since 1990 and a Master Trainer since 1996.  She grew up in west Tennessee and went to college in east Tennessee earning a Bachelor’s of Music from Maryville College.  Betty has a Masters in Music Therapy from the Florida State University and has worked with patients with traumatic brain injury, all levels of mental retardation and inpatient and outpatient psychiatric and chemically dependent patients.  Betty currently works at The Psychiatric Hospital at Vanderbilt and has since 1990.

James Pascoe

Jim has been a Handle With Care Instructor since 1994 and a Master Instructor since 1999.  He has a BS in Therapeutic Recreation with a minor in Social Work, and an MBA in Health Administration.  Jim holds national certifications as a Healthcare Safety Professional (CHSP), and as a retired Therapeutic Recreation Specialist (CTRS).

Jim has worked in the behavioral health field since 1984.  He has held a variety of staff and management positions such as director of an acute psychiatric program for adolescents, director of a large Therapeutic Recreation department, and director of an Experiential Therapy program.  In addition Jim spent several years as a Risk Manger and Safety Officer for a large psychiatric and residential facility in Nashville, TN.  In that position he witnessed first hand the benefits that HWC can bring in both client and staff safety.

Currently Jim is the Director of Clinical Training for Universal Health Services.  In this role he has responsibility for ensuring that UHS’s 100+ behavioral facilities have the safest, most advanced verbal and physical management programs.

Jim has served on several State committees relating to the management of aggressive behavior of at-risk youth. Additionally, he independently consults and speaks about crisis intervention, behavior management, teambuilding, milieu development, and environment of care safety.

As an avid outdoors-person with a very active lifestyle Jim and his wife and daughter enjoy adventure racing, running, mountain biking, canoeing, rock climbing and backpacking.

Graham Perkovich

Graham holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Sociology with a minor in Criminology from James Madison University.  After college, he started his career in adult corrections & juvenile detention, first becoming certified in HWC in 1996.   A consistent first responder to clients in crisis, he became a HWC instructor in Virginia in 1999 – 2002.  When he relocated to South Florida in 2003, he was trained in several other restraint programs, where it became quite obvious, that HWC was the most efficient method of restraint.

Graham has worked in the capacity of intensive case manager for adults with severe and persistent mental illness and court ordered shelter care programs.  For the past 6 years, he has held the position of Youth Services Director, supervising the operations of a residential therapeutic group home for juvenile males in the Dept. of Children & Families foster care system. Graham is also a former collegiate & professional soccer player who enjoys spending time with his wife and 3 children.  Hobbies include, cooking, coaching soccer, boxing, gardening & running on the beach.

“I have  practiced HWC my entire career and encourage therapists to bear witness to HWC’s verbal and physical program, as an extension of the therapeutic relationship”.

Walt Piszchala

Walt has been a Handle With Care trainer for over a decade.  He has an Associates Degree in Mental Health, a Bachelors of Science in Psychology and Master Level Courses in Family Therapy.  Walt comes to us with over 30 years experience in child care services.  He began his career at a diagnostic residential facility for emotionally disturbed, abused and neglected children ages 5-18 where he oversaw 150 residents and staff.  He has been a crisis intervention trainer for over 30 years and served as the first President of the State of Connecticut Facilities Crisis Intervention Committee and served as the Team’s Leader for Critical Incident Stress Debriefing.  In 1997 he moved from child care to juvenile justice where he was responsible for all staff development and training needs for a faculty of 475 where he was charged with developing safety and security recommendations and program development for youth in placement.

Walt has been through or seen countless crisis intervention and restraint training programs and has been asked to be trainers by several.   Out of all the programs he has been trained in and seen, he choose to be a part of our team.

Theron Powell

Theron has been with the Alaska Division of Juvenile Justice for 17 years.  Currently, he is the Facility Operations Manager for McLaughlin Youth Center, the largest juvenile justice facility in the state of Alaska, with a total of 160 beds.  Previously, Theron has worked in two other medium and small sized state treatment facilities as a direct care staff and supervisor.    He serves on the statewide training committee and is a trainer for the division on numerous topics.  He currently resides in Palmer with his wife Kelly, and their 2 children.

Ian Rigg

Our U.K. Handle With Care Master Trainer is Ian Rigg. Ian has extensive experience working with clients with emotional and behavioural issues in a wide variety of roles and settings in the U.S.A and the U.K. Ian is a 4th degree black belt in TaeKwon-Do (a Korean martial art) and is a qualified international instructor and examiner, running his own school in Cumbria.  Ian is currently in advanced psychotherapy training and is an NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) practitioner. Ian was originally certified as a HWC instructor for Wilderness Adolescent Development Centres in Texas in 1999 and was elevated to Master Trainer status by Bruce Chapman (HWC’s Founder) in 2007.

Ian states the following in relation to why he chooses to endorse Handle With Care (HWC):

“Most of the facilities I have worked at have provided some form of verbal and physical intervention training.  Over the years I have actually been taught 5 different methods of training and have qualified as an inter agency instructor in 3 of these methods. Out of these five methods, Handle With Care is the one I’m most comfortable with and in my opinion feels the most complete.  When I’ve been taught other methods, my confidence with the practical application of the techniques taught hasn’t been 100%.  If when confronted with someone who is escalating, you are not confident in your ability to deal with the situation at hand, then this will be apparent to the person standing in front of you and they will likely escalate.”

Kandi & Kyle Withers

Kandi & Kyle are a married couple that often conduct trainings together.  Both Kandi and Kyle have been Handle With Care trainers for a decade.  They came to Handle With Care when the program Kandi was running needed a better crisis intervention and restraint program.  After going through training, they found the program so effective and beneficial that they approached us to become Master Trainers and help us promote Handle With Care so other facilities would not have to look so hard for a training program that worked.

Kandi: In addition to conducting HWC training seminars, Kandi supervises a 24-hour semi-independent living program for young adults in the custody of the Department of Children and Family Services and on parole with the Ohio Department of Youth Services.  During her tenure, she increased annual program budget from $350,000 to $1.5 million during first year of directing the program.  She is currently in charge of hiring, training and supervising staff, preparing annual budgets, proposals, work plans, and annual reviews.  She participates in community committees for youth including consultation for a high risk youth committee and serves on focus groups for young adults ages 16-22 through the Cuyahoga County Mental Health Board.  In her spare time she enjoys reading, traveling, kickboxing and spending time with her children and her husband.

Kyle:  has a Bachelors of Arts in Criminal Justice from Cleveland State University.  He began his career in the youth services department of Cleveland’s public schools where he monitored student’s progress in attendance records and behavioral issues.  Currently he works with his wife Kandi as a case manager for a 24-hour semi-independent living program for young adults in the custody of the Department of Children and Family Services and on parole with the Ohio Department of Youth Services where he assists at-risk youth ages 16-21 obtain the independent living skills necessary to enter or return to society as a productive member.  In his spare time he enjoys playing golf, swimming, traveling and spending time with his children and wife.

William Woodley

William (Bill) has a long history with Handle With Care.  We have known him and his wife, Melanie, for years.  Bill has a Master’s of Arts in Counseling from Russell Sage College.  He has been a Handle With Care trainer since 1991.  Prior to retiring and now working as a consultant for Parsons Child and Family Center, Bill was the supervisor of residential training programs for the LaSalle School for Boys.  He currently works as a consultant and trainer for Parson’s Child and Family Center and provides Handle With Care training on behalf of Parson’s mission and for Handle With Care.

In addition to Handle With Care training, Bill has developed/trained other topics including: Bullies 101, Discipline v. Punishment, Angry Language, Behavior Modification, First Aid, CPR and AED.  He has been a presenter for Child Welfare League of American (CWLA) the Juvenile Detention Association (JDA) and the International Association of Child Care Workers (IACCW).