Dr. Cher Edwards has been a Counselor Educator for over 25 years. Prior to living in Washington, Cher was a counselor and counselor educator in Ohio where she served on the State Board of Education and as the president of the Ohio Association for Multicultural Counseling and Development, the president of the South East Ohio Counselor Association, and president-elect of the Ohio Association for Spiritual, Ethical, and Religious Values in Counseling.

She also served as vice president of Chi Sigma Iota, an honor society for counseling students. Since coming to SPU, Cher has served the national board of Counselors for Social Justice as member-at-large, awards chair, and treasurer, served as the founding president of Washington Counselors for Social Justice and has served as the Ethics Chair and Vice President of Post-Secondary Education for the Washington School Counselor Association (WSCA). She currently serves as an advisor for the Sigma Phi Upsilon chapter of Chi Sigma Iota and is the President-Elect of the Washington School Counseling Association. She is the recipient of the O’Hana Award presented at the American Counseling Association national conference in 2006 due to social justice advocacy work. Dr. Edwards’ research interests include school counseling, supervision, multicultural competency, and social justice. She has published in the Journal of Professional School Counseling, Virginia Counselors Journal, Journal of the International Community of Christians in Teacher Education, and the Journal of Counseling and Values. In addition to scholarly journals, she has contributed to book chapters, published book reviews, instructors’ manuals for texts, reviewed test instruments, and most recently co-authored a group counseling textbook titled, Group Counseling in the Schools. Dr. Edwards has served on several editorial boards as a reviewer for Professional School Counseling, the Journal of the International Community of Christians in Teacher Education, and the Journal of Job Placement and Development. She has presented at state conferences including the Ohio Counseling Association and Washington School Counseling Association annual conferences and national conferences such as the American Counseling Association, American School Counselor Association, and the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision. International presentations include Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Beverley, East Yorkshire, England; Hangzhou, China; and Ariccia, Italy.

Officer Galloway, a Texan, known nationally as the Tall Cop, has worked in substance abuse prevention and education for over 20 years. After playing Division I basketball and receiving his BA in Sociology from the University of San Francisco, he worked as a law enforcement officer for 18 years. His various assignments included: alcohol compliance and enforcement, CSI, DUI task force, officer mentoring, and a field training officer.

In 2007, Jermaine started the company known as “Tall Cop Says StopTM”. The Tall Cop has conducted trainings in every US state and Canada, and currently devotes thousands of hours each year to training professionals and communities on drug and alcohol prevention, education, and enforcement. The Tall Cop is unique in that he spends hundreds of hours with “boots on the ground” highlighting drug culture in various communities. To date, the Tall Cop has trained more than 800,000 professional and community members. He has trained across the U.S and in other countries such as Canada and the Bermuda Islands. The Tall Cop has conducted more than 8,400 community scans, identifying the drug culture and climate. His program, “High in Plain Sight”, is a nationally recognized program, that provides training, education, and enforcement strategies for community substance abuse issues.

Additionally, Jermaine Galloway has published articles, been referenced in books, and has been highlighted in many media interviews. The Tall Cop’s fast-paced and high-energy class provides attendees with an unparalleled learning experience!

At the end of 2023, Galloway Started a podcast to provide education to everyone. The Tall Cop Says Stop Podcast can be found on both Spotify and Apple platforms. Most recently, at the beginning of 2024, Jermaine has been certified as an International Instructor by the International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and Training.

Cory Notestine spent the last 14 years working in rural and urban school settings across North Carolina and Colorado as a school counselor and district leader. Over the past 7 years he's led successful district-wide SEL curriculum adoption and implementation; redesigned and integrated MTSS teaming, protocols, and service delivery; and created a behavioral matrix that was student-centered and restorative in nature. He is passionate about thoughtful and timely change management, the intersection of politics and education, and how to identify high-leverage action items to increase successful implementation.

Jerry Balistreri is a professional educator, administrator, trainer and author. His training on how to read body language leaves participants wanting more and creates a memorable experience. Jerry gets the participants involved with fun learning experiences that leave them with concrete knowledge of how to read body language and what the "tells" mean.

His strong presence in front of a group, great sense of humor and ability to actively engage participants in the training session ensure that people leave his sessions with take-away value they can use immediately. His enthusiasm, energy and positive attitude are contagious and he consistently earns high marks from those attending his presentations.