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Dr. Scott Poland is a Professor at College of Psychology and the Co-Director of the Suicide and Violence Prevention Office at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, FL. Dr. Poland is a licensed psychologist and an internationally recognized expert on school safety, youth suicide, self-injury, bullying, school crisis prevention/intervention, threat assessment and parenting in challenging times. He has authored or co-authored five books and many chapters and articles on these subjects and has served as a legal expert in a number of lawsuits.

He also recently co-authored the Suicide Safer Schools Plan for the state of Texas and the Crisis Action School Toolkit-Suicide for the state of Montana. He previously directed psychological services for Cypress-Fairbanks ISD in Texas for 24 years and is a past President of the National Association of School Psychologists and a past Prevention Division Director of American Association of Suicidology. He is very dedicated to prevention and has testified about the mental health needs of children before the U.S. Congress on four occasions. He is a founding member of the National Emergency Assistance Team and has personally assisted school communities after many tragedies including 16 school shootings. Most recently in 2018, he has been assisting the Jordan School District in Utah, which experienced a suicide cluster, and the Broward School District in Florida after the school shooting in Parkland. He recently provided a presentation in South Florida on parenting in a challenging world that was attended by more than 2,000 parents. He is known for his dynamic and practical presentations. He has received many awards, including being named the most outstanding psychologist in Texas. Dr. Poland also has received the Houston Wage Peace Award and the Parkland Helping the Community Heal Award.

Mike Anestis received his PhD in clinical psychology from Florida State University, where he studied under Dr. Thomas Joiner. His work focuses on suicide prevention among both civilians and service members, with a particular focus on the role of firearms. He is the author of approximately 150 peer reviewed articles as well as the book Guns and Suicide: An American Epidemic, published by Oxford University Press in 2018. Dr. Anestis was the 2018 recipient of the Edwin Shneidman Award from the American Association of Suicidology in recognition of his early career achievements in suicide research and currently serves on advisory board for a number of organizations, including the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and the Jed Foundation.