Jill Spielfogel is a doctoral student at the University of Chicago who is interested in foster parent training, services to birth parents in the foster care system, 
behavioral support of youth in foster care, and implementation of evidence-based practices in child welfare. Her current research is focused on birth parent and foster parent collaboration.Her interest in de-escalation strategies stem mostly from teaching foster parents and birth parents how to de-escalate the youth living in their homes.
Curtis McMillen is a Professor at the School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago. He has worked in a variety of service settings where de-escalation clients has been an issue, including in-patient psychiatric care, residential treatment for youth, and treatment foster care. His research interests include intervention development, treatment foster care, psychiatric services to foster care populations, evidence-based practice, and quality improvement in children’s mental health services. He developed an intervention titled Handling Intense Emotions for youth in foster care and their caregivers. His interest in de-escalation strategies stem mostly from teaching foster parents how to de-escalate the youth they serve in their homes.
Savannah Felix (Sav!) is an advocate for youth involved in juvenile justice systems. She wants to use de-escalation strategies to keep youth out of jail and out of harm’s way. She is a master’s student in the School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago.