April 4, 2024 | 9 - 4PM
Philadelphia, PA

Speaker Bios

Genevie Brown, M.Ed

Genevie Brown is an Intake Manager & Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT) Coordinator at the Philadelphia Children’s Alliance (PCA), with almost 30 years of experience working with children and families. Prior to her current role at PCA she also served as a Victim Advocate and was instrumental in creating and holding the position of both Lead Victim Advocate and Medical Liaison. 

In her current role, Genevie advocated for an addition to her team whose primary responsibility is to ensure the timely entry of referrals into the database, removing this responsibility from the Intake Coordinators, who are tasked with the scheduling of forensic interviews. She also addressed other challenges with partner agencies that were causing scheduling delays that have resulted in the MDT working together more efficiently and families being seen sooner. 

Genevie was initially drawn to PCA with the hopes of doing prevention work with families and professionals around child sex abuse. Her years of experience facilitating routine trainings with foster and kinship parents during monthly Pre-Service and resource parent trainings as well as birth family trainings provide an ideal method for working with community members and professionals in sharing this information. 

Genevie is passionate about prevention education and its potential to reduce or eliminate the risk of sexual abuse for children and the long-term effects that the abuse would have on that child and their family. She is excited to use her expertise in working with families to this cause. 

Alissa R. Graves, MSW, LSW

Alissa Graves MSW, LSW began her career in Child Welfare in 2003 at the Department of Human Services(DHS) as a Social Worker Trainee in Ongoing Services Region providing case management to families. Alissa also worked in Intake where she investigated sex abuse investigations. She then moved on to Community Based Prevention Services as a Truancy Court Liaison while working on and obtaining her Master’s of Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania.

After graduation in 2009, Alissa was promoted to Supervisor in Ongoing Service Region and then transferred to Family Team Conferencing where she was promoted to Human Services Program Administrator. After working in these different areas of DHS, Alissa became the Administrator in Sex Abuse Investigations in 2015.

In July 2022, Alissa was promoted to Director of Specialty Investigations which covers MDT, Sex Abuse and Critical Investigations. Alissa was a recipient of Philadelphia Children’s Alliance 2022 Team Excellence Award which recognizes individuals who bring healing and justice to sexually abused children in Philadelphia. Alissa has held different positions at the department however her most rewarding has been helping victims of sexual abuse and trafficking find healing and justice. Alissa is dedicated to the highest level of social work excellence for herself, her staff and the children and families we service.

Vickie Melvin, MSW, LSW

In her role as Associate Director, Vickie oversees all programming at PCA, with a strategic eye toward Multi-Disciplinary Team Collaboration and stability. She ensures that PCA delivers exceptional Intake, Forensic, Victim Support, Clinical Services and Prevention Services to all children and families presented with allegations of sexual abuse.

Joining PCA in 2013, Vickie enjoys her close interactions with the multi-disciplinary team to ensure that the victims and families served are receiving individualized, quality services and support to help them move towards healing and justice. Vickie also oversees MDT Training, including certifications for Mental Health partners agencies. Vickie currently serves on the National Children’s Alliance Board of Directors.

Rayna Smaller, LSW

Rayna Smaller is a licensed social worker and masters level therapist. She currently holds position as a Family Advocate, and Caregiver Support Group coordinator at the Philadelphia Children’s Alliance. Rayna serves passionately working with families impacted by child sexual abuse. Rayna is also the founder of BrownGirl SPACE an organization dedicated to promoting mental health wellness and self-care for Brown Girls. 

Katharine Wenocur, DSW, LCSW, RPT-S

As Manager of Clinical Services at PCA, Katharine is responsible for the recruitment, training, and supervision of trauma clinicians (including clinicians with a specialized focus on Child Victims of Human Trafficking and Youth with Problematic Sexual Behavior). Katharine also supervises the Child Victims of Human Trafficking Assessment Coordinator, the Bilingual Clinical Case Manager, and masters-level internship students from local universities. 

For the past decade, Katharine has worked in a clinical and supervisory capacity in multiple settings dedicated to providing trauma-focused mental health services to children, adolescents, and their families. Katharine is also an affiliate faculty member at Thomas Jefferson University, where she teaches and advises students training to become play therapists.

Katharine holds a Doctorate in Clinical Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Policy and Practice. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Registered Play Therapist – Supervisor.