Dr. Alford holds degrees from Coker College and The Ohio State University. A former Child Protective Services Worker and Treatment Foster Care Supervisor, Dr. Alford concentrates his research in the areas of family mental health, contemporary rites of passage programming, child welfare, grief and loss reactions and culturally-specific human service intervention. He has published scholarly works in such journals as Families in Society, Journal of Ethnic and Cultural Diversity in Social Work, Journal of Brief Therapy, and Journal of Family Social Work. Dessa Bergen-Cico, Ph.D.