Carmen Wargel, LMSW is a community organizer and educator on the topic of domestic and sexual violence. She has engaged in education and conversation related to domestic violence and sexual assault with over 4000 people since 2006 on topics such as Recognizing and Responding to Domestic Violence, Healthy Relationships/Healthy Communities, Healthcare Responses to Domestic and Sexual Violence, Consent, Understanding LGBT Abuse and more. Ms. Wargel serves the chair of the Macomb Community Domestic Violence Council, a multidisciplinary organization in Macomb County that seeks to promote healthy relationships through community, conversation, and education. She is a founding organizer of the Michigan Network of Bi, Trans, Lesbian, Gay and Queer Survivors of Abuse and co-chair of the Royal Oak School District Health Advisory Board. She serves on the boards of Mothering Justice and the Michigan Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence.  

For a selected list of Carmen's presentations, click here.
 
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The Honorable Joseph Craigen Oster was elected to the 40th District Court in St. Clair Shores, Michigan in November 1996 and reelected in 2002 and 2008. He received an A.B. in History from the University of Michigan in 1986 and his law degree from the University of Detroit School of Law in 1992.

Judge Oster served on the inaugural Macomb County Domestic Violence Fatality Review team. He received the 2007 Tracy Minnella award for his work and leadership on domestic violence issues. Currently he serves as the president of the Macomb Community Domestic Violence Council. He wrote the article “Stop the Blaming: Rethinking Responsibility in Domestic Violence Cases” which appeared in May 2012 in the State Bar of Michigan’s Family Law Journal.

Judge Oster is a member of the Macomb County Community Corrections and Baker College Paralegal advisory boards. In addition, he is the chair of the Shores Network for Action and Prevention (SNAP) coalition. The judge, currently the chief judge of the 40th District Court, is the recent past president of the Macomb District Judges Association.

Anne Bicego, MA LPC has been active with the Macomb Community Domestic Violence Council since 2006. Anne participated in "A Day to End Domestic Violence: The Macomb County Prevention Summit" in 2009 and helped with the coordination of the regional training "LGBT Survivors of Domestic Violence" in 2012. Anne served on Turning Point's Survivor Speakers Bureau, providing a survivor's perspective during seminars on "Recognizing and Responding to Domestic Violence" beginning in 2010. In 2014, Anne was honored to receive from the Council the Tracy Minnella Award for hHR work in support of survivors and victims of domestic violence.

Currently, Anne is raising three daughters as activists in the movement to end domestic and sexual violence, and is the Associate Operations Manager for Children's Services at Northeast Guidance Center, serving Community Mental Health consumers in Macomb and Wayne counties. Anne is pleased to have been elected as Treasurer for the MCDVC.

Linda Bajdo has been involved with the Macomb Community Domestic Violence Council since 2009 and is currently the Prevention Chair. She is a psychology professor at Macomb Community College.

Steve Candela received his Masters in Social Work from Wayne State University in 1984. He has been certified by the Academy of Certified Social Workers (ACSW) since 1986, and holds certification from the Michigan Certification Board of Addiction Professionals as a certified addictions counselor and clinical supervisor. He was program manager at Sacred Heart Rehabilitation Center for two years, although has spent his career servicing the patients and families of Eastwood Clinics and St. John Providence Health System since 1983. As a clinician, he has provided individual and group psychotherapy with adults and families, specializing in addiction/recovery and domestic violence behaviors. He is currently Director of Eastwood Clinics, he has developed and led numerous outpatient and residential clinics, and has expanded Eastwood Clinics (the outpatient behavioral health product line of St. John Providence Health System) to become the largest behavioral health system in southeast Michigan with ten outpatient clinics in four counties, employing over 230 behavioral health clinicians.