Speakers and Education

Brooks K. Hunnicut
Executive Director & Victim Advocate

In the past Ms. Hunnicutt worked for a young CVAC as therapist wherein she completed interviews and assessments in order to determine victims’ needs, levels of depression, suicidal ideation, and difficult life situations. She determined the level of risk for each situation and collaborated with a variety of service providers to meet these needs. She conducted multiple therapy, crisis intervention, and psycho-educational support groups and offered individual therapy sessions for victims of all types of violent crime, as well as support groups for family, friends, and significant others so that they could better cope with the issues and more effectively help the victim. Crime victims were educated as to the benefits and resources available to them and of their legal rights in the State of Georgia. Ms. Hunnicutt has worked with victims in hospitals and at their homes in order to conduct therapy, complete assessments and make appropriate referrals. She has attended parole board hearings, debriefed professionals, created aftercare and case management plans.

As prior Program Director of CVAC, Ms. Hunnicutt helped develop yearly plans and goals in conjunction with the Board of Directors and conducted marketing and fund raising events. She assisted in grant writing and budgeting; designed quality assurance and accountability instruments; supervised and trained staff, interns, and volunteers and offered seminars on crime victims and their issues and educational presentations to other human service providers and community organizations.

Among her other career achievements, Ms. Hunnicutt served as Director of Admissions for charter Lake Hospital. In that capacity she upgraded the Needs Assessment Department by redesigning and upgrading documentation and paper flow for telephone assessments, after hours admissions procedures, and daily evaluation procedures of the Department; prepared the Department for Joint Commission for Hospital Accreditation inspection; interviewed, hired, and trained assessment staff regarding documentation completion and admissions procedures; determined the psychiatric status of clients who came in to be assessed and matched their needs and financial resources with the appropriate treatment plan; designed and implemented procedures for back-up assessment calls and after hours emergency admissions procedures and developed comprehensive psychosocial history forms.

Early in her career, Ms. Hunnicutt worked at the Psychiatric Institute of Atlanta as a therapist and Assistant Director of the Partial Hospitalization Program. Her responsibilities included: individual and group therapy for alcohol and drug addicted, the chronically mentally ill, and dual diagnosis patients; implementing crisis/suicide intervention and prevention strategies; assessing and providing timely assistance for patients at risk of suicide; completing extensive psychosocial histories, multidisciplinary treatment plans and treatment plan reviews; creating meaningful aftercare plans and following up with patients after discharge; daily patient charting and staffing with psychiatrists in order to discuss diagnoses and treatment plans in order to meet insurance company, Medicare and HMO standards. She completed relapse prevention and aftercare plans; utilization review and quality assurance instruments; evaluated substance abuse program and designed extensive, quantifiable, new documentation for aftercare, relapse prevention, and follow-up procedures and of new program schedule and contents in order to lift a Type I Error from Joint Commission for Hospital Accreditation; redesigned treatment plan format, patient psychosocial history forms and aftercare follow-up program.