
Melissa Scaia
Director of International Training
As a qualified expert in the state of Minnesota she testifies as an expert witness on domestic violence in criminal court cases. She wrote her master’s thesis on the effects of domestic violence on children and wrote her doctoral dissertation proposal to address supervised visitation, children and domestic violence. She has contributed to numerous publications related to supervised visitation, children, and domestic violence. Recently she co-wrote a curriculum and DVD for working with men who batter as fathers entitled, “Addressing Fatherhood with Men Who Batter”. She also co-authored a curriculum and DVD with Ellen Pence, PhD and Laura Connelly for working with women who have used violence in intimate relationships entitled, “Turning Points: A Nonviolence Curriculum for Women”.
Melissa has been selected for numerous roundtable advisory discussion groups for the Office on Violence Against Women through the National Judicial Institute on Domestic Violence related to: differentiating types of domestic violence, custody, working with domestic violence offenders, and batterers intervention programs. Most recently she was named to a National Consulting Group on Batterers Intervention Programs and as a National Advisory Committee Member for Mariska Hargitay’s Joyful Heart Foundation for survivor based healing. In addition, she participated at two United Nations Expert Meetings related to domestic violence. In 2022, she was awarded the Women in Public Service Lifetime Achievement Award by Hamline University.