John Avery retired as a Sergeant from the Salinas Police Department after 24 years in service. He served a majority of his time in the Patrol Division and held positions as a canine handler, crime scene investigator, latent print analyst, school resource officer, field training officer and street supervisor. He was a member of the Salinas Police Department’s Crisis Intervention Team from June 2002 until his retirement in September 2009.

He earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Management from St. Mary’s College, Moraga, CA, earned his Master’s Degree in Emergency Services Administration from California State University, Long Beach and holds a part-time teaching credential for the State of California.

He is graduate of the California POST Instructor Development Institute having attained Master Instructor status. He is a Board Certified Instructor for South Bay Regional Public Safety Training Consortium and teaches classes in the Field Training Program. He is the author and lead facilitator for the POST certified course “Preventing Law Enforcement Suicide - PLES”.

He has received additional training from the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation (ICISF) in Peer Support, Group Crisis Intervention, Advanced Crisis Intervention, Line of Duty Death, Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM), Suicide Prevention, Intervention and Postvention, Resilient Leadership and is an Approved Instructor for Individual Crisis Intervention and Peer Support.

He has completed training at the “In Harm’s Way” Suicide Prevention Conference, the Georgia Suicide Prevention Coalition of Stakeholders Conference, attended the National Police S.U.I.C.I.D.E. Foundation’s course on Police Suicide Awareness PLES, attended Traumas in Law Enforcement training, and is a Certified Instructor for QPR Gatekeeper training through the QPR Institute.

Since moving to Georgia John has obtained his Georgia POST Instructor certification and is an Instructor/ Facilitator in the NAMI Georgia CIT program and a volunteer with the local NAMI Georgia Cobb Affiliate. He has affiliated himself with the Armed Forces Mission as a co-facilitator teaching Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) and L3 (Listen, Learn, Lead) Suicide Prevention Training, has worked with the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities (DBHDD) teaching the Question Persuade Refer (QPR) Suicide Prevention Program and also affiliates with Mental Health America of Georgia co-facilitating Mental Health First Aid (MHFA), Youth Mental Health First Aid, Mental Health First Aid for Law Enforcement-corrections and Public Safety, Mental Health First Aid for Service Memgbers-Veterans and Their Families courses.

Stephanie Loose is a Certified Public Accountant at Ingraham & Associates, CPAs. With over 30 years of experience, she offers expertise in the areas of taxation, accounting, and political campaigns.

Over the years, she developed a passion for politics, and became a member of the California Political Treasurer’s Association. She has been active as a campaign treasurer for city, county, state candidates and several local ballot measures. She was a board member of the local chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.

As a dedicated member of the League of Women Voters, she has served as President, Voter Service Chair, and the County Coordinator for SmartVoter.org, a website which discusses candidates and ballot measures. As a League member, she organizes and moderates candidate forums, and explains the pros and cons of various state propositions to interested groups.

Because of her love for tax work and her desire to give back to the community, she works for the IRS’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program training individuals to prepare taxes for low income residents in Monterey County. Her service to the community includes fourteen years of serving meals to the homeless at Dorothy’s Place and aiding in chaperoning children to special events with the Salinas Police Activity League.

In 1979, she went to work for Ingraham & Rasmussen, CPAs and in 1995 she earned a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Golden Gate University. In 1993 she became a partner and the firm became named Ingraham & Loose, CPAs until 2010 when she sold back her interest.