Advisory Board

Peter is a NYS licensed clinical social worker and a credentialed alcoholism and substance abuse counselor. Peter has nearly 30 years of experience working in the substance abuse and mental health service delivery systems. Currently he is the Director of Mental Health Services at Rochester Rehabilitation Center in Rochester, NY where he oversees a variety of Mental Health programs. Prior to this, he served for 22 years as the Program Director for Delphi Drug & Alcohol Council, Inc. in Rochester, NY, where he oversaw the day-to-day operations of both Prevention and Out-Patient Chemical Dependency Treatment Services.

In addition to his professional work, he has also serves as a board member of the NYS OASAS CASAC Credentialing Board; advisory committee member and core instructor for the NYS Victim Assistance Academy; active member of Rochester/Monroe County Domestic Violence Consortium; steering committee member of the Monroe County “Family Treatment Court”, and has worked with Monroe County’s “Mental Health Court”, “Integrated Domestic Violence Court” (IDV), and the Rochester Drug Treatment Court. He also served as a member of the Attorney General’s Crime Victim’s Advisory Board; he is a member of Rochester Against Intoxicated Driving (RAID), the Monroe County Stop – DWI Advisory Board and is the co-founder of a group in Rochester called Stand Up Guys, working to end Violence Against Women.

His professional areas of interest focus on the intersection of the criminal justice system and victim services, offender accountability, substance abuse, mental health and co-occurring disorders, as well as interpersonal violence directed at women & children.

Jack Brennick, MS Ed, LMHC is the Delphi Drug & Alcohol Council Intake Coordinator and a Facilitator for the Domestic Violence & Abuse Course for Men. Jack has also worked as a school based addictions prevention counselor in the Rush Henrietta School District, along with working as a facilitator for the Men's Education for Non-Violence program at both Genesee Hospital, and Rochester Rehabilitation Center. Jack also trains others in facilitation of Domestic Abuse groups

Carly Wise is the Coordinator of Survivors Advocating For Effective Reform (SAFER), a domestic violence survivor advocacy organization. She is a survivor of domestic violence and has dedicated herself to changing public and social policies. Carly is a member of the Domestic Violence Consortium, serving on the Criminal Justice and Community Action Committees. She is also an advisory board member of Stand Up Guys. Carly holds a BA in Psychology and in Human & Child Development.

Sir Winston Churchill once said "We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give. We are all in this life together, dependent on one another. We know that when we give, there is no sacrifice, it is all our gain."

In October of 2007 after 23 years in the field of Telecommunications, I decided to leave the corporate world and fully dedicate my time, talents and steadfastness to work towards ending violence against women and girls in my community.

You might ask why I would make such a life-changing decision and the answer is simple. I love the women in my family.

This journey started in 2004 when I shared my personal story of escape and survival from domestic violence publicly for the first time at the 25th Anniversary luncheon for Alternatives for Battered Women. After that, I served on ABW’s Board of Directors for three years. As I continued to learn more about violence against women and girls, it became even more personal for me. Statistics show that 1 in 3 women will be victims of domestic violence, 1 in 4 women will be victims of sexual assault and 1 in 5 high school girls will be sexually or physically abused by her boyfriend. I began to look around me. I have 4 sisters, 7 sisters-in-law, a dear mother-in law, 5 aunts, 19 nieces, 3 great-nieces, around 50 female cousins, hundreds of female friends, extended family members and business associates. I realized that the 1 in 3 was not some nameless faceless woman but this includes and affects scores of women that I love and care about.

In early 2006, I met Pete Navratil and Jack Brennick, co-founders of a Rochester based, not for profit organization called Stand Up Guys. Stand Up Guys’ mission is to engage “well intended” men and women together as allies to end violence against women and girls with a primary focus on prevention & education. As a survivor of domestic violence and a member of SAFER [Survivors Advocating For Effective Reform], Stand Up Guys’ mission and vision resonated with me; it has become my passion, my life’s purpose. I now work tirelessly to raise awareness to prevent violence against women and girls with the loving support and blessing of my husband Jim. Jim channels his passion for the cause and contributes to Stand Up Guys through his music. He performs at our fundraising and awareness raising events for free and he has written a song for the cause, entitled Harmony. You can download the song for free at Harmony

Please join us in the effort to protect the women and girls in your life and in your community by supporting Stand Up Guys events, activities and prevention education programs.

Vincent Butler, LCSW-R has over 30 years experience working in the field of domestic violence prevention. He started the first support group for battered women in Rochester, NY in 1976, and conducted that group for 3-1/2 years until the local battered women’s shelter opened where the groups could then be conducted. Wanting to continue his work in this then new field, and at the encouragement of Alternatives for Battered Women, the Rochester Police Department and Family and City Courts, he founded the first batterers’ intervention program in Rochester, The Men’s Education for Non-Violence Workshop (M.E.N.’s) in 1982.

Vince continues as the Director of this program now at the Rochester Rehabilitation Center. He is a founding member of the Rochester/Monroe County Domestic Violence Consortium. The consortium developed out of the M.E.N.’s Workshop’s original advisory board. He is also a founding member of the Western and Central New York Batterers Program Consortium (1989). He has long been a community educator, lecturer, and activist on the issue of domestic violence. He has presented statewide basis on this topic. He is the recipient of the NASW Genesee Valley Division Social Worker of the Year Award (1989), The Alternatives for Battered Women’s Inc. Celebration of Survivor Award, Rochester, NY (1996) and their “Stop the Hurt Award”(2006), and the Rochester/Monroe County Domestic Violence Consortium’s ‘Lifetime Commitment Award” (2007). In 2003, he was a nominee for the Governor’s Justice, Freedom, and Courage to End Domestic Violence Award. He is also an Adjunct Professor in Social Work at Rochester Institute of Technology and at the Greater Rochester Collaborative Master in Social Work Program of SUNY Brockport and Nazareth College. He received his Master of Social Work Degree from Indiana University in 1973, and his Bachelor of Science in Social Work from the University of Dayton in 1970.