OUR TEAM

CRU Staff and Trainers

Meet the experts behind our company

Our trainers have been carefully selected to include culturally diverse trainers as well as young people able to relate to students. CRU Institute is concerned with meeting the needs of your school's population and selects trainers accordingly.

NANCY KAPLAN

Executive Director

Ms. Kaplan founded CRU Institute in 1992 and has been the director since its inception. In addition to developing CRU's peer mediation curriculum and original DVDs, Ms. Kaplan has trained peer mediators in numerous schools throughout the United States and in Canada and Singapore. She has been a mediator for over thirty years and is a former board member of the Academy of Family Mediators. She also served as co-chair of the Education Section of the Association for Conflict Resolution. Ms. Kaplan has mediated hundreds of divorces and conducted mediation training for attorneys, mental health professionals, and managers in the work place. In her "off hours" she uses her mediation skills with her husband and multicultural family of nine children and many grandchildren. Ms. Kaplan holds a BA degree in International Relations from Brown University and an MSW from University of Washington.

JELANI QUINN

Lead Trainer

Jelani has been a mediator since age sixteen when he was trained by CRU to be a peer mediator at his high school. He has continued to be a trainer and administrator for CRU. Jelani has a BA degree from University of Washington. He credits his experience with CRU for his interest in psychology and business: his double major. Jelani's youth gives him an advantage when working with young people. His experience as a high school peer mediator is immeasurable for both youth and adults who wish to learn about peer mediation.

DEANNA MORRIS, MSW

Lead Trainer

Deanna has worked with CRU since 1992. She has conducted training throughout the United States, in Singapore and in Argentina. She has over twenty years experience working with young children, youth and adults. She often utilizes mediation skills to help these people resolve conflicts. Her experience also includes foster care and adoption work with families and children. Ms. Morris provides supervised visitation services to divorcing families. She holds a BA degree in Social Work and Sociology from Whittier College and an MSW from the University of Washington. Deanna's special ability to relate to young people as well as adults is an enormous asset. Her Hispanic heritage adds to CRU's diverse training team.

DARRELL EDMONDS

Lead Trainer

Darrell is an experienced mediator, facilitator and negotiator with Seattle, King County and Pierce County Dispute Resolution Centers, and the Safe Streets Campaign (Tacoma). He previously worked as a mediator and trainer in Vancouver, BC and in Denver with the Colorado bar Association Civil Rights Commission.

JULIAN GONZALES

Lead Trainer

Julian is a bilingual mediator and Chemical Dependency Counselor who has experience providing services to youth and adults in both English and Spanish. He has trained diverse groups of students and faculty in the Conflict Manager and Peer Mediation Programs at all grade levels.

HANA MOHAMED

Trainer

Hana brings both youth and a unique cultural perspective to CRU's team. Originally from Kenya, Africa, Hana has been a member of the Seattle community for many years. Hana was trained as a peer mediator as a student at Meany Middle School in Seattle. She graduated from University of Washington with a double major in Global Studies and Society Ethics and Human behavior. She plans to attend graduate school in the future. Her energy and ability to relate to youth make her a great addition to our team.
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