Benjamin S. Fernandez, MS. Ed, completed his graduate studies in School Psychology at Bucknell University (Lewisburg, PA) and has worked as a school psychologist in Pennsylvania and Virginia with over 27 years of experience as a practitioner. Currently, he works as a school psychologist in Northern Virginia providing a broad array of psychological and school-based mental health services including assessment, suicide screenings, threat assessments, consultation, counseling, prevention, and intervention. Further, he has conducted presentations for his school system on suicide prevention for families as well as helping to establish the collection and review of suicide screening data to enhance processes and identify areas of further prevention and intervention. In addition to these duties, he is a PREPaRE master trainer and is responsible for training school employed mental health staff for his district. He serves as a crisis team leader and assists with the implementation of crisis intervention services, response consultation, and leadership. Additionally, he has contributed to presentations, articles, books, and webinars related to youth suicide, PREPaRE, school mental health, school safety and crisis intervention on the local, state, and national levels. He has testified before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, the Federal Commission on School Safety, the Congressional School Safety Caucus, and served as a member of the Governor of Virginia’s Children’s Cabinet on Student Safety. Most recently, Mr. Fernandez contributed to the Virginia Department of Education’s Suicide Prevention Guidelines. In 2010, he was named School Psychologist of the Year by the Virginia Academy of School Psychologists and in 2012, he was named School Psychologist of the Year by the National Association of School Psychologists. In 2015 and 2018, Benjamin received the NASP Presidential Award and and in 2021 received the National Association of School Psychologists Crisis Management and Grief Support in Schools Interest Group Award for Excellence for significant contributions to the field of school safety and crisis intervention.