With 16 full-time and about 10 part-time advocates, CASDA staff members bring a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences to our work. The following is a list of our full-time staff members and their individual areas of expertise, as well as some comments they have shared about their positions, passions, vision and community involvement.
Kelly Burger – Executive Director
If the job has existed at CASDA, then Kelly has done it. She has been at the agency for over 25 years. In addition to overseeing general operations, Kelly represents CASDA in many community groups.
Kelly says: “I have been with CASDA for 30 years. I began my career at CASDA as the Shelter Program Director for 8 ½ years and have since been the Executive Director for the past 18 years.
“I am responsible for the overall coordination and implementation of agency operations. I am also responsible for the implementation and evaluation of agency programming, finances, and public relations.”
“My passion is ensuring that victims and survivors of abuse have a safe, confidential place to go to when they need support and resources.
“My vision is to advocate for a community effort to end violence.
“I recently graduated from the UW-Superior Leadership Program. I am a past Rotarian. I currently sit on several Coordinated Community Response Teams.”
Dana Doyle – Director of Program Services
Dana helps emergency shelter clients meet their immediate needs and plan for their future safety while supervising all shelter staff, four program coordinators, two full-time advocates and day-to-day shelter operations.
Dana says: “I supervise all our programs except for the legal program.
“My passion is my family and the clients we serve.
“My job requires me to attend many community meetings and serve on many committees that work with issues of mental health, AODA, homelessness, domestic violence, sexual assault, and child abuse awareness/prevention.
“I am a Canadian citizen, Native, with a commitment to the movement and a passion to help others. I supervised a treatment home for Native youth for over 20 years until I moved to the U.S. We dealt with child abuse, sexual assaults and suicides, as well as many mental health issues.”
Christine – Sexual Assault Program Coordinator
Our Sexual Assault Program Coordinator is our resident expert on sexual assault, working with victims and survivors of sexual violence. She also works with community members and other local agencies to address the impact that sexual assault has on our community and make changes in order to prevent sexual assault from occurring.
Christine is a Superior native who is currently living in Duluth. She loves Autumn, and more specifically, Halloween! She loves her three grandbabies, taking naps, and her new kitten, Wilhelmina.
Her mother was taken from her in December 1990 because of lifelong domestic violence. Since then, Christine has become dedicated to helping people in DV situations and vowed to someday work for CASDA. That dream finally came true and was hired as a fill-in advocate in 2021.
In 2024, she became a full-time employee as CASDA’s new Sexual Assault Program Coordinator. She is doing what she has always wanted to: to help those suffering from abuse, and offering them the hope to healing.
Brenna Follis – Domestic Abuse Program Coordinator
Brenna, our Domestic Abuse Program Coordinator, is our resident expert on domestic violence, working with victims in one-on-one appointments and by co-facilitating our educational/support group. She also provides education and outreach to the community, helps clients find housing, and accompanies clients to court.
Brenna lives in Solon Springs and has past work experience as a personal caregiver and friendly bartender to local patrons.
Brenna’s love for humans and animals gives the purpose of her past work a philanthropic drive, which inevitably drew her to CASDA and what we do as an organization.
She is a strong advocate for the Center Against Sexual and Domestic Abuse as she is resourceful, compassionate, personable, and possesses a strong need to help others. She is a lover of the nature and wildlife in the area which she lives. DVAM month is fast approaching, and Brenna is excited to spread awareness of CASDA’s services to her rural area by introducing this year’s event, the Chili Cook-Off!
Brenna brings her companion, Bruno, to work every day. The little four-legged friend brings comfort, ease, and humor not only to staff, but most importantly, our clients!
Joanne Sanders – Shelter Program Coordinator
Joanne started out her colorful journey with CASDA first as a volunteer, then intern, and eventually was hired as a shelter advocate in January 2013. From there, Joanne retained enough experience working with shelter clients and was eventually promoted to shelter case manager, where she provides direct services and case management to all shelter clients and crisis line callers.
Joanne also conducts structured one-on-one appointments with shelter clients on a weekly basis to facilitate advocacy and goal setting. She acts as a liaison with area vendors and service agencies to ensure a safe, healthy living-environment within the shelter program. Joanne provides information and education concerning domestic violence, sexual assault, and child abuse.
“The system is hard to navigate and can be very frustrating. I am here to help break down walls and make connections within the community to better serve those affected by abuse.”
“A world free of violence would be my top goal but I don’t see that happening. I am empowered when I get to see the light come on in someone’s eyes after they have been in the dark for so long.”
Joanne facilitates three of our annual donation drives, as well as partakes in multiple committees inside and outside of CASDA.
Joanne’s range of experience within the organization comes from a decade of compassion, resiliency, and growth: “I wear many hats here.”
Ruth Hunter – Shelter House Manager
The House Manager is responsible for providing supportive services to adult and child residents in our emergency shelter, assisting callers on the 24-hour helpline, and providing facility maintenance. She is also responsible to purchase groceries and program supplies for the families residing in shelter and for the shelter program itself on at least a weekly basis.
“As a survivor myself, I have dedicated myself to helping others. There is absolutely no better feeling than watching a woman who came through our doors feeling broken and seeing herself as a victim become empowered, recognize her strengths and realize that she is NOT a victim, she IS a survivor. Being able to play even a minor part in that healing process IS my passion.
“I hope for more recognition that domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse are happening everywhere. We need everyone to stand up and get involved, whether through advocating, volunteering or donating, if we ever hope to stop the violence. We receive wonderful support from our community and I hope that it not only continues but grows.
Darian Serrano Torres – Triage Advocate
Darian is the new triage advocate for CASDA. She has three kiddos that she absolutely adores. She loves to travel, catch concerts and festivals, and be at the beach enjoying warm weather. Through lived experience, she wants to give back and help others. CASDA’s mission has been nothing short of inspiring to Darian and she loves that she is able to continue on with the work CASDA does and be an inspiration for others.
Cindy Sweetnam – Attorney
In addition to providing legal advice, Cindy offers representation for clients in family law matters such as divorce, custody/placement issues, and restraining orders.
Cindy says she helps families navigate through the sometimes confusing family law processes. She is passionate about splitting her time between being helpful at CASDA and her children and family. When asked about her vision for CASDA, she says that she likes CASDA’s strong community presence and strongly believes that the first step is being visible and showing up to be helpful to the community. She is very involved in her church and her children’s school. She also tutors kids in math and advocates for building a better math and science foundation that she hopes will open doors for the children later on in life. While she doesn’t feel that she has made change to policies or procedures, as an attorney, she has followed the procedures already in place and has helped families get the best results. CASDA thanks Cindy for her service, which started in July 2016.
Jackie Huegel – Children’s Program Coordinator
The Children’s Program Coordinator provides supportive services to child and teen victims and witnesses of abuse. She provides safety planning assistance as well as help with healthy communication skills, setting boundaries and improving self-esteem.
Jackie has been working in mental health for many years. Throughout experiences in her own personal life and previous positions, she has made childrens safety her passion. She enjoys educating children and parents/guardians on how to keep safe to their best ability. At CASDA, Jackie meets with children, does tabling events, visits schools, and works with the children in shelter.
Denise Selden – Housing First Program Coordinator
The Housing First Program Coordinator coordinates housing-focused flexible funding and advocacy services for victims/survivors of domestic abuse in CASDA’s service area. The Housing First program focuses primarily on helping survivors who face multiple barriers secure and maintain stable, long-term housing. The Housing First strategy addresses homelessness first, making other challenges faced by survivors easier to manage.
Denise says that she assists clients with the process of later steps of recovery by helping them get an apartment and do other things to help get their life in motion after their trauma. She has a passion for helping clients be independent and reach personal goals. Denise realizes that in a perfect world, she and the whole of CASDA would not be needed. Although, she says, CASDA is a great place for recovery and reconciliation, Denise would prefer it if domestic and sexual violence didn’t exist and create a need for agencies like CASDA. She is an avid part of the community, working on the Mental Health Coordinated Community Response (CCR) Team, and the AODA CCR. She is also an ambassador for the Make It Okay Campaign, and in a humble response to the question “What impact have you had on community policies or procedures,” Denise reported that she feels like she hasn’t had an impact as of yet. Denise has been in her current role since late 2016.
Mollie Gilbertson – Community Engagement Coordinator
While the Community Engagement Coordinator occasionally works with clients, this individual’s main focus is engaging the wider community with CASDA’s mission by coordinating the efforts of interns and volunteers, assisting with fundraising activities and overseeing CASDA’s Public Education and Internship Programs.
Mollie attended college at University Wisconsin-Stout and University Minnesota-Duluth where she studied Fine Arts with a concentration in painting, printmaking, and drawing. From there, Mollie applied her creativity and passion to help others as a special education aide. By being a part of the team and often leading creative arts groups, it was there that she grew her ability to advocate for students with social and physical barriers. As well as provide resources and support for students to become successful moving forward.
Mollie went on to gain more experience working as a youth care counselor. She retained the knowledge and deepened compassion for preteens and young adults struggling with general mental health, sexual abuse, substance abuse, and behavioral issues.
In years past, Mollie worked in administration for a nonprofit with a mission to uplift the creative arts community. After having been exposed to how the operations of a non-profit organization worked, Mollie felt her priorities shifting, especially due to the recent regression to woman’s rights. Mollie believes she has found a home in CASDA, as it is a position where she can express her creativity, apply skills from past work experience, and contribute to CASDA’s passionate drive to make a difference.
Desiree Tody – Bayfield/Ashland County Outreach Coordinator
As the sole CASDA staff member in our Ashland office, Desiree provides support to rural survivors of domestic violence and further extends our reach as a community resource. Desiree was initially hired onto our team as the Domestic Violence Housing First program coordinator back in the Summer of 2022. In the time she spent in that position, Desiree paved the road and built up the program to be the supreme client resource it is today. A devoted daughter, sister, partner, and mother of four, Desiree says that she has a large extended family that leans on each other for everything. Recently, importance of family motivated a large move from Superior back out to her hometown near Bayfield and Ashland County. Needless to say, the move inspired a change in job titles, and as an asset to CASDA’s team, she will continue to provide robust advocacy services to clients in our extended area.
Previously, Desiree was a domestic violence advocate, as well as a special education paraprofessional and an advocate for families of children with special needs. She then stepped away from the work-life to be with her family more. With strong ties to her Native heritage, Desiree has been a powerful voice for her community and within the MMIW (Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women) movement. Through her MMIW work, Desiree discovered she wanted to be on the other end of this spectrum: instead of solely looking and advocating for those who are missing, she wants to work to prevent tragedy, create a safer environment, and advocate from the start of the journey. Desiree hopes to create a bigger presence for CASDA in Bayfield and Ashland counties. She would like to promote our programs we offer there as well as community events to build awareness of our services.
Kim Keskinen – Overnight Advocate
The Overnight Advocate helps provide direct services to clients, including crisis counseling, housing advocacy, and referrals to other agencies.