Who We Are
Menergy is the oldest counseling program for abusive men in the city of
Philadelphia. We are also a member organization of the Pennsylvania Batterers Intervention Services
Network. Menergy Director Paul Bukovec is a founding member of the BIS Network.
Please see below for information about the people who work at
Menergy.
Director Paul Bukovec, LCSW
Paul Bukovec is the Director of Menergy, a counseling center for men which he
founded in 1994. In this capacity he serves as chief clinician for a
practice that specializes in the treatment of perpetrators of domestic abuse.
As head of this treatment program for spouse and partner abusers, he is
responsible for programming, clinical supervision and the coordination of all
direct service, including individual and group evaluation and treatment for
offenders, and training and outreach presentations on domestic violence in a
wide variety of settings. He serves as a consultant and trainer for local
and state-wide domestic violence agencies and coalitions. To the service
community at large, Paul serves as a case consultant for domestic
violence cases involving victims and perpetrators. He has spoken at many
national and regional professional conferences and has been a guest interviewee
on local television and radio on numerous occasions. He was featured with
his program, Project RAP on the ABC-TV news show "20/20," in December, 1987.
Paul was the founder and director of that program for Family Service of
Philadelphia for 10 years, designing it as the first abuser treatment program
in the Philadelphia area. During that tenure, Paul organized and
chaired The Brown Bag Forum, a monthly professional training series featuring
local experts speaking on a variety of subjects relating to family violence,
which served hundreds of clinicians locally. In 1988, Paul
coordinated and chaired a major two-day national conference: Violence in the
Family, hosting over 400 professionals from around the U.S.
An active member of the state-wide Batterers Intervention Services Network,
Paul is a co-author of Standards For Batterers Programs promulgated by
the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic
Violence. He has also written a monograph, "Psychotherapy For The Male
Batterer," published in
The Renfrew Perspective.
Paul was a full-time assistant professor for 4 1/2 years
in the Child Care Department of Temple University, and a part-time instructor
for Community College of Philadelphia for several years. He has also been a
field supervisor for graduate social work students from Smith, Bryn Mawr,
University of Pennsylvania, Allegheny University, Rutgers University, and
Temple University. He has guest lectured at most of the local colleges and
graduate clinical programs.
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Assistant Director Tony Lapp, LCSW
In addition to his counseling work at Menergy, Tony Lapp coordinates Menergy
en Español, a counseling group for Philadelphia-area Spanish-speaking abusive men.
Tony is a regular presenter at local domestic violence trainings and workshops,
and has been a guest interviewee on local Spanish-language television and radio
on various occasions. An active member of the state-wide Batterers
Intervention Services Network, he also collaborates with several projects in the Philadelphia area related to family violence,
including the Mayor's Task Force on Domestic Violence, the Domestic Violence
subcommittee of the Philadelphia Fatherhood Practitioners Network, and the DHS Domestic Violence Project.
Tony has worked as a community organizer in North Philadelphia and
Kensington, as director of a social service agency working with ex-offenders, and as a group
facilitator in the Pennsylvania state prison system. For five years in the early 1990s,
Tony also worked with a series of grass-roots publishing and educational
programs in Guatemala, Colombia and Costa Rica.
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Carrie Askin,
LCSW
In addition to her group and individual work with abusive men, Carrie
also provides counseling through Triangle Space to women who have abused a
female or male partner. Prior to her work with Menergy, Carrie worked for
seven years with Women In Transition, a Philadelphia-based agency providing
counseling services to abused and/or drug and alcohol addicted women. She
has a particular interest in and experience with Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and
Transgendered clients.
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Brother Robb Carter, MSW
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John Franks
John began his work in domestic violence treatment when he
interned with Project Rap, the predecessor to Menergy, in 1989-90. He
began working at Menergy in 1997. In addition to his counseling work with
Menergy, John is currently the director of Warwick Family Based Program, of
Warwick Family Services
in Bucks County. Warwick Family Based Program provides a variety of
intensive in-home clinical and case management services to children and
families. The primary focus of the work is towards helping families remain
intact and learn ways of resolving conflicts that might result in out-of-home
placement for the child most at risk. Prior to this position he worked for
11 years as a psychiatric social worker on two inpatient adolescent units.
He provided individual, group and family therapy as well as case management
services to the clients he served.
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Natasha Watson, MHS
Before coming to work at Menergy, Natasha worked for 6 years
with Women in Transition as the Crisis Intervention Counselor. There she
provided individual and group counseling for battered and addicted women. In
addition to her work at Menergy, Natasha works with men at The Philadelphia
Comprehensive Center for Fathers as the Senior Case Manager. There she empowers
men to achieve educational advancement, job specific skills training and career
placement.
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