About

Judy Knapp, Director of PreventionWORKS, has over 20 years of experience in the development and implementation of violence prevention education programs for ages three through adult.  Her signature programs include Healthy Relationships, My Body Belongs to Me, Personal Safety for all ages, Girls Circles and Boys Circles, Bully/Cyber Bully Prevention, Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs): Time Does Not Heal All Wounds, and more. She co-founded the El Dorado ACEs Collaborative in 2015 and is working on changing all community systems to use trauma-informed approaches and services. In addition, she teaches social emotional skills to children, drug prevention to teens, parenting classes at the jail, human trafficking prevention in schools, and more. Judy is a certified Suicide Postvention Trainer, Violence Prevention Trainer, Crisis Counselor, and Educator. Judy earned a B.S. degree in psychology from UC Davis and spent the first 15 years working as a zookeeper, creating and implementing educational programs, as well as a behavioral enrichment program for wild animals. The next fifteen years, Judy was Director of Education and Training at The Center for Violence-free Relationships (formerly the El Dorado Women’s Center) and was the first coordinator of the El Dorado County Child Abuse Prevention Council. Judy has won several awards, including the National Points of Light Volunteer Program of the Year, Soroptimist International’s 2016 Ruby Award for creating prevention programs that support and empower girls and women, and the 2017 Life Serving Award.