Team

Executive Director: Ted N. Strader, M.S.

Ted N. Strader is founder and Executive Director of the Council on Prevention and Education: Substances. He earned a Bachelor's degree in English and a Master's degree in Community Development from the University of Louisville. He had extensive professional training in chemical dependency treatment, prevention and family relations. He has raised millions in dollars through grants, contracts and fundraising, in order to implement projects on alcohol and drug abuse prevention, solvent inhalation prevention and research, parent education, and voluntarism. In addition, Mr. Strader has published several books, curriculums, articles, and films and has presented papers, keynote addresses, seminars and workshops at many local, state and national conferences on drug abuse. His research on solvents led to new legislation in the Commonwealth of Kentucky in the United States.

Mr. Strader has served as a consultant on personal and family life skills, violence prevention, and alcohol and drug prevention to innumerable public and private organizations including national associations, federal agencies, state agencies, hospitals, treatment agencies, Universities, Athletic Departments, the United States Army, prisons, local departments of corrections, and 1000's of schools, professional agencies, mental health centers and community groups over the past 25 years.

Mr. Strader was founder of the National Association of Prevention Professionals and Advocates, and is a former member and past President of the National Prevention Faculty with several other prominent preventionists.

Mr. Strader is the lead author/program developer for all COPES, Inc. programs. Under his direction COPES has received several distinctive honors and awards. In the early 90's Mr. Strader was involved in drug abuse prevention consultation in Ghana, West Africa where he was awarded an Honorary Doctoral Degree in Education by the St. John Bosco's Teachers' Training College. In 1997 Mr. Strader served as a citizen ambassador on substance abuse prevention and traveled to Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Prague to share his knowledge and skill with his international colleagues.

Mr. Strader's programs have received the Exemplary Program Award three times. This three-time recognition by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, the National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention Directors and the National Prevention Network is unprecedented. His published curriculum, Creating Lasting Family Connections, is listed on the National Registry of Effective Prevention Programs and Practices, is recognized as a National Model by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's Center for Substance Prevention, as a Model Family Strengthening Program by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and as a Promising Program by the U.S. Department of Education. Creating Lasting Family Connections was further honored by the International Youth Foundation and is included as a model program for international replication through YouthNet. In March of 2001, the President's Office of National Drug Control Policy gave COPES a Special Recognition Award for "providing quality drug prevention services to the nation."

We at COPES are proud of the leadership provided to our organization by Mr. Strader.


National Training Director: Teresa Boyd Strader, MSW, LCSW

Teresa is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and a Certified Prevention Specialist in the State of Kentucky. Ms. Boyd Strader has worked with adults and, youth and families in a variety of settings. She has received comprehensive formal education and professional experience in substance abuse prevention, intervention, and treatment, behavioral mental health, and family enrichment. Ms. Boyd Strader is currently the Associate Executive Director at COPES, Inc. She is a Certified Master Trainer and serves as the National Training Director for the Creating Lasting Family Connections (CLFC) curriculum. Ms. Boyd Strader is also editor for the 2002 and 2007 editions of the CLFC prevention series. Teresa is currently married to the Developer of the CLFC Program, Ted N. Strader, and enjoys working together with him at COPES, Inc. and the Resilient Futures Network, LLC. Together they have a lovely daughter, Sierra Madison Strader.

You can reach both Ted and or Teresa by clicking here.

Chris West

Mr. West is a former University of Louisville Basketball player and a member of the 1986 NCAA National Championship Team. Mr. West has been married for 15 years to his beautiful wife Robin Lynn. He has two children a daughter, Shelby who is 16 years old and a son Christopher Jr. who is 12. Both are achieving great success on a higher level academically and athletically. Mr. West has lived in several cultures while he frequently traveled as a professional basketball player.  He has been to South America (Ecuador), South East Asia (Indonesia, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, and the Philippines) and Mexico.  Mr. West served on the Executive Board of COPES for two years before resigning in order to become a member of the COPES staff. As a staff member of COPES, Mr. West delivers the Creating Lasting Family Connections curriculum to recovering members of the reentry population and provides mentoring services to those who successfully complete the CLFC program. He is a certified CLFC Master trainer and also delivers the CLFC Implementation training to other professionals across the country. Mr. West recently presented at the Office of Family Assistance Technical Assistance Conference held in Washington D. C. in August, 2008, and at the 10^th Annual National Fatherhood & Families Conference held in Phoenix, Arizona in March 2009.

Christopher Kokoski

Christopher Kokoski and his wife of 5 years, Kristi, are the proud and devoted parents of their lovely three year old daughter, Lilly. Christopher graduated from Murray State University in 2002 with a Bachelor’s degree in Organizational Communication and a minor in Youth and Non-profit Leadership. His expanding national training experience includes training other professionals in California, Kentucky, Ohio and Texas to deliver the Creating Lasting Family Connections program. Other notable activities include writing articles, short stories, novels and training materials for national audiences. After visiting Brazil and Mexico, and living in Germany for three years, he developed a deep passion for touching the lives of people of different cultures. March 2009 marks his two year anniversary at COPES, Inc. at which he is a Trainer/Co-coordinator serving minority and minority re-entry individuals. He is also a Certified Prevention Professional and certified Master Trainer of the Creating Lasting Family Connections program.

You can reach both Chris West and or Chris Kokoski by clicking here.