Benjamin S. Fernandez

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 21 years of experience as a practitioner. Currently, he works as a lead school psychologist in Northern Virginia providing leadership to school psychologists and a broad array of psychological and school-based mental health services including assessment, consultation, prevention and intervention. He is also responsible for the management of practicum students and the school psychology specialist level internship program. In addition to these duties, he is a PREPaRE WS1 and WS2 master trainer and is responsible for training school psychologists, school psychologist interns, school social workers, and school counselors. He serves as a crisis team leaders and manages the coordination of crisis teams and the implementation of crisis intervention services by maintaining and updating crisis team, training, operations plan, and team assignments. Additionally, he has contributed to presentations, articles, books, and webinars related to youth suicide, PREPaRE, and school safety and crisis. Benjamin conducts workshops on PREPaRE and trainings on school safety and crisis response on the local, state, and national levels. He has testified before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions on a panel for Examining Mental Health:  Treatment Options and Trends.  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 (NASP). In 2015 and 2018, Benjamin received the NASP Presidential Award. He also is a member and was nominated Chair of NASP’s School Safety and Crisis Response Committee in 2016 and again in 2017. Benjamin lives in Virginia with his wife Michelle and daughters, Meredith and Jillian.