Laura Gapske

Background

About Laura Gapske

Laura Gapske has dedicated her life professionally and personally to ending the violence against women and children for the past 20+ years. Currently, she works at the Minnesota Department of Human Services in the Child Safety and Permanency Unit in addition to her independent expert witness and consulting business, LG Principles, LLC. As the former Director of Restorative Programs at Men As Peacemakers, she collaboratively managed the restorative justice program serving victims and offenders in cases of domestic violence. She has expertise in child forensic interviewing, multi-disciplinary team coordination, expert witness testimony and as a professional trainer through her work with First Witness Child Advocacy Center, NorthStar Family Advocacy Center and Zero Abuse Project. Laura worked at Domestic Abuse Intervention Programs (DAIP), the birthplace of the Power and Control Wheel, as the Coordinated Community Response Coordinator. Her role focused on maximizing the safety of victims who experience domestic violence by working to enhance and maintain an effective coordinated community response to domestic violence including effectively working with all women, the men who batter them, and their families. While at DAIP, she facilitated non-violence groups with women court ordered for their use of resistive violence against their partners. In her personal life, she completed her third term as an elected official on her school board district. Laura has her master's in the study of law from Hamline University. She is the mother of two avid soccer players and fishermen.