Speaker Information

Judith M. Alpuche is a Belizean social worker with more than 25 years of experience advancing children’s and women’s rights, social protection, and human rights in general across the Caribbean, Central America, and the Pacific. Her career spans the full continuum of social work practice, from direct fieldwork with vulnerable children and families, to a brief stint in academia to the design and development of national policies and programmes, and the negotiation of international agreements, giving her a grounded, systems-level understanding of what it takes to protect and empower the most vulnerable.

For over a decade, Judith served as Chief Executive Officer of Belize’s Ministry of Human Development, leading reforms in child protection, gender-based violence, social safety nets, and human rights-based legislation, and representing Belize at high-level human rights-related international forums and regional bodies. She has since brought this expertise to Small Island Developing States as a social protection consultant in St.Vincent and the Grenadines and as a UNICEF-funded Child Protection Technical Advisor in Kiribati and Samoa. She currently works in a similar role in the Republic of the Marshall Islands, continuing her engagement with island nations where the legacies of colonisation, climate vulnerability, and limited resources intersect with urgent social welfare needs.

Judith holds a Master of Social Work from St. Louis University, a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Sociology, and a Certificate in Executive Leadership from the Canadian School of Public Service and the University of the West Indies.

Opening Keynote Speaker Information

Dr. Shirlene Coopwood has devoted her career to excellence in counseling through education, leadership, and global collaboration. With more than three decades of experience, she has worked with adults, K–12 students, inpatient and outpatient populations, families, and individuals who are incarcerated, guided by a deep belief in the transformative power of counseling. Dr. Coopwood is an Associate Professor in the Department of Counseling at North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University, where she also serves as the School Counseling Program Coordinator. She also leads the federally funded Advancing School Counselors’ Expertise in Navigating Disabilities (ASCEND) fellowship, an initiative preparing school counselors to more effectively support students with disabilities.

A Counselor Educator with a Counseling Psychology Specialization, Nationally Certified Counselor and Certified Mental Health First Aid Instructor, Dr. Coopwood brings both clinical expertise and a passion for developing future professionals. Her scholarship spans school counseling, disruptive behavior in children, disability-related student success, mental health, cultural competence, international immersion experiences, and counseling in Belize. Her professional impact in Belize spans several decades and includes foundational contributions to the country’s counseling infrastructure. She developed the first School Counseling program at Anglican Cathedral College, established the first counseling center within the Ministry of Human Development and Services, designed and taught the first counseling courses at the University of Belize, leadership in the Social Work program at the University of Belize and Mental Health Association in Belize. She also served as the inaugural Belize Country Coordinator for the University of the West Indies’ Master’s in Counseling program, helping to build a national pipeline of trained counselors. Today, she continues this work through active collaboration with the Belize School Counselor Association and the Ministry of Education on the Belize School Counselor Certification initiative and partnership with RESTORE Belize.

Dr. Coopwood’s grant portfolio reflects her commitment to addressing pressing educational and mental health needs, with funded projects focused on the impact of COVID-19 on enrollment, suicide prevention, rehabilitation counseling and addiction training, academic advising, teen pregnancy and school counselors training to advance their expertise with students with disabilities. Her professional service includes roles as a grant reviewer for the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research; journal reviewer; faculty mentor and reviewer for the National Board for Certified Counselors; and managing editor and founding member of the International Association of Wellness Counseling. She is also the recipient of the Southern Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (SACES) Outstanding Tenured Counselor Award.

Across her roles as educator, researcher, administrator, mentor, and advocate, Dr. Coopwood is guided by a vision of counseling that is culturally responsive, community-centered, and grounded in the belief that every person deserves the opportunity to thrive and excel