Our Team

Fargo: Central Office

President and CEO

Dr. Stacey Benson

Co-Founder

Dr. Stacey Benson is the Co-Founder and CEO of STAND. She is a licensed psychologist with over 30 years’ of experience working with individuals who have engaged in sexual harm. She has worked in a federal prison, an inpatient psychiatric facility, community mental health and outpatient mental health.

Dr. Benson has been a board member of the North Dakota Psychological Association since 2005 and served as President for two of those years. She served 6 terms as North Dakota's Council Representative to the American Psychological Association.

Dr. Benson is a member of the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers (ATSA), the Minnesota Association of Sexual Abusers (Mn-ATSA), and the North Dakota Psychological Association (NDPA). She is an alumni of APA’s Leadership Institute for Women.

Dr. Benson is a certified trainer in the Static 99R, Stable 2007, and Acute 2007, the most well-studied and most-used assessment instruments for sexual offenders in the world, and she has trained providers in Minnesota, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wyoming, Florida, and New York.

She has spoken at the University of North Dakota Medical School’s Grand Rounds, at the University of North Dakota, North Dakota State University, Minnesota State University-Moorhead, Merit Care, Sanford, Prairie St. John’s, the North Dakota State Penitentiary, the North Dakota Psychological Association, the Minnesota Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers Annual Conferences, The State Bar Association of North Dakota Annual Conference, provided Victims Advocacy training to the military, spoke at the PATH foster families Spring Conference, the Red River Valley Children's Advocacy Center Spring Conference, to local churches and organizations and on local radio and television regarding sexual offenses and sexual offenders.

Dr. Benson has been nominated for Teacher of The Year by the Psychiatry Residents of the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences, for APA’s State Leadership Award by the North Dakota Psychological Association. She was awarded YWCA’s Women of the Year in 2018 in the category of Health and Wellness, and was named a MSUM Distinguished Alumni in 2023.

Dr. Benson has dedicated three decades of her professional life to working to ensure the safety of North Dakota's citizens by providing education to the public and treatment and assessment to those who have perpetrated sexual offenses in order to help them live a lifestyle that is incompatible with future sexual harm.

Executive Vice President / HR / Director of Juvenile Services

Dr. Kristy Kiland

Team Member since 2015

Legal Council

Brian Balstad, JD

Team Member since 2014

Data Entry Specialist

Andrew Lantz

Team Member since 2019

Sex Offender Therapist I

Kelsey Schultz, LAPC

Team Member since 2022

Sex Offender Therapist I

Logan, LPCC

Team Member since 2022

Patient Accounts

Wendy

Grand Forks

Sex Offender Specialist II

Dr. Caylee Elingson

Team Member since 2022

Bismarck

Sex Offender Specialist I

Shawna Pfaff, LPC

Team Member since 2016

Quality Improvement and Quality Assurance Specialist, Lead Sex Offender Specialist II, Onboarding Specialist

Courtney Vaira, PhD, LPCC, NCC

Team Member since 2019

Sex Offender Therapist I

Amy Ingersoll, LMSW

Team Member since 2022

Administrative Assistant

VACANT: Applications Welcome

Dickinson

Sex Offender Specialist II

Dr. Bob Baer

Team Member since 2017

Sex Offender Specialist II

Chase Breitbach, LMSW

Team Member since 2022

Jamestown

Lead Sex Offender Specialist II

Dr. Jennifer Nitschke

Team Member since 2018

Devils Lake

Lead Sex Offender Specialist II

Dr. Jennifer Nitschke

Team Member since 2018

Minot / Williston

Quality Improvement and Quality Assurance Specialist, Lead Sex Offender Specialist II, Onboarding Specialist

Courtney Vaira, PhD, LPCC, NCC

Team Member since 2019