Barbara L. Bonner, PhD, a licensed Clinical Child Psychologist, is a Emeritus Faculty of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics at OUHSC. She is the founding Director of the Adolescents with Illegal Sexual Behavior (AISB) Treatment Program at OUHSC. The treatment program began 1985 and has been funded through state and county contracts since 1987. The group treatment program is an outpatient treatment program with a coinciding therapy for caregivers. She founded the treatment program for children with problematic sexual behavior (PSB) at OUHSC through a grant funded by ACYF. Dr. Bonner has created several publications on the research on youth with PSB, sexual development of children, and ethical issues in treatment to be used by parents of youth with SBP and providers who work with these youth. Dr. Bonner co-developed a reunification protocol for youth with SBP. This protocol has been used to train mental health providers, child protection workers, and Court Appointed Special Advocates on a local, state, and national level. She authored a publication for SaferSociety Press entitled Taking Action: Support for Families of Adolescents with Illegal Sexual Behavior. This booklet is designed to help parents and caregivers of adolescents with illegal sexual behavior. Dr. Bonner has presented locally, state wide, nationally, and internationally on youth with PSB, including for organizations such as International Society for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (ISPCAN), APSAC, National Adolescent Perpetration Network (NAPN), ATSA, American Probation and Parole Association (APPA), National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ), and the American Prosecutors Research Institute (APRI). Dr. Bonner is Past President of the Board of Councilors of IPSCAN and Past President of APSAC. She developed and directed the OUHSC Interdisciplinary Training Program in Child Abuse and Neglect (ITP). The OUHSC ITP program is unique as it is the only program in U.S. medical schools that provides this level of specialized training. The goals of this program are to provide advanced training in administration, clinical practice, policy formation, child advocacy, and research to professionals from medicine, dentistry, law, psychology, social work, nursing, and related disciplines; train these professionals to take state, national, and international leadership roles in the prevention and treatment of child maltreatment; and serve as a model child maltreatment interdisciplinary training program for the nation.
Dr. Bonner has numerous years treating child victims of abuse and neglect or who have experienced other types of trauma. She has a wealth of expertise to contribute to a wide range of T/TA for sites, including facilitating collaboration across disciplines for developing interdisciplinary community management systems to provide integrated care for youth with PSB, victims and families.
In 2019, Dr. Bonner was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children (APSAC). The award recognizes an individual for outstanding contributions to the filed of child maltreatment. Dr. Bonner was also recognized as a recipient of the National Symposium on Sexual Behavior of Youth's inaugural Distinguished Professional Award in 2020. This award recognizes those who have made significant contributions to the mission of keeping youth safe and healthy by effectively identifying, monitoring, preventing, education, and intervening to address problematic sexual behavior of youth.