Videos & Webinars

Jonah C. Cunningham currently serves as President and CEO of the National Association of County Behavioral Health and Developmental Disability Directors (NACBHDD). In this role he proactively advocates for national policies that recognize and support the critical role counties play in caring for people affected by mental illness, addiction, and developmental disabilities. In this capacity he also serves as Executive Director of the National Association for Rural Mental Health.

Prior to joining NACBHDD, Jonah worked at Trust for America’s Health, a public health think tank, where he focused extensively on ways to reduce mortality from substance misuse and suicide. Additionally, he worked as a congressional staffer for several years in the office of Congresswoman Grace F. Napolitano (CA) where he helped to reestablish the Congressional Mental Health Caucus and created a Suicide Prevention Task Force within the Caucus.

Michael Hoge, Ph.D. is Professor Psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine and the Director of Yale Behavioral Health. For four decades at Yale, he has been developing and managing comprehensive systems of behavioral health care and a broad range of clinical, rehabilitative, educational, vocational, outreach, and recovery-oriented services for children, adolescents and adults. Simultaneously, he has worked to develop and evaluate innovative services, including alternatives to hospitalization, crisis response systems, programs for the homeless, and therapeutic schools.  

Dr. Hoge, a clinical psychologist, is a nationally recognized expert on behavioral health workforce development. He is a founding member and the Senior Science and Policy Advisor of The Annapolis Coalition on the Behavioral Health Workforce. He is the senior editor or author of three major works by the Coalition: the SAMHSA-funded national Action Plan on Behavioral Health Workforce Development; the Alaskan Core Competencies for Direct Care Workers in Health and Human Services; and the SAMHSA and HRSA-funded Core Competencies for Integrated Behavioral Health and Primary Care. Over the past five years he has developed the Coalition’s intensive Recruitment and Retention Learning Collaboratives in Behavioral health and launched these collaboratives across the nation.

Michael has presented and published widely on behavioral health services and workforce development. He has consulted to the President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health and to numerous federal and state agencies, foundations, and provider organizations. He has been a member of two National Academy of Medicine (IOM) Committees that addressed workforce issues and Chaired the Behavioral Health Professional and Technical Advisory Committee of The Joint Commission.

Marcy Melvin, MA is a pivotal executive with over 25 years of experience in behavioral health policy, training, and clinical practice. As a Licensed Professional Counselor in Texas her experience includes providing direct clinical and supervisory services to children, youth, parents, and young adults in various clinical settings including residential, in-home, outpatient, private practice, primary, secondary, and post-secondary locations. Marcy is extremely passionate about advancing health equity and reducing disparities and disproportionality; this has been a culmination of her life’s work in various clinical, organizational and systems settings. 

Wendy Morris, RN, MSN, CS, has enjoyed various roles in patient care and leadership across the continuum in behavioral health for more than three decades, including inpatient, outpatient, and home health services as well as state government. She served as commissioner for Kentucky’s Department for Behavioral Health, Developmental and Intellectual Disabilities for several years and is currently a Senior Behavioral Health Advisor at the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD).

Ms. Morris holds a Master of Science in Community Health Nursing from the University of Kentucky and is credentialed as a Public Health Clinical Nurse Specialist by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC).

Reyna Taylor, Senior Vice President, Public Policy, National Council for Mental Wellbeing

Ms. Taylor brings extensive experience with federal public policy initiatives to protect access and affordability to her role as Vice President, Policy & Advocacy at the National Council for Mental Wellbeing where she leads public policy and government affairs activities, supervises legislative matters and guides overall public policy strategy. With nearly two decades of specialty pharmaceutical and medical device experience, Ms. Taylor has a wide range of knowledge on public policy issues, including Medicare, Medicaid and commercial management of managed care organizations, hospitals, pharmacies and mental health centers. She holds a Bachelor of Science in neuroscience from Bates College and earned a Master of Science in biotechnology and Master of Business Administration from Johns Hopkins University. Currently, she serves on the board of the Mental Health Liaison Group.

Josh Rubin, MPP
Vice President, Client Solutions
Health Management Associates

Alexandra Plante is a Senior Advisor of Substance Use at the National Council for Mental Wellbeing, and works alongside the United Nations Office of Drug Control Policy (UNODC) on unethical practices in substance use disorder treatment and recovery. Previously she has served as a consultant to U.S. federal agencies and state policymakers, international agencies, and private entities such as Google. Her writing has been featured in outlets such as Harvard Health Publications, Psychology Today, and The Fix. She holds a M.A. in Quantitative Research in Communications, and previously served as a Director at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School – Recovery Research Institute, and DynamiCare Health. 

Philip Rutherford is the Vice President for Substance Use in the Strategy and Growth Office at the National Council for Mental Wellbeing. In this role, he expands the organization’s impact in addressing the quality, effectiveness, accessibility and affordability of substance use programs and services for National Council members. He is also tasked with charting a course for progress, transformation and equity.  

Rutherford has managed strategy and operations for several recovery-focused organizations. He is a member of committees at the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration and other federal agencies. He serves on several nonprofit boards, including Serve Minnesota, the National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers and the Police Treatment and Community Collaborative. Prior to the nonprofit world, he spent most of his career at Microsoft, Micron Electronics and the Taylor Corporation. Rutherford is an active member of the recovery community and has considerable experience in the areas of reentry and equity. 

William Stauffer is in long-term recovery and leads PRO-A, the statewide RCO of Pennsylvania. Mr. Stauffer is a writer on the history and future of the American Recovery Movement. In 2019 he was honored as the Vernon Johnson Award Individual Recovery Advocate award by Faces & Voices of Recovery. In December of 2023, he testified to the US Senate Special Committee on Aging for the second time to highlight challenges and opportunities related to the growing problem of substance use disorders in older adults. He recently completed a fellowship at the Hazelton and Betty Ford Foundation in Center City MN through the A.A. Heckman Endowed Fellowship. As part of passing the torch to the next generation, International esteemed author and recovery thought leader William White asked Mr. Stauffer to open the First National Conference on Addiction Recovery Science held by NIDA, NIAAA and the Recovery Research Institute at Harvard with his remarks. He is an adjunct Professor of Social Work at Misericordia University in Dallas PA.

Shelly Weizman is a human rights lawyer who currently serves as the associate director of the Center on Addiction and Public Policy at the O’Neill Institute at Georgetown Law and as faculty at Georgetown’s Master of Science in Addiction Policy and Practice. She previously worked in the governor’s office in New York, where she oversaw policy and operations related to addiction, mental health, and disabilities, and began her legal career as a civil rights attorney in New York City. Before law school, she worked with youth and families at a variety of addiction treatment programs. She is also a person living and thriving in long-term recovery from addiction. 

Amy Conway, MPH is Director of Community Health for Kaiser Permanente. She oversees the management and execution of programs including Housing for Health, Economic Opportunity, and Food & Nutrition Security. Amy has worked at Kaiser Permanente (KP) for two decades in several different roles. After receiving her Master’s in Public Health from Tulane University in the nineties, she began her career as a health educator at the KP clinic in Hayward, California. She then led regionwide tobacco dependence prevention and cessation initiatives and smoking cessation counselor trainings throughout Northern California. Mid-career she left KP to become the executive director of a nonprofit organization whose mission was to teach people mindfulness meditation. She then returned to KP as a senior managerial consultant working closely with Primary Care Chiefs and Managers to lead performance improvement and strategic projects. Amy served as Regional Director of KP’s perinatal substance abuse program for eight years. Outside of work, Amy enjoys playing tennis, hiking, and snowboarding in Colorado where she lives with her partner Michael, her dog Eddie, and two quirky cats. 

Dr. Karen E. Goodenough, PhD, MSW, LGSW, is Executive Director of the National Association of Social Workers – Minnesota Chapter. Dr. KG has worked in direct practice, non-profit program management, has been a consultant in evaluation, data utilization, and strategic planning, and has served as adjunct faculty in numerous BSW and MSW programs throughout Minnesota. Her dissertation research focused on exemptions from licensure, and she is a member of the MN Board of Social Work Advisory Committee and Legislation and Rules Committee. Dr. KG chairs the NASW Licensure Task Force, was on the document writing team for the Social Work Interstate Compact, and is the NASW representative to the Compact Commission. 

Andrea S. Meyer Stinson, Ph.D., LMFT is the Director of Workforce Strategy & Initiatives for Resilient Georgia.

As Director of Workforce Strategy & Initiatives, Dr. Andrea Meyer Stinson leads the National Mental Health Workforce Acceleration Collaborative Program. She is dedicated to growing and strengthening Georgia’s workforce of trauma informed professionals, while simultaneously identifying barriers, facilitators and solutions related to Georgia’s mental health workforce shortages. She was co-founder of Resilient Middle Georgia where she helped to build awareness about positive and adverse childhood experiences (PACEs), resilience, and trauma informed care across an 11-county area.

Dr. Meyer Stinson has worked therapeutically with children, couples, families, and communities since 2001. She has trained extensively in Parent Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT), Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders (PMADs), and Child Parent Psychotherapy (CPP). She is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) and an American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT) Approved Supervisor. With more than two decades of experience working in academia, she has taught undergraduate, graduate, and medical students as a professor in Mercer University’s School of Medicine in the Master of Family Therapy program. She is past president for the Georgia Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (GAMFT) and a former board member for Resilient Georgia. She earned her doctoral degree from The Florida State University, master’s degree from Purdue University, and two bachelor’s degrees from the University of Georgia.

Julia Pavon Rojas M.S, NCC, is a pre-licensed, bilingual mental health counselor whose primary focus is providing individual and group counseling to adults, adolescents and children. Julia works for Ser Familia, a non-profit organization with offices all across the metro-atlanta area. Ser Familia provides mental health and prevention services for Latino families in Spanish. Julia graduated from the University of Georgia with a B.S in Psychology and criminal justice studies, and completed her M.S in mental health counseling at Oklahoma State University. 

Emmaly Perks, MA, CCRP, is an experienced leader in mental health and education, with over a decade of expertise leading workforce and leadership programs. She holds a Bachelor of Science in psychology and a master’s degree in curriculum, instruction, and assessment. As the current Director of the National Mental Health Workforce Acceleration Collaborative for the National Council for Mental Wellbeing, she oversees a $15MM national program aimed at addressing the mental health workforce crisis through recruitment, training, and retention of mental health clinicians from diverse backgrounds. Previously, Ms. Perks was Director of the Office of Education and Training for the University of Colorado’s Department of Psychiatry, where she led programs in workforce and organizational development. 

Amy René, LCSW has over 30 years of social work experience in the Metro Atlanta area. She graduated from The University of Georgia in 1993 with a Bachelor of Social Work degree and began her career in child welfare with DFCS. She has worked at DFCS until 2004 when she went to work for Hillside, Inc., one of the oldest non-profits in Atlanta. Amy obtained her MSW in 2004 from the University of Georgia.

Amy has worked at Hillside for 20 years and has served in multiple roles including the Vice President of Community Operations and Clinical Services. She was intensively trained in Dialectical Behavior Therapy by Dr. Tom Lynch and Dr. Adam Payne in 2006 with the original cohort of therapists and staff at Hillside. She has also participated in advanced DBT trainings with Dr. Shari Manning and Dr. Marsha Linehan. She has participated in intensive continuing education training in the areas of Family Preservation, Foster Care, Kinship, Wraparound, Family Finding, Trauma, and Child Welfare.

Amy lives in North Atlanta with her husband of 15 years and 13 year old daughter.

Andrea Carlstrom has spent her entire career dedicated to health and wellness in a wide variety of environments and has served the community as Chaffee County Public Health’s (CCPH) Director for almost a decade.  CCPH provides the county with over 30 programs and services, including chronic disease prevention and early intervention, communicable disease surveillance and investigation, emergency preparedness and response, maternal and family health, environmental health, aging well, immunizations, and so much more.  In 2019, she and her colleagues were inspired to ignite a storytelling and advocacy movement to empower and unite the people of Chaffee County and to drive systems and policy change from the tales of lived experience from our own backyard which has become We Are Chaffee.  We Are Chaffee is a catalyst for community conversations, and it is not uncommon for Andrea to be meeting with community partners and members of the public to hear about their experiences and to strategize on solutions to make living in Chaffee County a better place for all.  As chief health strategists in the communities they serve, local public health directors have an opportunity to connect people and programming, leverage resources and expertise, and improve the health landscape with an equitable lens.  Andrea is honored that she has such a unique role in such a special place that she calls home.

Nathaniel Z Counts, JD, is the Chief Policy Officer for The Kennedy Forum, where he advances a public policy agenda which aims to ensure that all individuals have access to the treatment, services, and insurance coverage that meets their needs and the supports necessary to promote prevention, recovery, and mental well-being. In previous roles, Nathaniel served as Senior Policy Advisor for Mental Health to the Commissioner of Health for the City of New York and the Senior Vice President of Behavioral Health Innovation for Mental Health America (MHA). His thought leadership and research have been published in journals such as JAMA Pediatrics, Lancet Psychiatry, and Nature Mental Health. He received his JD cum laude from Harvard Law School, where he was a Student Fellow at the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, and his BA in biology from Johns Hopkins.

Dr. Erin Parks is a clinical psychologist, researcher, and co-founder of Equip, a virtual eating disorder program that delivers evidence-based treatment for lasting recovery. She has over 15 years of experience with adolescents and adults in inpatient, partial hospitalization, and intensive outpatient settings, where she has seen firsthand the disparity in who gets diagnosed and who has access to quality treatment. Erin is passionate about quality mental health treatment and helping families differentiate between treatment that feels good and treatment that works. 

Dr. Helen Egger is a child psychiatrist, mental health epidemiologist, and digital health innovator. She is a highly sought world expert in the field of child psychiatry working with countries and global organizations on early interventions and measurement-based care. With over 19k citations to her name, 100+ peer-reviewed research articles, and dozens of NIH research grants, she deeply understands what works in mental health and what is just conjecture. She was recognized by Forbes 50 over 50  for co-founding Little Otter with her daughter, Rebecca Egger. Little Otter is a virtual child and whole family mental health company providing measurement-based and evidence-based care to children from birth to age 14 and their families. 

Prior to Little Otter, Dr. Egger was Chair of the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at NYU Langone Health (NYULH), Director of the NYU Child Study Center, and before that Vice-Chair and Chief of the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Duke Medicine. She founded the WonderLab and Digital Design Lab at NYULH and the Early Childhood Mental Health Lab and Information and Information & Child Mental Health Initative at Duke. 

As the creator of the PAPA, the gold standard and first diagnostic assessment for preschool children, Dr. Egger has shaped the science and practice of early childhood mental health. The PAPA is translated into more than 15 languages. Her work has proved that the rate of mental health disorders in children under the age of 6 are the same as the rates in older children and that early treatment is highly effective.  

Dr. Egger attended Yale College and Yale School of Medicine, is a mother of four children, and lives in Durham, NC, right up the road from her daughter and co-founder, Rebecca Egger, and her first grandchild. 

Dr. Anita Everett is the Director of the Center for Mental Health Services within the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Serving in this role since 2018, she provides executive leadership for federal efforts to improve the nation’s mental health service systems.

Prior to SAMHSA, Dr. Everett served as the Section Chief of The Johns Hopkins Bayview Community and General Psychiatry in Baltimore, Maryland. She was on the faculty of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and the Bloomberg School of Public Health. At Hopkins, she directed 22 community psychiatry programs that provided a range of services to individuals from preschool age to older adults, that included intensive acute services as well as recovery support services for persons with serious mental illnesses. More recently at Hopkins, she was involved with the leadership of health system behavioral health integration into accountable care structures.

Earlier in her career, Dr. Everett also served as the Senior Medical Advisor to SAMHSA where she worked on the promotion of access to quality services and access to medications in the Medicare prescription drug benefit. From 1999 to 2003, she served as the Inspector General to the Office of the Governor in the Department of Mental Health in Virginia. During this time, she completed over 80 inspections of Institutions operated and licensed to provide mental health services in Virginia. She received the Patrick Henry Award for outspoken advocacy.

Dr. Everett is a past president of the American Psychiatric Association, Maryland Psychiatric Society and the American Association of Community Psychiatry and has received commendation for her work in national healthcare reform and advocacy. She has served on the National Institute on Drug Abuse National Advisory Council, is currently an ex-officio member of the National Institute of Mental Health National Advisory Council and is also active in several professional organizations. She has been engaged in a number of international projects, including with the Global Leadership Exchange, and has provided consultation to the Ministries of Health, Department of Mental Health in Iraq and Afghanistan on the implementation of mental health services in these countries.

Lauren Moyer, LCSW, is the Executive VP of Clinical Innovation for Compass Health Network. She is a visionary servant leader with over 20+ years’ experience in the behavior health field, especially around shaping patient-centered approaches and filling gaps within our system of care. She is the current chair of Missouri’s 988 Taskforce and former chair of Missouri’s Suicide Prevention Network. Ms. Moyer’s multi-faceted experience has equipped her with a comprehensive understanding of the intricate complexities surrounding behavioral health and the transformative potential for change.  

Compass Health Network (CHN) has been a long-standing Community Mental Health Center for 50 years, and now serves as one of the largest CCBHC’s in the nation. As a comprehensive health care provider in 47-counties throughout Missouri, spanning the I-70 corridor from St. Louis to Kansas City, our clinics are in diverse communities and counties, serving a multitude of Missouri with diverse backgrounds, socioeconomic status, and specifically targeting the marginalized and medically indigent who have historically lacked proper access to affordable and clinically effective treatment services. CHN is also an FQHC, a free-standing psychiatric in-patient hospital and a 988-crisis lifeline provider that includes the full continuum of crisis on-demand services such as Behavioral Health Crisis Centers (BHCC), providing 24-7 access to crisis services and support and assisting with hospital and detention center diversion. CHN has made investment in mobile crisis services, emergency room enhancement projects (placing staff members at local emergency room departments to support referral into after care, and most recently the addition of a youth behavioral health urgent care. 

Anthony Carter, LCSW is a Director, Practice Improvement and Consulting, for the National Council for Mental Wellbeing. He leads initiatives for advancing the mental health and substance use treatment workforce. Prior to joining the National Council, he served as the data and quality assurance manager for Montgomery County, Md., Child Welfare Services, where he was responsible for agency data collection, analysis and reporting of key performance indicators. He started with Montgomery County as a child protective services social worker investigating child abuse and neglect allegations and is a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW-C) in Maryland. Prior to his career in social work, Carter was a program manager at Public Allies, a national workforce development and social justice nonprofit that advances new leadership to strengthen communities, nonprofits and civic participation.

Peter Delia is a Federal Policy Manager for the National Council for Mental Wellbeing. Peter manages a number of federal policy portfolios for the National Council, including issues related to workforce, telehealth, equity, 988/crisis, and social determinants of health. Prior to coming to the National Council, Peter worked as a senior attorney for the Florida Senate, where he drafted and analyzed legislation related to behavioral health, Medicaid, child welfare, and elder care issues. Peter has also worked as a senior attorney for the Florida Department of Health, where he practiced administrative litigation and prosecuted disciplinary matters concerning physicians, optometrists, chiropractors, psychologists, and dentists. Peter is a South Florida native and currently lives in Tallahassee, FL with his wife, Eliza. 

Ashley Kjos, PsyD, L.P. is a Minnesota licensed psychologist (#LP5534) and the Chief Executive Officer of Woodland Centers, a Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) in west central Minnesota. Dr. Kjos earned her Master’s (2009) and PsyD (2011) in Clinical Psychology at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon. After being a staff psychologist at Woodland Centers from 2011 to 2014 then the Clinical Director from 2014 to 2016, she became its CEO in 2016. As CEO, Dr. Kjos is responsible for the overall coordination of the internal operations of Woodland Centers. The agency has a seven county catchment area and a robust continuum of outpatient, rehabilitative, and residential behavioral healthcare programs serving the entire age range. 

Dr. Kjos is very active in behavioral health services across the state through participation in various associations and serving on non-profit boards. She has served on the board of directors of West Central Industries (WCI), a vocational rehabilitation service provider based out of Willmar, Minnesota from October 2019 to present including being the Vice Chair of this board from 2022 to 2023 and Chair from 2023 to present. She has served as a board member on the Minnesota Association of Resources for Recovery and Chemical Health (MARRCH) from November 2019 to present. Dr. Kjos has been actively involved in the Minnesota Association of Community Mental Health Programs (MACMHP) association since 2014 including advocacy for public policy changes, training, collaboration with providers and associations across the state, and innovation of the mental health and substance use system of care in MN. She has served on the MACMHP board of directors from 2019 to present serving as the Treasurer from 2021-2022 and the board chair from 2022 through 2024. Dr. Kjos is committed to transformation of the healthcare system in the state of Minnesota.  

Dr. Garima Singh, MD is a Chief Medical Officer at Burrell Behavioral Health and its parent company, Brightli. She is triple board certified in American Board of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, General Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine. She also serves as an adjunct faculty in the Department of Psychiatry, University of Missouri and participates as an expert panel for ECHO Child and adolescent psychiatry. Prior to her current position at Burrell Behavioral Health, she was the medical director at the Thompson Center for Autism and Neurodevelopment. Dr. Singh has been actively involved in teaching, multiple committees and research projects related to mental illness and autism. In her current role she also focuses on novel methods of healthcare delivery including telehealth, integrated and collaborative care models especially for rural and underserved areas. She has several publications and has presented in state, national and international level. She specializes in child psychiatry and especially cares of those with special needs, autism, and developmental delays. She is passionate about bullying prevention and expansion of mental health services. 

Dr. Singh grew up in India, earning her medical degree there before completing a fellowship in child psychiatry at Southern Illinois University (SIU) and her general psychiatry residency at the University of Missouri School of Medicine.  

Jim McEvoy is a Principal with Health Management Associates and is accomplished in architecting robust technology solutions for state agencies, health plans and service providers. Jim understands the substantial role data will play in the future of healthcare delivery and works to inform clients around data-driven decisions. He is an experienced project manager and business strategist who has successfully led all phases of diverse Medicaid technology projects. With deep knowledge of CMS reporting, waiver management and pharmacy data, Jim aligns business goals to deliver groundbreaking healthcare IT solutions.

As a vendor for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, Jim managed projects to develop web-based enrollment tools, federal reporting tools and data warehousing strategies for the department’s 1915(c) waivers, health home projects, autism state plan amendment, and home and community-based services projects. He mitigated risk factors through careful analysis of data and a flexible technical solution set. He anticipated and managed change effectively in rapidly evolving business environments and the transfer of knowledge among different departmental units. Jim defined processes and tools best suited to each project and moved between agile and waterfall approaches depending on project specifics and client goals. He created detailed project road maps, plans, schedules and work breakdown structures.

Jim has been the subject matter expert for Michigan’s pharmacy data warehousing strategy. He oversaw inbound data loads, pharmacy encounter processing, and extracts to health plans and Michigan’s fee-for-service pharmacy benefits manager. With significant experience in systems engineering, Jim led the design, development and rollout of approximately 40 extract, transformation and load (ETL) processes and a dozen web applications for clients with the state of Michigan.

Jim had the privilege of serving as the project manager for the CareConnect360 web application. This tool is responsible for delivering Medicaid claims and encounters information to a diverse user audience, including health plans, community mental health agencies, health home providers and foster care workers. It currently serves seven different business units inside of Michigan’s Department of Health and Human Services.

Jim received his bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University. Jim lives in the Lansing area with his wife and three children. They can often be found camping or at an MSU football game. When not doing those things, Jim is a rehabilitating runner and co-hosts MSU’s least topical sports podcast.

Zach Boyd, PhD is the Director of the Office of Artificial Intelligence Policy at the Utah Department of Commerce. Dr. Boyd is a faculty member at Brigham Young University’s (BYU) mathematics department, where he teaches applied and computational mathematics. Dr. Boyd’s research lab focuses on artificial intelligence, machine learning, and mathematical modeling in social science applications, such as psychology, economics, and social networks. Before working at BYU, Dr. Boyd was a postdoctoral research associate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, an NDSEG Fellow at UCLA, a research associate at Los Alamos National Laboratory, and a Presidential Scholar at BYU.”

Dr. Carrie Cadwell has been the CEO/President of 4C Health since 2017. She is a licensed psychologist in the state of Indiana. Dr. Cadwell has dedicated her almost 20-year career to rural North Central Indiana communities and, in particular, serving the behavioral health and substance use recovery needs of those with significant socio-economic disadvantage. Her experience spans community mental health, crisis services, youth residential, inpatient psychiatric care,  integrated primary care practice, and outpatient private practice across the lifespan. She is passionate about 4 day work week as a public health intervention and over 90% of 4C Health’s employees work a 32 hour week but are paid for 40 hours.  

Emily Carlstrom, CPRS, is a Certified Peer Recovery Specialist who works with women in recovery to help find ways and resources to live a new way of life. Emily participated in the Recovery Coach Academy through Bold North Recovery and became certified through the Minnesota Certification Board. Emily is in recovery herself and also a graduate of ANEW’s Outpatient program. Emily is also the sober house manager and oversees all six sober homes at ANEW Chemical Health Services. As a former client and resident of the ANEW program, Emily knows firsthand what the women she works with have been through. It has been an amazing journey for her so far and she takes great pride in being able to make a difference in the lives of other women like herself.   

Michaelene Colestock has 22 years of experience in the Substance Use Disorders Treatment field. Currently, Michaelene is the owner, founder, and CEO of ANEW Chemical Health Services a 245G Co-Occurring Treatment Center for adult women. Michaelene has a master’s degree in Counseling Psychology from the University of St. Thomas. Michaelene has a passion for educating others on the topic of addiction. She has taught students at the U of M and Adler Graduation School, facilitated trainings at Metro State University on Co-Occurring Disorders, Family Supportive Housing Center on a variety of topics, MARRCH Conference, Washington DC Conference to Prevent Homelessness, all required 245 G trainings for other treatment centers, and many more informal trainings. Michaelene is most well known for her passion to house women AND their minor children. She has owned and operated sober housing on the East Side of St. Paul since 2010 and her mission is to keep families together while working on recovery. In addition to ANEW Chemical Health Services Michaelene owns and operates Spence Specialties LLC which is 4 sober homes and an 11-unit apartment building located in St. Paul, MN. Spence Specialties has a contract with Ramsey County for Housing Supports and the MN Department of Health Board and Lodge with Special Services. Michaelene has as an affinity for the East Side of St. Paul. She and all of her family members attended primary school at Sacred Heart on 6^th St. and Harding High School. She and all of her siblings, parents, and grandparents were married at Sacred Heart Church. 

Honorary Associate Professor Sean Russell MBE is a researcher focusing on reviewing and delivering interventions for mental wellbeing across the business sector and wider organisations. 

Over the last 7 years, Sean has been the Programme Director that led the development and implementation of the Mental Health Commission Action plan in the West Midlands, England and national Mental Health and Productivity Pilot researching 1150 organisations with over 850,000 employees. He was the founder of Thrive at Work and led the regional response to implementing Thrive into Work.   

He has 35 years of public service experience across Policing, Local Authorities and more recently academia.  Sean is also the COO and European Lead for GLE and works to build leadership and rapid knowledge exchange across addiction, disability, and mental health. 

Letecia Timmel, LCSW has been employed with 4C Health for the past 9.5 years in various capacities. Most recently, Letecia has been serving as the Senior Clinician that oversees clinical supervision of master’s level therapists and practicum students. Letecia is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in the state of Indiana and has been working in Community Mental Health for almost 20 years with an additional 4 years working in an inpatient setting. Letecia has experience in the delivery and supervision of wraparound services to at-risk youth, system of care development in the community, quality management, individual and group therapy and clinical supervision. Letecia is passionate about trauma and secondary traumatic stress as it pertains to staff and often provides support to staff and community members following crises. 

Lori Fertall is the Director of Value-Based Programs at Community Care Behavioral Health, a non-profit behavioral health managed care organization that is part of the Insurance Services Division of UPMC headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In this position, she is responsible for the creation, implementation, evaluation, and reporting of value-based purchasing arrangements with behavioral health providers. Previously as Community Care’s Director of Quality Management, she implemented quality management programs and performance improvement projects across the company and its provider networks. She regularly presents to a variety of local and national audiences at conferences on topics such as value-based purchasing, quality improvement, and payer/provider relationships. Prior to joining Community Care, Lori worked at various health and human service agencies in clinical and program development roles. She earned a master’s degree in Business Administration from Point Park University, a bachelor’s degree in Social Work and Women’s Studies from West Virginia University, and a Lean Six-Sigma Green Belt from UPMC.  

John O’Brien has more than 30 years of experience in behavioral health systems design, financing, and implementation. He has worked with Medicaid, mental health, and substance abuse authorities in numerous states to develop federal Medicaid waivers, Medicaid state plan amendments, and federal grant applications. A former Senior Consultant at TAC, Mr. O’Brien directed the organization’s work on substance use disorders (SUDs) with an emphasis on helping states increase access to services, integrate SUD treatment and primary care, and reduce unnecessary costs by using Medicaid and other sources to support effective systems. He was the subject matter expert for several states in their efforts to implement systems of care for children and families with serious mental health conditions and on community integration strategies for adults with serious mental illness.

Mr. O’Brien has worked for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in leadership roles with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). At CMS, he led the Innovation Accelerator Program for Substance Use Disorder and Primary and Mental Health Integration and coordinated the agency’s efforts on developing guidance regarding parity for Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program. Mr. O’Brien played a significant role in the implementation of Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act and in developing the Home and Community Based Services regulations. At SAMHSA, he was Senior Advisor to the Administrator on Health Care Reform. 

Jin Lee (Jinny) Palen is the Executive Director of the Minnesota Association of Community Mental Health Programs (MACMHP) and Convergence Integrated Care, a clinically integrated network of community mental health centers across Minnesota. Her background includes public health research and analysis, community engagement, legislative advocacy, government relations, public policy, and community leadership. Prior to her role with MACMHP, Jinny was Minnesota Association of Community Health Centers (MNACHC) Public Policy Staff. Jinny stays active in her local neighborhood community clinic and AAPI community. Jinny worked for the Minnesota Department of Health in the Health Economics Program, Tobacco Prevention and Control, and the Legislative Affairs Office. Jinny was a Legislative Policy Fellow of the Partners for the Americas Policy Exchange Fellowship in 2014. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Biology from the College of Saint Benedict, St. Joseph MN, and a Master of Public Health degree from the University of Minnesota.  

Samantha Repka is a Research Associate at the Duke-Margolis Institute for Health Policy where she focuses on issues related to care delivery and payment reform, behavioral health including substance use disorder, and other public health issues.  Previously, Samantha worked at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, where she served as a Director of Public Policy. Prior to her time in NYC, she was a Senior Manager at AcademyHealth and a Teach for America Corps Member. She holds a Master of Science in Public Health and a Bachelor of Science in Public Health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Melissa Blackwell, MSW has over 20 years of experience in the behavioral health field; and initially starting her career as a case manager for adults with Serious Mental Illnesses. Melissa served in various roles with Department of Juvenile Services, Psychotherapeutic Services, Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency, and Department of Health & Human Services. Ms. Blackwell dedicated 10 years of Federal service as a Treatment Specialist who ensured each client received a thorough assessment and treatment referral for their behavioral health needs. Melissa is currently a Project Officer for Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration; overseeing the Minority Fellowship Program and Historically Black Colleges and Universities grants. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from Morgan State University and Master of Social Work at University of Maryland, Baltimore. Melissa enjoys reading, hiking, and creating memories with family and friends during her spare time.

Ebony Chambers is the Director of Equity-Grounded Leadership for The College for Behavioral Health Leadership. In this role, she oversees the delivery, facilitation, content, and progress of the Equity-Grounded Leadership (EGL) Fellow Program.  Ebony has over 18 years of experience working with issues of social justice, equity, education, mental health and diversity.

Terence Fitzgerald, PhD, EdM, MSW, who specializes in trauma-informed, resilience-oriented, equity-focused systems (TIROES), was previously a clinical associate professor of social work at the University of Southern California’s Suzanne Peck-Dworak School of Social Work. Dr. Fitzgerald grew up in Champaign, Ill. He earned a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts, master’s degrees in school social work and educational leadership and a doctorate in education policy studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. As both a social worker and a race and gender scholar, for 12 years, Dr. Fitzgerald worked through K-12th grade levels as a school social worker, and then later as a special education equity coordinator in racially and economically diverse settings in Central Illinois. He has worked with social justice grassroots organizations that focus on marginalized children and families, aligned for the purpose of meeting state and federal requirements, and helped organizations and corporations work toward meeting the needs of culturally and socially just organizations and environments. Professionally, he has utilized his program and curriculum evaluation talents to enable public schools in Illinois to make financial, efficient, ethical, racially just policy, program and curriculum changes. His expertise as a racial scholar is spotlighted in numerous international and national media outlets, peer-reviewed journals, and collaborative and independently published books, including “The Reality of Diversity, Gender and Skin Color: From Living Room to Classroom,” “White Prescriptions? The Dangerous Social Potential for Ritalin and other Psychotropic Drugs to Harm Black Males” and “Black Males and Racism: Improving the Schooling and Life Chances of African Americans.”

Brandon Jones is the CEO at Triad, a leading provider of education, community, and career resources for behavioral and mental health students, professionals, and organizations. Before joining Triad in 2019, Brandon spent nearly two decades at Kaplan Test Prep: he started his career as an SAT instructor, and then advanced through a series of roles leading various field and home office functions, with the last several spent as the President of the largest business unit at Kaplan. Brandon is passionate about the transformative power of education; and as an advocate of grit and growth mindset, he believes that just about anyone can do just about anything. Brandon has an A.B. in English and American Literature and Language from Harvard University, and lives in New York City with his wife and daughter. 

Peter Delia is a Federal Policy Manager for the National Council for Mental Wellbeing. Peter manages a number of federal policy portfolios for the National Council, including issues related to workforce, telehealth, equity, 988/crisis, and social determinants of health. Prior to coming to the National Council, Peter worked as a senior attorney for the Florida Senate, where he drafted and analyzed legislation related to behavioral health, Medicaid, child welfare, and elder care issues. Peter has also worked as a senior attorney for the Florida Department of Health, where he practiced administrative litigation and prosecuted disciplinary matters concerning physicians, optometrists, chiropractors, psychologists, and dentists. Peter is a South Florida native and currently lives in Tallahassee, FL with his wife, Eliza.

Beth Kuhn, MILR has over 30 years of experience creating and implementing innovative workforce, human service and health programs, leading collaborations among business, government, and nonprofit partners.  

Beth currently serves as Workforce Consultant with the Kentucky Department of Behavioral Health, Developmental and Intellectual Disabilities, and as Principal at Stonegate Strategies, a consultancy focused on futuristic workforce development strategies across sectors and organizations.  Beth’s focus is on the workforce of the future – including a special interest and expertise in the behavioral health workforce – and the human and digital transformation of organizations, people practices, and public services needed to support the next generation of customers. 

Beth previously served as Chief Engagement Officer at the Kentucky Cabinet of Health and Family Services, leading workforce policy and operational efforts to better serve customers and offer them multiple pathways to employment and stability.  She served in both Democratic and Republican administrations as Commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Workforce Investment and as Director of Workforce Development for the Vermont Department of Labor, collaborating across systems to provide employment, vocational rehabilitation, veterans, unemployment insurance, and other workforce services.   

Beth has a BA in Public Policy from the James Madison College of Michigan State University, and a MILR in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University. She lives in Louisville, Kentucky and in Vergennes, Vermont. 

Dr. Gina Lasky, PhD, MAPL, is a Managing Director for Behavioral Health at Health Management Associates (HMA). Dr. Lasky is a national expert in behavioral health strategy, policy, clinical design and operations and partnership development. Her career combines experience as a licensed psychologist with decades of experience in the public sector with a depth of system and policy design as well as expertise in cross- sector leadership. Working with states, counties, managed care plans and large providers across the country, her work focuses on behavioral health system design, payment and quality, program innovation and operations including workforce. She is passionate about effective implementation of behavioral health integration and supporting providers on quality improvement such as enhancing measurement- based care; bringing behavioral health services into the community; partnership development; and leveraging human centered design in behavioral health. Dr. Lasky earned her master’s and doctorate in counseling psychology from the University of Denver and a master’s degree in public leadership with a specialization in multi-sector management from George Washington University.

Dr. Katie Marks serves as the Commissioner for the Kentucky Department for Behavioral Health, Developmental and Intellectual Disabilities. As a behavioral scientist, Dr. Marks supports the departmental mission of promoting health and well-being by facilitating recovery for people whose lives have been affected by mental illness and substance use; supporting people with intellectual or other developmental disabilities; and building resilience for all. Dr. Marks previously served as the project director for the Kentucky Opioid Response Effort (KORE); bringing expertise focused on state, community, and organizational-level strategies as well as policies that support recovery from the overdose epidemic. Dr. Marks received a doctorate in Experimental Psychology from the University of Kentucky and a graduate certificate in Clinical and Translational Science. 

Dr. Vestena Robbins is the Senior Executive Advisor for Innovation and Implementation Support in the Kentucky Department for Behavioral Health, Developmental and Intellectual Disabilities within the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services. In this role, Dr. Robbins leads behavioral health innovation, implementation, and system transformation efforts. She has over 30 years experience in the behavioral health services field as a behavioral health services researcher, program evaluator, and program administrator and has direct care experience in early care and education and as an elementary school counselor.  

Currently, Dr. Robbins serves as the Principal Investigator of Kentucky’s System of Care Implementation and Expansion grant for child welfare and juvenile justice-involved families; Co-Coordinator for two 988 Workforce Transformation Transfer Initiatives; and leads the Behavioral Health, Developmental and Intellectual Disabilities Workforce Innovation and Development Collaborative. She serves as the department’s designee for the Kentucky Center for School Safety Board of Directors; Kentucky’s CCBHC Demonstration Project; Kentucky State Interagency Council for Services to Children and Transition-Age Youth; Kentucky Healthcare Workforce Collaborative Advisory Group; Kentucky Healthcare Workforce Investment Fund Steering Committee; Kentucky Coalition for Healthy Students; Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) Subcommittee of the Kentucky Board of Education; Cabinet for Health and Family Services’ State University Partnership Advisory Board; Kentucky Juvenile Justice Oversight Council; and the Juvenile Justice Workgroup of the Kentucky Judicial Commission on Mental Health. Dr. Robbins staffs the Social and Emotional Health and Wellbeing and Service Array Standing Committees of the State Interagency Council for Services to Children and Transition-Age Youth. She is a long-standing board member of the Kentucky Council for Children with Behavior Disorders; Red Bird Mission, Inc.; Camp Beacon; and a founding board member of GLSEN Bluegrass. Dr. Robbins is Co-Chair of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services Institutional Review Board. 

Dr. Robbins received a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from Berea College, a Master’s Degree in Community and School Counseling from the University of South Florida, and a doctorate in Child and Family Research and Policy from the University of South Florida. She completed a Graduate Certificate in Children’s Mental Health through the University of South Florida in 2008. 

Holly Salazar, MPH, is Chief Executive Officer of The College for Behavioral Health Leadership (CBHL), a leadership organization supporting current and emerging cross-sector leaders with learned and lived experience to collectively advance behavioral health in North America. Holly has worked for more than 15 years in public and community health roles in community-based, non-profit, health care, and local government organizations. An experienced systems leader, Holly engages with cross-sector leaders to form strong partnerships and create transformative change. Holly believes in the power of true collaboration and leveraging collective talents to solve problems.

Ross Lohr, Managing Director, Accelerate the Future

Ross Lohr (he/him) is the managing director of Accelerate The Future, a private family foundation based in Massachusetts. Originally from Newton, Massachusetts, Lohr received his bachelor’s degrees in economics and psychology from Boston University and an MBA in non-profit management from the Heller School of Social Policy at Brandeis University. While at Boston University, Lohr founded a non-profit organization providing educational opportunities to children in rural Tanzania, and later founded a social enterprise creating fair wage jobs at a worker owned factory in North Carolina around textile recycling.  

Alexis Murray, MSW, Director, Program Operations, Loan Operations, Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers

Alexis Murray is the Director of Program Operations, Workforce Initiatives at the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers (Mass League). She directs many programs that are in support of a broad range of the Massachusetts workforce, including the Mass League’s community health centers as well as other community-based organizations. Over the course of the past fifteen years, Alexis has become an expert and advocate for the Massachusetts workforce needs. In 2017 and again in 2022, Alexis was selected to be on Mass League’s procurement response teams that ultimately brought in the two largest contracts ever to be awarded to the Mass League. 

Brie Reimann, Vice President, Practice Improvement and Consulting, National Council for Mental Wellbeing

Brie Reimann (she/her) is the Vice President of Practice Improvement and Consulting at the National Council for Mental Wellbeing, a membership organization that drives policy and social change on behalf of 3,400 mental health and substance use treatment organizations and the more than 10 million children, adults and families they serve. In her role she provides department leadership over 40+ practice improvement initiatives that aim to improve access to and quality of care for individuals living with mental illness and substance use concerns. She is a passionate change leader who believes that all individuals and families should have equitable access to quality health care services. Prior to joining the National Council Reimann led statewide integrated care initiatives in Colorado focusing on primary care, mental health, substance use and HIV care settings working toward advancing comprehensive care  to provide essential primary, treatment and recovery services for all individuals and families.

Maia Banks, Supervisory Public Health Advisory, CMHS, SAMHSA

Maia Banks is a Supervisory Public Health Advisor within the Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS), Office of the Director (OD). She supports special projects and serves as a co-staff lead for the Cross-SAMHSA Workforce Workgroup. Prior to working in the OD, Maia served as the Branch Chief for the Community Support Programs Branch and supported special projects within the Division of Community Behavioral Health.