Workshop Presenters

Lore Baker is the Statewide Housing and Employment First Coordinator, Illinois Department of Human Services-Office of the Secretary. Bob Barger is an experienced pharmacy and healthcare exec-utive with over 30 years of progressive accomplishments in diverse settings including hospitals, long-term care, ambula-tory care and home healthcare. He has served on a handful of NFP Boards of Directors over the last 20 years. Hugh Brady is a retired school teacher. He retired after 38 years in the profession. Since retirement Hugh has gotten involved in several community groups. He is a community representative on the board of the Alliance to End Homeless-ness in Suburban Cook County (an umbrella group of about 40 homeless assistance providers) and serves on their legislative committee. In 2006 he helped to found NAMI Barrington Area. Through NAMI Hugh has gotten involved with the Housing Task Force, a group that’s working to build communi-ty-based permanent supportive housing for individuals with mental illness. In 2013 the Task Force and its partners opened a permanent supportive housing apartment building, Myers Place, Mt. Prospect. It provides 39 units of permanent supportive housing for people living with mental illness and other disabilities. Marci Brandt, CRSS is 61 years old, and was a Systems Analyst

for 20 years, part of her 35+ year business career. Her first

episode of mental illness (Bipolar Mania) was at the age of 45

in 2002. She has worked in various mental health positions

since 2008; and has been a CRSS since 2016. She has studied

and performed meditative practices for 33 years, under the

guidance and training of many world class meditation masters

and methods. After growing up and being active in The Unit-

ed Church of Christ, Marci's major Teachers and practic-

es have been: Ole Larsen, founder of the isa experience (now

Waking Up Weekend), in the lineage of Gurdjieff; Sri

Vethathiri Maharishi, founder of Simplified Kundalini Yoga

(SKY); Johrei Healer (similar to Reiki); Gurumayi Chid-

vilasananda of Siddha Yoga; Lama Surya Das of Tibetan Bud-

dhism; Her Eminence Jetsun Khandro Rinpoche of Tibetan

Buddhism; and the therapy model used with her therapist -

Internal Family Systems (SM); as well as many others. Marci’s

personal practices emphasize meditation, prayer, chanting,

and mantras, for offering love, compassion and empathy to all

sentient beings.

Kinga Cachro is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) with

experience providing individual, family, and group therapy in

different mental health settings. Kinga is committed to the

mental health and well-being of her clients. Kinga obtained her

Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree from Saint Xavier University and

her Master of Social Work (M.S.W.) degree from Loyola Uni-

versity Chicago. Kinga completed her MSW internship with

Presence Behavioral Health in Melrose Park, IL. Following the

completion of her internship, Kinga began working in the

Emergency Department at Presence Mercy Medical Center as

a crisis worker. During that time, Kinga provided short-term

counseling and crisis intervention services, responded to im-

mediate needs of patient and families in emergency situation

and facilitated discharge dispositions. After couple of years

working in crisis intervention services, Kinga transitioned to

the Outpatient Behavioral Health Program as a Licensed Be-

havioral Health Clinician with Presence Behavioral Health at

Mercy Medical Center. Kinga assists clients in coping with de-

pression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, relationship issues and oth-

er mental health issues. Kinga utilizes techniques from a varie-

ty of therapeutic theories, including cognitive-behavioral and

solution-focused therapy. Kinga uses the therapeutic approach

that best meets the clients presenting problem and needs.

Dr. Roger Callese is a sergeant and certified Crisis Intervention Team officer with the Round Lake Beach Police Department. He is a 2008 graduate of Northwestern University’s School of Police Staff and Command and a 2013 graduate of the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board’s Police Execu-tive Role in the 21st Century. Dr. Callese is a veteran of the U.S. Army Reserve and a combat veteran of the U.S. Navy. He is a member of NAMI Lake County Illinois and has been a fea-tured speaker at NAMI trainings. He holds a Associate in Ap-plied Science in Criminal Justice, Bachelor of Science in Educa-tion, and a Doctorate of Education. Ryan Croke is Executive Director of the Illinois Network of Cen-ters for Independent Living (INCIL), one of Illinois’ leading statewide disability advocacy organizations. Mr. Croke served as the Associate Chancellor for Public Affairs at the University of Illinois Springfield, where he has served since 2015. INCIL stands for equal opportunity, dignity and inclusion for people with disabilities,” said Mr. Croke. “It will take a relentless effort to confront and overcome today’s obstacles to decent healthcare, housing, education and employment, but our asso-ciation has the right tools to help lead the charge and I’m hon-ored to be a part of it.” In addition to his work at UIS and with INCIL, Mr. Croke was instrumental in prioritizing accessibility, inclusion and integration for people with disabilities during almost a decade of service in state government. As Deputy Chief of Staff (and later Chief of Staff) to Governor Pat Quinn, Mr. Croke was co-chair of the state’s “Employment and Eco-

nomic Opportunity for People with Disabilities” task force, where he spearheaded efforts to promote community-based, integrat-ed employment as the first option for individuals with all types of disabilities. He serves on the Boards of Directors for the Spring-field Center for Independent Living and the Boys & Girls Club of Central Illinois; volunteers time through the Community Founda-tion for the Land of Lincoln; and graduated from the FBI Citizens Academy in 2017. In 2012 Mr. Croke was recognized by the Illi-nois School for the Visually Impaired “for visionary efforts in ad-vocating for individuals who are blind.” Mr. Croke earned a mas-ter’s degree in Communication from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he also did his undergraduate work in Political Science and Communication. He lives in Springfield with his wife Brook and their two young sons, Jonas and Henry. Shirley J. Davis is a freelance writer, a student at Eastern Illinois University, and a member of the NAMI affiliate. Miss Davis loves life, and is hopes and strives to help others to as well. Shirley lives with a severe mental health condition known as dissociative identity disorder. However, she has made huge strides forward through many years of hard work and the help of a wonderful therapist. Her philosophy in life has become that life is not just an empty journey to simply survive and then die. She believes it is, rather, a wonderful adventure to savor and enjoy. Shirley shares her message through her blog site, and by sharing her story through giving In Our Own Voice presentations with her brother. She is also an active member of the region 3-4 mental health regional annual conference planning committee. Shirley works hard to bring to the community a message of hope and joy. Nathaniel Ekman has served on the NAMI–Cook County North

Suburban board since 2014. He is a nonprofit consultant and a

professional fundraiser who is personally invested in organiza-

tions serving communities of need, including individuals with

mental illness, people with disabilities, and the LGBTQ communi-

ty. Nathaniel is a mental health advocate, speaks through

NAMI's signature In Our Own Voice program, and facilitates the

Balance for Success and Dual Solutions support groups for those

in recovery. He was an Interim Chair of the NAMI CCNS Fund

Development Committee and is a founding member of the chap-

ter's Associate Board. From 2009−2013, he was President of

NAMI−Northwestern Memorial Hospital. He has done extensive

work in foundation and corporate relations, grant development,

individual giving, strategic planning, and special events for a

range of educational and social service organizations. From

2015−2018, he served on the board of Angles for Sexual Health,

Identity, and Education, overseeing its 2017 merger with Youth

Services of Glenview / Northbrook. Nathaniel holds a bachelor’s

degree in Urban Studies from Harvard University and a master’s

degree in Public Policy and Administration from Northwest-

ern. He lives in Chicago.

David Esposito has over 18 years of experience in the develop-ment and management of Supportive Housing for persons with disabilities and/or experiencing homelessness. Supportive Housing Providers Association of Illinois (SHPA) is a statewide trade association with a membership of more than 85 sup-portive housing providers and supporters. SHPA is one of the leading advocates at both the state and federal level for Sup-portive Housing and Services funding and strong advocates for reasonable and just policies for the homeless & persons with disabilities. Before coming to SHPA. Mr. Esposito was the Vice President of Housing Administration for Thresholds, where he managed the day to day operations of 1300+ units of sup-portive housing, was the agency liaison to 4 continua of care and numerous other community initiatives to preserve and increase supportive housing for the homeless and persons with disabilities. Josh Evans became President and CEO of Illinois Association of Rehabilitation Facilities (IARF) on April 1, 2018 after nearly fifteen years working to advance the budget and policy priori-ties of the Association through the Illinois General Assembly. During his tenure as Vice President of Government Relations and Operation, Legislative Director, and Legislative Liaison, John lead IARF efforts to pass several initiative into law, man-aged grassroots advocacy campaigns to protect funding for community-based services and supports, and represented IARF on many broad-based coalition efforts. Attorney Robert H. Farley, Jr., of Naperville, Illinois, is one of the leading attorneys in the United States who has successfully secured funding for persons with disabilities, including persons with Mental Health conditions. In January, 2018 a Class Action Settlement (Consent Decree) was entered in Federal Court in Chicago, Illinois, N.B. v. Norwood, which will provide Mental Health services to all Medicaid eligible children under the age of 21 in the State of Illinois. It is anticipated that as the Imple-mentation Plan is both developed and carried out, that ap-proximately 100,000 children will be receiving community based services at an annual cost of One Billion Dollars per year.

Judith Gethner is the founding Executive Director of Illinois Partners for Human Service. Since 2009, she has built Part-ners from a start-up to over 800+ human services providerpartners located in every legislative district across Illinois. As a leading voice within the sector, Judith has led a successful campaign to educate service providers on the budget im-passe and other fiscal issues; has informed the political dis-course on human services through collaborative advocacy efforts with community organizations, state agencies, elect-ed officials, and the private sector; and has been appointed

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to lend her expertise to numerous government councils and agencies. She has been appointed to the State Health Im-provement Plan Council, Illinois Single Audit Commission and the Social Service Advisory Council. Judith brings a strong combination of private and non-profit sector experience to her work. Judith was trained by the Industrial Areas Founda-tion in organizing and was campaign manager for Vote YES on the ConCon. She served as Executive Director of College Living Experience, which helps special needs students attend universities, was Access Living’s 2014 Advocate of the Year, and has done consulting on organizational development.

Corrie Gold berg, Ph.D., is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the m-ily Service Center in Wilmette, llinois. Dr. Gold berg com-pleted Ph.D. programs in both Clinica Psychology, Child and Adolescent Track, and in School Psychology from Northern Illinois niversity. She completed her pre-doctoral intern-ship at Westbrook Therapeutic Day School (now known as Timber Ridge School) working with elementary and middle school children with significant specialized academic, emo-tional, behavioral, and Neurodevelopmental needs. Dr. Goldberg has an extensive background working with adults and children across the lifespan in clinical, hospital, school, and residential settings. She is a parent to three children with varying degrees of neurodiversity and need, and is a proud member of NAMI. Dr. Goldberg

Vince Heneghan joined Impact as a clinician in October of 2013 and served as the Operations Manager from Decem-ber 2014 until April 2018, at which point he stepped into the role of Director of Operations. Vince has a Master’s Degree in Counseling from Northeastern Illinois and is a Certified Occupancy Specialist. Vince is currently the co-chair of the Association of Homeless Advocates in the North District and serves as Treasurer of the Board of Di-rectors for the Alliance to End Homelessness in Suburban Cook County. Debbie Homan has worked in the mental health field for 12 years. For 9 of those years, she worked as an IPS Supported Employment Specialist with Thresholds, a Community Mental Health Center in Chicago. She believes that work and employ-ment have been a powerful force in her mental health recov-ery. Debbie received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Communica-tions from Elmhurst College and a Master’s Degree in Broad-cast Journalism from Northwestern University. Except for a brief 6 month period, she has been working full time since her college graduation. Debbie helps to educate the public that Treatment Works, and recovery from a serious mental illness is not only possible – but probable.

Sara Moscato Howe, MS, CHES, is Chief Executive Officer of the Illinois Association for Behavioral Health (IABH). Her responsi-bilities include state and federal policy and legislative analysis and advocacy efforts on behalf of the more than 60 community-based substance use and mental health disorder prevention, treatment and recovery support service providers that comprise IABH’s membership. Ms. Howe also oversees the planning and implementation of the Association’s two addiction prevention programs: Operation Snowball (OS) and the Cebrin Goodman Teen Institute (CGTI). She is Chair of the Illinois Department of Human Services Social Services Advisory Council, is a member of the Board of Directors for the National Council for Behavioral Health and is Chair of their Public Policy Committee. Ms. Howe joined the Association in 2000 from the Denver Public Health Department where she served as the coordinator of the Denver Alliance on Tobacco and Health. She is lead author of the Octo-ber 2001 publication in the American Journal of Health Behav-ior: Evaluating a Fear Appeal Message to Reduce Alcohol Use Among “Greeks.” She holds a Master’s degree in Health Promo-tion with a research emphasis in collegiate peer alcohol abuse prevention from Purdue University and a Bachelor’s degree in Health Promotion, also from Purdue. She is currently pursuing a Master’s in Business Administration from Purdue’s Krannert School of Management.

Deborah (Debbie) Humphrey, RN, BSN, MBA is the Associ-ate Director of the St. Clair County Mental Health Board. Her experience includes 30+ years working in the field of behav-ioral health and health. She is a member of the St. Clair County Health Commission where she serves as Chair of the Suicide Prevention Alliance. She is currently President of the statewide Association of Community Mental Health Authorities of Illinois (ACMHAI) and Children's BehavioralHealth Comm ittee-Chair. Since 2013, she has been commis-sioned by the Governor to represent the State of Illinois as a Member of the Children's Mental Health Partnership. She has served as a Board of Director for the Illinois Collabora-tion on Youth and Southern Illinois University , Edwards-ville-Social Work Department and the Karla Smith Foun-dation-Advisory Council. Kristin Johanns came to Impact in July 2015, after having served as the Program Manager for the Beacon (Drop-In Cen-ter) at Trilogy and as an ACT Team Leader at Thresholds. Kristin has experience working in the field of community mental health, along with experience working in a domestic violence shelter in Los Angeles, well as a Family Preservation/Reunification therapist in Kentucky. Kristin earned her Master’s in Social Work from Loyola University Chicago and has ob-tained her LCSW. She received her BA from the University of Notre Dame. Kristin is very passionate about working alongside participants to help support them with accomplishing theirgoals and dreams. Kristin draws upon many different theoreti-

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Workshop Presenters Continued

cal frameworks when working with participants to help find the approach that will fit best with each participant. Olivia Johnson holds a master's in Criminology and Criminal Justice from the University of Missouri, St. Louis and a doctorate in Organizational Leadership Manage-ment from the University of Phoenix, School of Advanced Studies. Dr. Johnson is the founder of the Blue Wall Insti-tute where she trains first responders, families, and ad-ministrators on wellness issues, suicide awareness andprevention, peer support, stress and anger management, and leadership issues. Dr. Johnson is a veteran of the Unit-ed States Air Force, former police officer, published author, and member of numerous professional organiza-tions. Dr. Johnson is considered a subject matter expert in police officer health and wellness, police officer sui-cide, and suicide prevention and awareness in first responders. Dr. Johnson speaks on officer wellness and resilience for the Bureau of Justice VALOR Program and is on the Advisory Board for VALOR regarding curricu-lum review for de-escalation training and techniques. Dr. Johnson is an Adjunct Professor for Lindenwood University in Belleville, Illinois, and a Senior Research Associate for the Institute for Intergovernmental Research. Christopher Knopler has been with Impact since January of 2014. Christopher is a Certified IPS Fidelity Reviewer, and has an MSW from Salem State University. Christopher believes that every person is entitled to the life-changing experience of competitive employment and ensures that Impact’s staff have the skills and tools necessary to offer that experience to every participant in Impact’s Employment Services. Christopher’s approach to employment emphasizes the utilization of strong employer relationships to create solid job matches and offer effective ongoing support to both participants and employers. Mary Gubbe Lee, MS, LSW, LCPC is the Training Consultant of the Illinois Center of Excellence for Behavioral Health and Justi ce. She provides information, training and technical assis-tance to help the justice system respond appropriately to the needs of people with behavioral health disorders. Mary is active in community training, law enforcement training, prob-lem- solving court training and corrections training. She pro-vides community presentations for NAMI Northern Illinoi s as part of their community outreach. Previously Mary worked for Rosecrance Health Network as the Training Coord inator su-pervising new staff orientation, clinical training, volunteer ser-vices and community training events. Prior to becoming the Traini ng Coordi nator, the majority of Mary's time was spent in developing and implementing new programs. She started Community Integrated Living Arrangement s (CILA), opened the first residential sites, developed the Intensive Day Treatment Program, implemented an affirmative business structure and opened the Silver Lining Club. In 1995, Mary

worked with Frank Ware and Steve Vitol in developing the Stars of Light Theatre Troupe. Since that time, the troupe has staged over 280 tour shows, produced five videos, aired six radio shows, produced eight art galleries and staged a full-length play. Marvin Lindsey, MSW, CADC is an executive at one of the

largest behavioral health association in Illinois. Marvin pro-

vides leadership, guidance, and advocacy for member agen-

cies in the design and building of an effective community

behavioral health system throughout Illinois. He is also an

executive for a limited liability company of behavioral health

providers, created to act as preferred providers for behav-

ioral health services to Medicaid beneficiaries for third-party

payors across the State of Illinois. In his work capacity,

Marvin serves on the Illinois Medicaid Advisory Committee,

Illinois Advisory Council on Alcoholism and Other Drug De-

pendency, the Department of Human Services Social Adviso-

ry Committee and several other state workgroups and com-

mittees.

Alan began visiting prisoners at Cook County Jail during law school, and has tried dozens of individual cases on behalf of prisoners in state and federal court during the last 35+ years. Alan represent-ed prisoners in segregation claiming they were denied meaningful access to the courts Walters v. Edgar ). While t he trial court initially ruled in the prisoners' favor, 18 years later the appellate court reversed and dismissed the entire case. Alan was also the led

settled the Rosho case alleging unconstitutional treatment of mentally ill prisoners, and is now monitoring to ensu re proper standards are met. Alan grad uated from Northwestern University School of Law in 1981. Since 2005, he has served as an adjunct professor there, teaching a seminar on Prisons and Pris-oners' Rights. For the las t seven years, he has also helped train attorneys appointed to represent prisoners in civil rights cases by the U.S. District Courts for the Northern and Southern Districts of Illinois.

Workshop Presenters

Heather O’Donnell leads Thresholds’ public policy and advocacy efforts and also spearheads an advocacy coalition of over 150 mental and behavioral health organizations across Illinois. She has extensive experience in mental health and healthcare poli-cy, as well as fiscal policy. Prior to Thresholds, she served as Director of Planning for Health Care Reform at CJE Senior Life, where she designed a federal health care reform demonstration program that included three major Chicago area hospitals and numerous healthcare providers. She served as the Policy Direc-tor for Health Care and Human Services at the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability with a focus on public healthcare finance for over six years. Prior to that, Heather practiced cor-porate law for eight years. Heather holds a J.D. from the South Texas College of Law and a LL.M. in Taxation from the John Mar-shall Law School. Eric M. Plakun, MD is Associate Medical Director and Director of Biopsychosocial Advocacy at the Austen Riggs Center, and former Harvard Medical School clinical faculty member. He is the editor of 2 books, including Treatment Resistance and Pa-tient Authority: The Austen Riggs Reader (Norton, 2011), author of over fifty published papers and book chapters, and has pre-sented over a hundred scientific papers. Dr. Plakun is a Distin-guished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, and a member of its Board of Trustees. He is past chair of the APA Committee on Psychotherapy by Psychiatrists, APA Bylaws Com-mittee, and past leader of its Psychotherapy Caucus. He is a past member of the APA Assembly Executive Committee, and past chair of the Assembly Committee of Representatives of Subspe-cialties and Sections. Dr. Plakun has been honored as the Out-standing Psychiatrist in Clinical Psychiatry by the Massachusetts Psychiatric Society. He is a leader in organized psychiatry and psychoanalysis and an advocate for the value of psychotherapy and other psychosocial treatments. Before entering psychiatry, Dr. Plakun served as a rural general practitioner in Vermont—where he made house calls on skis. Amy Raising has spent over 30 years in leadership roles with non-profit organizations on the regional and national level in-cluding; Girl Scouts, Arthritis Foundation, Children’s Organ Transplant Association (COTA), and currently serves as the Exec-utive Director of the Schultz Foundation for Advancing Counsel-ing – a grassroots statewide Foundation supporting mental health professionals and counseling graduate students with grants and educational opportunities promoting professional development, research and social emphasis projects. Her en-thusiasm for making a difference and expertise in motivating volunteers and donors is contagious. And, her classes and presentations offer both information and experiential learning activities. Ms. Rasing holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Communica-tions from the University of Northern Iowa and certifications in Non-Profit Agency Administration from the American Humanics Program.

Brian Rootberg became involved with NAMI Cook County

North Suburban in 2008. Since 2010, he has served as the

affiliate’s Peer Program Coordinator and provides primary

support to groups for individuals with mental illness. Brian's

experience includes seven years as a facilitator for the NAMI

Connections support group. He has told his story through

NAMI’s In Our Own Voice program (IOOV) for the past eight

years and now also trains individuals with lived experience to

become presenters through IOOV. Before joining NAMI, Bri-

an was a special education teacher in Chicago’s northern sub-

urbs. He continues to tutor students with special

needs. During the 2008 presidential campaign, Brian worked

for the office of Barack Obama. He has years of experience

raising money for non-profit organizations including the

American Red Cross (post-9/11) and Keshet. Brian holds a

bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Sociology from the Uni-

versity of Wisconsin and a master’s degree in Education with

a focus in Special Education.

Jana Ross (ETD Custom Programs Manager) has over-seen dozens of community partnerships and curated over 100 public performances during her three-year tenure with the Erasing the Distance. She arrived in her role at the company after a decade of community-based, social justice documentary theatre work and training with companies like Touchstone Theatre (Bethlehem, PA), Sojourn Theatre Company (Portland, OR), Sideman Productions (Dallas, TX), Actors Theatre Workshop (New York NY), American Theatre Company (Chicago, IL), and Cornerstone Theatre Company (Los Angeles, CA). She was recently featured at the 2017 NYU Forum on

Ethnodrama, where she presented an original training entitled "Skin in the Game: Bringing the Self to the Interview", and is currently building a new interview-based play around the mental health impacts of the criminal justice system in Chicago. Jamie Rotter, MOT, OTR/L, QMHP is the lead occupational therapist for Trilogy Behavioral Healthcare in Chicago, IL. After com-pleting her undergraduate degree in rehabilitation psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Jamie completed her mas-ter’s degree in occupational therapy at Midwestern University. Jamie is part of an innovative program at Trilogy Behavioral Healthcare which provides the opportunity for adults with mental illness to gain the skills and resources necessary to participate successfully in meaningful activities. Jamie has been working closely with Colbert and Williams class members to improve inde-pendent living skills to better prepare members for transition from institutional settings to living in the community. Jamie collabo-rates with class members and the integrated health team to identify necessary modifications to increase safety and independence in the home. Jamie serves as the fieldwork coordinator for Trilogy and currently hosts Level I and Level II occupational therapy stu-dents from three universities in Illinois. Mary Schepler is an Individual Placement and Support (IPS) Trainer with the Illinois Division of Mental Health, and greatly values any opportunity to share knowledge and create access to this life changing evidence-based practice and recovery service. Mary brings eight years of direct service experience implementing the IPS model. She has worked as an IPS employment specialist and IPS team leader with Thresholds, in Chicago Illinois, and is now currently an IPS State Trainer in DMH Region 1 [Cook County/Chicago] and Region 2 [Northern Illinois]. Mary is unbelievably proud to be able to focus her career around vocational recovery goals throughout the state of Illinois. She holds a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts from Northern Illinois University and a Master’s in Com-munity Development from North Park University in Chicago. Donna Marie Sheard has been involved with NAMI Southwestern Illinois for many years. She is currently a board director, teacher of NAMI Basics, and a family support group leader. Donna is the parent of a 17-year old young man with mental health challenges including autism. He also experienced invasive medical procedures and hospitalizations during his first year of life. Donna has told her very personal and inspiring story of parenting a child with mental health needs to a variety of audiences. She considers NAMI her family and support system. Eman Tadros, M.S. MFT is a Ph.D. Student at The University of Akron’s Counselor Education & Supervision: MFT program as well

as an adjunct professor at Cleveland State University. Eman is conducting research on theories of change, incarceration, par-

enting, discussions of diversity in therapy. Eman has recently published in multiple peer-reviewed scholarly journals and has

presented at the IAMFT conference where she won the award for 1st place presentation and voted the audience favorite. Eman

has also been acknowledged for her work as she won The New York Knick ’s Community Playmaker Award. Recently, she has

presented at the TAMFT's conference and has won the Doctoral Student of the Year award.

Jen McGowan-Tomke brings experience in health policy and public health to her role as NAMI Chicago’s Associate Director. Before joining NAMI Chicago, Jen worked at the University of Illinois at Chicago, School of Public Health on Illinois’ State Health Assess-ment and Improvement Plan with the Illinois Department of Public Health. Prior to that, Jen was a policy analyst in the Illinois Gov-ernor’s Office, working on health care policy and the implementation of the Affordable Care Act from 2012 to 2015. She has experi-ence in policy analysis and implementation as well as training development. She earned her Master’s Degree in Health Policy Ad-ministration from UIC.

Christine Walker was inspired to create the Chasing Hope Foundation as an extension of her work in support families like her own who are raising a child with autism and related brain disorders, including children in therapeutic boarding schools. For children who live with severe mental health challenges, receiving intensive support often requires moving to a therapeutic boarding school, typically located out-of-state. The Chasing Hope Foundation works to establish therapeutic residences within each school district in order to keep families together, lower annual costs for taxpayers and nurture relationships between stu-dents and the business community. Christine wrote a book about her family’s experience in an attempt to reach out to and provide answers to others going through the same challenges. Chasing Hope: Your Compass for a New Normal, Navigating the World of the Special Needs Child was published in 2014 with an endorsement from former 10th district Congressman John Porter. With a strong background in public policy, Christine has worked for elected and appointed officials in Illinois, Ohio and Washington, D.C. Chris-tine served in the Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs at the Labor Department, Illinois State Senate and Lt. Gov-ernor. Christine was an award-winning sales executive and regional manager within Tiffany & Co.’s Business Sales organization. Christine received her B.A. in Politics from LFC and a Master’s in Public Policy and Administration from Northwestern University.

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Currently, Christine is a Lecturer in the Department of Politics at Lake Forest College, her alma mater, where she teaches courses on public policy and Congress.

Dr. Beverely Watkins is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in private practice in the Metro East St. Louis area. She has a Master of Social Work degree from the University of Southern Mississippi and a Ph.D. in social work from St. Louis University. She has many years experience in the mental health field and served on the board of NAMI Southwestern Illinois as a director, vice president and president. She continues to be an active and involved NAMI member. She has presented at local, state, and national conferences. Beverely is trained to teach the Provider Education program.

Carol West is a local and national speaker that fills two roles with the Illinois Department of Insurance (IDOI). The first is as a Re-gional Outreach Coordinator with Get Covered Illinois, helping to build a culture of health insurance coverage across the state with focus on rural outreach and education. Carol is committed to working closely with health insurance navigators and community partners to provide education about the importance of health coverage. Her goal is to ensure that consumers receive timely infor-mation in a format that they can use to make decisions about their health coverage. Secondly, Carol serves as a Consumer Health Protection Community Affairs Liaison that works with health plans, consumers, providers and advocates to ensure that MH/SUD parity compliance is understood and achieved. Prior to working with the IDOI Carol spent 12 years working in the nonprofit arena. She worked closely with individuals and families experiencing the effects of extreme poverty and homelessness; helping them dis-cover their own paths to self-sufficiency. Carol holds a Master’s degree in Organizational Leadership from Judson University.

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