May 20, 2026

ISSUE 13

QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER

Expanding Voices, Expanding Change:

Welcoming New Team Members

Assistant Program Manager

From Lived Experience to Leadership

Those experiences also shaped my journey into the mental health field, where I spent years providing direct services to youth and families in a variety of settings, ranging from residential and day treatment to community-based work. Through this work, I was drawn toward youth and family advocacy and developed a strong desire to support others in using their voices.

Over the past 15 years, I have built my career around that passion. I have worked alongside youth, young adults, and families not only as a professional, but also as an advocate. I am committed to ensuring their voices are not only included but truly centered as catalysts for change. I believe that those most impacted by systems should play a leading role in shaping them.

This belief has guided my work across programs and statewide initiatives aimed at creating more responsive systems of care. I understand that meaningful change does not happen in silos, but through partnership, collaboration, and authentic engagement.

Stepping into the role of Assistant Program Manager for NC Voices Amplified brought together everything that has shaped my journey, including my lived experience, professional background, and commitment to youth and family empowerment. In this role, I continue to amplify voices that are too often overlooked to ensure that youth and families not only have a seat at the table but are also valued as experts who help lead conversations and drive lasting change. I believe that together, we can reimagine systems that better reflect the voices, strengths, and leadership of youth and families.

Where can I find a Peer Support Professional?

Family Training Coordinator

Mom On A Mission

I truly believe that Certified Family Peer Specialists are essential in families’ homes and lives. They offer a familiar, trusted presence and help ensure parent and caregiver voices are heard and heard accurately. I often reflect on how impactful it would have been to have that kind of support while navigating systems for my own children. Being part of NCVA is especially meaningful to me because I get to play a role in recruiting, preparing, and encouraging more Certified Family Peer Specialists. This work never gets old. The joy of connecting with caregivers who authentically want to support and empower other families is something I can’t quite put into words and it’s why I’m so grateful to do what I do every day.

What reach do our trainings have?

Youth Training Coordinator

Turning Pages

Prior to joining Voices Amplified, I was an English teacher for both middle and high-school students. I truly loved teaching. My favorite part being those moments students started to see bits of themselves in the stories that we’d read. I enjoyed making my classroom a safe space for young adults to learn not only about the English language but about themselves. As I explored more about that specific side of teaching, I found myself wondering if there were roles where I could specifically work with youth in that age range to tell the stories that oftentimes they are told to keep secret or to be ashamed of. That is when I came across Voices Amplified and, truth be told, applied to nearly every open position because I was so enamored with the pride everyone had in their own lived experience.

Education is important and I enjoyed my time in the classroom but I knew that my experience growing up in foster care, processing the mental health of my biological family, learning my own diagnosis and every other aspect of my story was what was most important to me. As Youth Training Coordinator, I get to not only share bits of my story but also hear and learn from youth’s – and that is more rewarding to me than any score a student might’ve gotten on their SAT.

How many people have we we trained?

Youth Training Coordinator

A Bigger Stage for Youth Voices

Having spent time in a residential program as a youth, I know firsthand how tough residential care can be. Many young people across the world face unique challenges living in residential programs. They are separated from their families and communities for months at a time, and if they aren’t provided with the right level of care, they often feel powerless and voiceless.

In partnering with ACRC, I am visiting residential programs across the country and meeting with the youth.  By talking directly with youth in care- asking what should change, what’s working, and what isn’t- we turn feedback into action. I share their insights with program leadership- so that the decisions they make reflect the people most affected.

The goal in this partnership is simple: we strive to ensure that the youth and family voice is a constant, underlying principle in these programs, not a checkbox. We are advocating for peer support to be implemented within programs and encouraging them to continue to implement youth and family involvement at all levels of care.

After meeting with countless youth and families in these programs, it has become clear to us that young people and their caregivers are eager to be heard. They want a real seat at the table- to be understood, respected, and included in shaping their own care and the experience of those who come after them.

We are seeing that these programs already offer a high standard of care and are hungry to do more. They want practical ways to embed lived experience and peer support into everyday practice, and to involve youth voice in policy, staffing, programming, and evaluation.

We know that the peer support successes we’ve seen in North Carolina show what’s possible for these programs. Implementing these practices creates better engagement, clearer communication, and services that fit the realities of young people and their families.

We have shown that when youth voice is built into systems, services become more responsive, respectful, and effective.

In these opportunities, we remind these programs that when they partner with lived-experience leaders, they strengthen what’s working and fix what isn’t.

I’m grateful to collaborate with ACRC, and I am inspired by the young people I’ve met. It is so awesome to see that so many are ready to speak up, help each other, and shape a better path forward. This is how we create sustainable change: by listening, acting, and making youth and family voice a foundation within residential programs, not an afterthought.

Upcoming Training Opportunities

Fostering Connections through Quarter 2 NCVA Trainings