Spring Conference presenter bios

Keynote speaker 

Amy King, PhD

Amy King, PhD, is a licensed psychologist who provides training, consultation and education to professionals and organizations. She specializes in trauma-informed work and resilience building. Dr. King advises organizations around wellness, staff vitality and creating trauma-responsive spaces. Her specialties include working with professionals to help create resilient children, patients, and thriving families, guiding them to heal their stress and trauma through connected relationships. Dr. King has served as a statewide trainer for the Oregon Department of Human Services, National Head Start Association, Child Welfare, and as a subject matter expert to promote child wellness in pediatric settings on behalf of Children’s Health Alliance. Her current work is promoting resilience by training professionals who work with children and families, through partnership and collaboration. Dr. Amy and her team serve folks who aim to be champions in connected spaces. When she’s not working to promote resilience, you can find her with her family on their small hobby farm in Newberg, Oregon. 

Session presenters

Kelly Ambrose, BSN, RN, CHPN

Kelly Ambrose, BSN, RN, CHPN, has developed and managed palliative care programs since 2015. She currently leads the Advanced Illness Care program at Housecall Providers, the only community-based palliative care program in Oregon focused exclusively on Medicaid patients. Kelly was a member of the Standards of Care Task Force to inform rule making for HB 2981 that requires CCOs in Oregon to provide a community-based palliative care benefit to members beginning in 2025. Kelly has more than 20 years of health care experience, including 16 years as a nurse working with high-risk populations in the community. Throughout her career, Kelly has worked on multi-disciplinary teams, addressing socially complex patients’ medical needs as well as their access to housing and other resources while navigating the complexities of the health care system.

Christia Bactista, LCSW

Christia Bactista, LCSW, received her MSW from Portland State University. Her social work career is rooted in feminist theory and informed by her work with survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. She is interested in working with individuals, communities and systems to address injustice and has followed her passion for systems change to health care. She currently works with a health plan supporting the integration of behavioral health into primary care.

Olivia Bormann, CSWA, MSW, MA

Olivia Bormann, CSWA, MSW, MA, (she/her/hers) was born in Los Angeles, moved to the Bay Area for college and settled in Portland in 2019. Before coming to Samoa Pacific Development Corporation (SPDC), Olivia managed fundraising programs, developed affinity programs for college students and facilitated equity and inclusion workshops. At SPDC, she is the Staff Accountant and Operations Manager. In addition to this, Olivia works as a mental health therapist serving folks with multiple marginalized identities.

Joseph Chick, MBA, MA

Joseph Chick, MBA, MA, is the Outpatient Services Director at ColumbiaCare Services (CCS), a role he has held since July 2022. Prior to this, he was the Veteran Services Director (also at ColumbiaCare) for over a decade, overseeing the development and expansion of the division as well as the merger with Rogue Valley Veterans & Community Outreach (RVVCO), which brought an entire continuum of care for veterans under one roof. Before joining CCS, Joseph worked in Licensed Residential Treatment for over ten years in New York City, overseeing a large continuum of licensed congregate and scattered site housing for the serious and persistent mental illness (SPMI) population. Over the two decades his career spans, he has worked exclusively with individuals experiencing houselessness and/or those with serious and persistent mental illness. Joseph is driven to improve the accessibility and connectedness of community resources for those we serve and believes strongly in centering client experiences in everything we do. He is leaning in to ways we can challenge the system overall and improve our ability to meet people where they are and walk alongside them throughout their recovery process. Simultaneously, he strives to cultivate a work environment that is supportive and safe for everyone, and one in which all employee voices are heard. He has an MBA in Health Care Administration as well as a Masters Degree in Psychology, both from separate schools within the City University of New York system.

Arlene Dalcin, MS, RDN, LDN

Arlene Dalcin, MS, RDN, LDN, is Registered Dietitian and Research Associate on the faculty of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, MD. An experienced health professional who for over 25 years has been supporting people to manage the challenges of living with chronic disease and mental health issues, Arlene has spent most of her career conducting clinical trial research with a focus on treating and preventing obesity, hypertension and other CVD risk factors. She has participated in several large-scale lifestyle intervention trials and has designed behavior change protocols and training for a variety of population groups including the elderly, African Americans, cancer survivors, pregnant women and persons with severe mental illness.

Arlene is a Motivational Interviewing practitioner, MI coder and member of MINT (Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers), and for the past 11 years has been training a variety of health practitioners in MI in research and clinical settings. In 2015 Ms. Dalcin was selected to co-facilitate the Motivational Interviewing Training for Trainers program in Berlin, Germany and again in 2016 in Montreal, Canada. She continues to work for Johns Hopkins remotely and conducts training workshops in Motivational Interviewing throughout Oregon.

Doug Diehl, MD

Doug Diehl, MD, received his undergraduate degree at Carroll College in Biology and Biochemistry and his medical degree at Cornell University Medical College. He attended the University of New Mexico for Internal Medicine and subsequently was appointed as the Chief Medical Officer and Medical Director at the Chippewa Health Center for the Lac Du Flambeau Band of the Chippewa Nation. Doug subsequently returned to academic medicine and completed a specialty residency in anesthesia and critical care at UC, San Diego, where he served as Chief Resident and a Clinical Instructor in the Department of Anesthesia at UCSD before entering private practice with the Sutter Gould Medical Group in central California.

Doug and his family have been in southern Oregon for 22. He served as the O.R. Medical Director and Chair of Anesthesia at Ashland Community Hospital for 12 years before joining Asante as the Executive Director and Chief Medical Officer of Asante Physician Partners, before becoming the Chief Medical Officer at the Addictions Recovery Center in 2021. Doug is highly engaged with several nonprofit organizations and foundations in the Rogue Valley that are responsible for providing significant resources and services to support the vulnerable populations in our communities.

Amber Duncan

Amber Duncan (she/her/hers) has been the Human Resources Director at Addictions Recovery Center, Inc. in Medford, Oregon since June of 2022. She joined the agency with a BS in Business Administration from Purdue University, which she received in 2013, as well as 17 years in human resources experience in both the for-profit and non-profit sectors. Amber came to work in behavioral health following a progressive human resources career that garnered extensive, invaluable experience in recruitment, employee benefits, employee engagement and relations, as well as policy development and HRIS implementation. She currently lives in Grants Pass with her husband, children and five dogs.

Jordan Edwards, BSHCA, CCMA

Jordan Edwards, BSHCA, CCMA, is a primary care innovation specialist at Jackson Care Connect. With over 17 years of various clinical health care experiences, she is passionate about serving her community and supporting partners while they support our members. Jordan holds a Bachelor’s degree in Healthcare Administration with a focus in Public Health and a minor in Psychology, and she is a certified medical assistant.

Apaau Fuataga

Apaau Fuataga (she/her/hers) was born in Samoa, raised in Hawaii, and has been in southern Oregon since 2009. Before working at Samoa Pacific Development Corporation (SPDC), Apaau had an extensive twelve years work background in health care, serving the most vulnerable community. She has helped with the development of training programs for in-home care and has more than five years of experience as a Care Manager. Apaau is very involved with her community and is most passionate about connecting individuals and families through resources and education to address their needs. She believes in culturally specific solutions to address barriers for marginalized communities to thrive.

Dustin Fortado, CRM II

Dustin Fortado, CRM II, is a Peer Support Program Manager for the Resilience & Recovery Project Peer Support Program at the Pathfinder Network. He is a leader in the agency’s Creating Regulation and Resilience Implementation effort and brings incredible lived and professional experience to the work. Dustin is dedicated to supporting and helping to expand the peer workforce.

Angela Franklin, QMHA, EOLD

Angela Franklin, QMHA, EOLD, is an Older Adult Behavioral Health Specialist and Suicide Prevention Coordinator with Options for Southern Oregon, serving Josephine County. She is her county’s Postvention Response Lead and heads the Josephine County Suicide Prevention Coalition. She provides workforce and community trainings on a variety of topics surrounding older adult behavioral health and wellness, end of life support, advanced care planning and suicide prevention/intervention/postvention (QPR, ASIST and CONNECT).  Angela is a practicing Death Midwife. She has worked with older adults as a caregiver, hospice volunteer, end of life doula and community educator. She is a founder of Journey Home, a community-driven peer-led organization based on practical death care, education, outreach and community grieving support.

Michelle Glass, MIM

Michelle Glass, MIM is a Policy + Advocacy Coordinator at SO Health-E, and has over eight years of experience in leading and supporting initiatives that address health disparities and promote wellness focused on BIPOC people, LGBTQIA2S+ folks, people living with a disability and low-income families who have been historically left out of decision making and access to resources due to systemic oppression. Michelle’s core competencies include project management, grant writing, communications, coalition building and workshop facilitation. She is passionate about collaborating with diverse stakeholders, developing creative solutions, and advancing the mission and vision of SO Health-E. She has also served as the Chairperson of the Talent Planning Commission, where she applied my skills and knowledge in community planning and policy making. Michelle co-founded and directed The Rogue Action Center, a grassroots organization that empowers and mobilizes community members to create positive social change.

Erica Idso-Weisz, MS, LMFT

Erica Idso-Weisz, MS, LMFT (she/her) is the Regional Care Team Manager at Jackson Care Connect (JCC) the Coordinated Care Organization (CCO) for Jackson County. In this role, she oversees the care coordination efforts across primary care, behavioral/mental health, dental, pharmacy, non-emergent medical transport (NEMT) and social determinants (drivers) of health (SDOH) needs. Prior to her current role, she was the Behavioral Health Director at Rogue Community Health, a federally qualified health center (FQHC) serving the Rogue Valley. Prior to transplanting to Oregon, she was the Director of Behavioral Health and clinician at Open Door Health Center serving primarily low-income, under/uninsured patients focused on refugee populations. Providing integrated behavioral health services in primary care is a significant passion. She currently serves on the Medical-Legal Partnership Board of Oregon (MLPO) and has deep commitment to Healthcare-Legal Partnerships. She is committed to integrated, team-based and whole-person care. Her enthusiasm to improving the world continues at home. She and her family are engaged in land conservation, regenerative practices, pollination efforts, food preservation and all things farm life at Itty Bitty Acres Farm in southern Oregon.

Darryl Inaba, PharmD, CADC III, CATC-V

Darryl Inaba, PharmD, CADC III, CATC-V, is Director of Clinical and Behavioral Health Services for the Addictions Recovery Center and Director of Research and Education of CNS Productions in Medford, Oregon. He is an associate Clinical Professor at the University of California in San Francisco, CA., Lifetime Fellow at Haight Ashbury Free Clinics, Inc., (Health Right 360) in San Francisco, CA., and Lifetime Honorary Membership of National Association of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Counselors. As Director of Education and Research at CNS Productions, Inc. in Medford, OR, Dr. Inaba has authored several papers, award winning educational films and is co-author of Uppers, Downers, All Arounder, a text on addiction and related disorders that is used in more than 400 colleges and universities. He has been honored with over 90 individual awards for his work in the areas of prevention and treatment of substance abuse problems.

Beth Jaffee-Stafford, MA LMFT

Beth Jaffee-Stafford, MA LMFT, is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist who works as part of Family Nurturing Center’s Senior Management team to insure that FNC’s services for families are relational, trauma-informed, strength-based and effective. Beth provides support to FNC at multiple levels (organization, program, provider). Beth assumed responsibility for oversight of the therapeutic delivery of services at the Family Nurturing Center in 2011. Over the course of her career, Beth has worked to support families and children in a variety of ways, including direct service as a mental health provider, home visitor and child care provider, and as a program director and program coordinator in family-serving organizations. Beth continues to be deeply moved and inspired by the incredibly beautiful work of the Family Nurturing Center staff and the healing journeys of the amazing children and families they serve. 

Lexy Kliewer, LCSW

Lexy Kliewer, LCSW, has over 15 years of clinical experience. She started her career in community mental health working in federally qualified health centers (FQHC) supporting the integrated behavioral health model of care delivery. Lexy has worked in rural health centers that served predominantly migrant farmworkers, where she learned about team-based care and the need for culturally responsive care. After six years of direct clinical practice, Lexy began supporting the operational work of integrated care, supporting other FQHCs in building their integrated practices. Along the way, she continued to support clinicians through clinical supervision. In 2019, Lexy began working for CareOregon where she has been an Innovation Specialist for Integrated Behavioral Health for two years and currently serves as the Clinical Integration Manager. In her current role, she supports the team of innovation specialists in work such as practice coaching and supporting clinics in practice transformation for better patient and provider experience.

Leticia Longoria-Navarro

Leticia Longoria-Navarro is the Executive Director at The Pathfinder Network. She is a skilled and passionate leader, practitioner, developer, trainer, evaluator and advocate working in and around the criminal justice system and other systems. Leticia is known for her enthusiastic and engaging leadership style and has a vision for lifelong learning and guiding individuals and organizations through change. She is a supporter and advocate for peer support and peer run programs and agencies.

Pam Marsh

Representative Pam Marsh is currently serving her fourth term as State Representative for House District 5, Southern Jackson County. She currently serves as Chair of the House Committee on Climate, Energy and Environment and as a member of the House Committee on Agriculture, Land Use, Water, and Natural Resources. Pam’s legislative priorities include clean energy development, wildfire recovery, broadband expansion and solutions to the housing crisis.

Pam’s work with wildfire survivors had reinforced her understanding of the impact of multiple factors on health outcomes, especially the availability of safe and healthy housing. Most recently, she sponsored legislation to provide funding to help our jails develop or expand medication-assisted treatment for incarcerated individuals.

Stephanie Mendenhall

Stephanie Mendenhall grew up in Ashland and is a third generation native southern Oregonian. She started working for Jackson County Health and Human Services in 1995 as an Administrative Assistant to the Commission on Children and Families, Juvenile Justice Advisory Council and Meth Task Force. In 2015, Stephanie took on the role of Service Integration Manager, overseeing front-line staff and many projects during her 22-year career at HHS. At the onset of the Coordinated Care Organization implementation, contracts for mental health services were diverted away from Jackson County and Stephanie, along with 230 other employees, was laid off. This provided the opportunity to reflect on her life and career and the motivation to start the local nonprofit Reclaiming Lives.

Stephanie and her family began reaching out to young people struggling with addiction back in 2015, she began helping people access treatment, find recovery and change their lives. It has become her life’s mission to help those who are hurting and to shine a light on how relationships and connection are at the core of healing and recovery. This is what led her to the Recovery Café Network, a nationwide organization based in Seattle. After visiting, Stephanie and Tony decided Medford needed a Recovery Café, and they opened the Main Street location in 2019. Recovery Café is a safe place for those experiencing substance use disorder to find hope and healing.

Cheyenne Nichols, BA

Cheyenne Nichols, BA, was born and raised in southern Oregon and earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Family and Human Services from the University of Oregon. She has over 14 years of experience in nonprofit work, providing substance abuse, mental health, harm reduction and prevention-based services. Cheyenne is going on her seventh year at Maslow Project and manages the School Based Program in Jackson and Josephine counties. She currently serves as the Treasurer of the Ashland Schools Foundation. Cheyenne stays active during her free time adventuring with her family. She loves backpacking, baking and sharing food with friends.

Justine Pope, MPH

Justine Pope, MPH, (she/her) is an emancipatory activist researcher, daughter, harm reductionist, bookworm, volunteer, aunt and bicyclist with an abiding commitment to social change. She is dedicated to asking questions and finding solutions to issues that seem insurmountable. A former farmer, she received her Master of Public Health from the OHSU-PSU School of Public Health, and she has been learning from and with other harm reductionists since 2017. She is grateful for the friendship, kindness, resilience and brilliance of people who use drugs.

Everett Redente, LCSW, CADC I

Everett Redente, LCSW, CADC I, (he/they) is a queer and trans masculine social worker. They are currently the Transgender Health Program Manager at CareOregon, supporting members’ access to gender affirming care through program development, advocacy and education within CareOregon and with its community partners. They have previously worked within the micro, mezzo and macro areas of the social work field, predominantly working for and with other trans and gender non-conforming folks. They are passionate about advocacy, community education and transformative justice as they envision a world where trans folks are free from violence.

Jeremiah Rigsby, JD

Jeremiah Rigsby, JD, moved to Oregon in 2011 to attend Lewis and Clark Law School. Before moving to Oregon, Jeremiah was a congressional aide to US Congressman Henry Cuellar (2006-2009) and US Congressman Kurt Schrader (2009-2011). During his time on the Hill, Jeremiah worked on a number of policy issues, but focused on health care policy through the development and passage of the Affordable Care Act. After completing law school, Jeremiah joined CareOregon to help develop and advocate for Medicaid and Medicare policy.

Lauren Schmidt, ATR, LPC

Lauren Schmidt, ATR, LPC, completed her Masters of Counseling, with a focus on Art Therapy, in 2008.  After working with youth and families in direct service and clinical supervisor roles for 10+ years, Lauren joined CareOregon’s Behavioral Health Department.  As a Senior Innovation Specialist for CareOregon, Lauren strives to bring humility, humor and clarity to initiatives that benefit the provider network and the communities they serve.  As part of her work to shine a light on the tensions and gifts of collaboration, Lauren utilizes Visual Scribing to reflect the heart of conversations.

Ashley Silver, CADC-R, QMHA-R

Ashley Silver, CADC-R, QMHA-R, was born and raised southern Oregon. After five years of working in schools across our county, she recognized a gap in support, resources and awareness of youth substance use and prevention. This drew her to pursue my current professional path, and with the support of my School Based Leadership Team she began the OnPace program, officially graduating from OnPace on March 22, 2024. She brings a genuine passion for nurturing the future of our community, both as a mother of multiple teenagers and an engaged community member.

Toc Soneoulay-Gillespie, MSW

Toc Soneoulay-Gillespie, MSW, identifies as a 1.5 generation refugee from Laos. Her lived experience being resettled to the U.S. and navigating the various systems provides a unique perspective on acculturation and the concept of success. Her life’s work has been centered on advocating for communities impacted by inequitable systems and structures of oppression. Toc is also a consultant and trainer who is deeply committed to raising awareness about language justice through a workshop grounded in the intersectionality between power, privilege and access. She had the privilege of serving as a commissioner on the Oregon Commission on Asian Pacific Islander Affairs, was a council member on the Governors Behavioral Health Advisory Council and currently serves on the Governor’s Racial Justice Council. Toc was appointed Director of the Office of Immigrant and Refugee Advancement by former Governor Kate Brown. Prior to this appointment, she served as the Director of Community Health at Health Share of Oregon. Before making the transition to health care, she served as the Director of Refugee Resettlement at Catholic Charities of Oregon. Toc holds a Bachelor of Science in Anthropology/Sociology from Eastern Oregon University and a Master of Social Work from the University of Alaska Anchorage.

Sommer Wolcott, MS, LPC, CRC

Sommer Wolcott, MS, LPC, CRC, is the Executive Director at Ontrack Rogue Valley and has been with OnTrack since October 2018. Sommer has worked in Oregon’s non-profit behavioral health system for the past 24 years and holds an MS in Counseling Rehabilitation from Portland State University and a BS in Psychology from Western Oregon University, is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) and Certified Rehabilitation Counselor (CRC).

Whitney Yeust, CPS, CADC

Whitney Yeust, CPS, CADC, worked as certified prevention specialist for a long time and has been in behavioral health to assist with grant writing and reporting for all grants. She resides in Sutherlin.