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Diane Lang, President
Diane is the mother of 3 teens, two with their own unique challenges. In her Nassau County community she is active in a local support group through Families and Children’s Services. She collaborates with several other parents in her community to work together to get their children an appropriate education. On line, she is a very active member of the Children's and Adolescent Bipolar Foundation (CABF). She is also a member of their Education Team. Diane does a good amount of advocacy work for families. Her goal is to support families to help with the well being of the entire family, and to educate the public (including schools and professionals) about early onset bipolar disorder. Along with another parent, Diane is currently working on creating a Special Education Bill of Rights.
Lisa Kinney, Vice President
Lisa is a Family Liaison/Advocate for Compeer and Better Days Ahead. She has been serving families in Monroe County for the past four years. She facilities a mother’s craft group which provides education and support to families of children with emotional/behavioral issues. Lisa serves the families at Compeer by connecting them with resources, attending family events sponsored by Compeer and advocating for families in the educational, justice, and mental health systems. During her tenure at Compeer, Lisa developed an advocacy group entitled Monroe County Family Advocate Network of Support (FANS) to address issues of access to services in our county. She is a parent member of the Monroe County Interagency Council and an active member of the Western Region Children’s Mental Health Coalition. She also serves in various roles within her church and community.
Vicki McCarthy, Secretary
Vicki is the Director of Families CAN! Family & Child Advocacy Network, with Compeer of Greater Buffalo. Vicki serves as Treasurer of Camp Get-A-Way of Western Region NYS, an organization dedicated to providing a supportive summer camping experience for families raising children diagnosed with a social, emotional or behavioral disability. She also serves as board member of Erie County Department of Mental Health Community Services Board, and member of Erie County Department of Mental Health Mental Health Subcommittee. She possesses skills in public relations/speaking, policy awareness and grassroots advocacy. Vicki is certified as a "Common Sense Parenting" trainer and is the parent of a child with special mental health needs.
Doug Bailey, Treasurer
Doug is a former New York State Education Department executive with 25 years experience in intergovernmental relations at the state level and 10 years experience in special education instructional and administrative roles. As Coordinator of Policy, Planning and Partnerships for the State Education Department’s Office of Vocational and Educational Services for Individuals with Disabilities (VESID), Doug has extensive leadership experience in developing and implementing special education and vocational rehabilitation policy with a specialty in interagency partnerships. Doug has assisted state and local groups in establishing partnerships among: education, health, mental hygiene and social services systems with a focus on improving outcomes for children with behavioral disorders and their families; and education, vocational rehabilitation and adult employment systems. Doug’s leadership experience has successfully assisted the New York State education, vocational rehabilitation and other State and county human services systems in establishing a number of effective partnerships directed at improving school and community outcomes for all children and employment outcomes for individuals with disabilities. These efforts addressed issues representative of the diverse demographic and political makeup of New York State.
Gina Chappell
Gina is the mother of three children, two of them have mental health challenges. Gina is also a Parent Advocate with Pathways, Inc. serving both Seneca and Ontario counties. As a parent advocate, she coordinates parent and family outings, educational seminars and trainings. Gina enjoys working closely with families and her goal is to offer them support in all areas to help them overcome the challenges they are facing.
Eva Dech
Eva is currently with the Westchester Department of Community Mental Health Wraparound Training and Technical Assistance Team/Founder Youth Forum. Youth Forum is a peer-run Youth organization that provides unconditional support to hundreds of young adults involved in mental health, special education, juvenile justice and residential treatment services. Eva organized youth to provide a voice to the Westchester County Department of Mental Health and Family Ties, Westchester’s grassroots parent support organization. Eva has served as Youth Forum peer mentor for over 8-years. She is a member of Westchester County’s CCSI Tier II committee and is a member of the County’s Children’s Policy Committee. She is a member of Westchester County SPOA Committee as well as the Single Point of Return Committee.
Deb Dubé
Deb is a Licensed Certified Social Worker receiving a Bachelors Degree in Psychology from Connecticut College and Masters Degree in Social Work from Columbia University. Deb has worked in the mental health field since 1986. She was a clinical social worker and provided direct service in school mental health programs for approximately fifteen years before moving on to administrative and systems work. Deb has coordinated a Children’s Day Treatment Program and designed an effective CCSI process in Franklin County. Currently Deb provides contract services to preschool-age children in Franklin and Essex counties and has a private practice in psychotherapy in Plattsburgh, NY. Deb’s interest in helping children and families stems from her own experiences growing up in a large family. Two of her brothers were physically handicapped and learning disabled. Deb saw her parents struggle and her mother become a strong advocate for her brothers to get what they needed in the education system. When she left direct service and began working to coordinate systems and help families get what they needed through the CCSI process she realized this would be no easy feat. As a private practitioner Deb works to support parents in advocating for themselves to make changes in the system.
Ceceile Green
Ceceile is a founding member of and consultant to Families Together on the Move of NYC, Inc., the New York City Chapter of Families Together. Ceceile is a member of the New York Mental Health Counselors Association, has served as the Long Term Planning Supervisor, Supervisor of the Preventive Program and psychotherapist for the Family Life Clinic for the Queensboro Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (currently known as Safe Space) and Director of the Queens Parent Resource Center. Ceceile has worked for over twenty years with families and caregivers who are raising children with mental health and emotional challenges. She works extensively with families to ensure that children receive the necessary supports to deal with these challenges. Ceceile holds a BA in Psychology from Baruch College, an MS in Counseling Psychology from Fordham University and is a candidate in social work specializing in services to children and families with Fordham University. Cecile is the mother of three. Her youngest is her pre-adoptive foster child.
Christina Felix
Christina is a twenty-three year old Independent Youth Advocate. Despite the fact that she is a new comer, she had much experience in this area. She began facilitating groups at the Western Suffolk Day Program about two years ago which led her to become a Peer Specialist Intern for nine months. Christina has also worked with NYAPRS as a survey mentor. She enjoys spending her time and energy serving on multiple committees and is dedicated to helping make a difference in the lives of youth. Christina feels that every opportunity opens new doors and she is looking forward to meeting new people along the way.
Nuris Jean-Baptiste
Nuris is the parent of a child with mental health needs and is the director of the Brooklyn Parent Advocacy Network. Nuris is multi-lingual and has been a champion of children’s mental health rights since the early 1990’s.
Luisa Jimenez
Luisa has been active in her Brooklyn community as a parent advocate for many years. Currently, Luisa is a Parent Advocate for Kings County Hospital. She is involved in the Community Action Project (C.A.P.) and serves as Treasurer for St. Jerome Catholic Church. Luisa is a strong voice for the Hispanic community and acts as advocate, recruiter and translator. She is a proud grandmother and mother who advocates for her family and speaks out with concern for all the families of children with special emotional needs in Kings County.
Aurelia Mack
Aurelia is the mother of twelve children ranging in age from 13 to 32 years old, grandmother of ten grandchildren and has provided a home to many homeless teenagers. Aurelia says that motherhood has taught her many valuable life lessons --- that one must attain attributes such as patience, strength, perseverance, commitment, selflessness and unconditional love. Mental health issues have intimately touched the lives of her family. Together they have battled learning disabilities, anxiety disorders, chronic asthma, attention deficit disorder, school phobias, visual processing disorder, dyslexia and anorexia. Aurelia has worked in the NYC Department of Corrections for eighteen years. She has worked in the Mental Observation Unit where officers are trained to recognize symptoms of depression, suicide, manic depression, bipolar disorder, alcoholism and drug abuse. Aurelia has served as director for United Minds Awareness Achievement and Togetherness (UMAAT), the first vice president and chairperson for the Safety and School Leadership Team for Curtis High School; current chairperson for Title 1 for No Child Left Behind and Chairperson for Safety for the Staten Island Federation of PTAs. Being a parent of children with special needs Aurelia has experienced first hand the emotional turmoil that exists not only for the child but the entire family. Advocating for families and youth has become her passion in life.
Karen Pioli
Karen’s was one of seventeen families chosen through the department of Health Block 5 Title Grant. This program helps families of children with special needs know what programs there are and find out what is working and what's not working and to find out what's needed. Karen has started and facilitates three support groups: 1) a parent support group for families with children with special needs, 2) a grandparent 's raising their grandchildren support group and 3) a craft support group for parents and their children. Karen is writing a parent-user-friendly book that will list all the agencies and the types of programs they offer, a list of support an advocacy groups and many more resources for the 5 upstate counties. She also presents at staff meetings and conferences and attends many informational meetings. Karen is a foster parent, soon to be adoptive parent, a mother, mother-in-law and grandmother of people with special needs. Karen is a member of the Families Together Adirondack Chapter, Parent 2 Parent, Tupper Lake Christian Crafters, Boy Scout Leader, as well as a volunteer in the community and advocate. Karen is also a missionary through the Tupper Lake Christian Crafters which has given away more than 5 thousand books and bibles over the past two years
Jim Purcell
Jim is the executive director of the Council of Family and Child Caring Agencies (COFCCA). COFCCA is the principal statewide representative for nearly all the voluntary not-for-profit organizations providing foster care, adoption, and family support services to vulnerable children and families in New York. Its 120-member organizations help more than 500,000 children and their families annually. Jim previously worked for New York State for many years in children’s services. He began his career with the state Division for Youth, and later worked at the Department of Social Services and Council on Children and Families. From 1985-1996 Jim served as the Associate Commissioner for Family and Children’s Services at the Department of Social Services. His work focused on child welfare but also included efforts in day care, domestic violence, and juvenile justice. He formulated and implemented policies to meet emerging needs including the first foster boarding home programs for HIV positive foster children, a new risk assessment process for child protection, reformed the operations of the State Child Abuse Register, created cross-agency collaborative initiatives to meet complex family needs, and initiated development of outcome based child welfare training. Jim holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Masters Degree in Political Science from the State University of New York at Albany. He has taught courses at the School of Social Welfare at the Rockefeller College, University of Albany. Jim sits on many boards and advisory committees including the Child Welfare League of America and the NYS Permanent Judicial Commission on Children; he is the treasurer of the Board of the NYC Human services Council and is president of the National Organization of State Associations for Children. Jim lives in Albany with his wife Eileen and their daughter Kate.
Kim Spicciatie
A mother, stepmother and step grandmother, Kim has been advocating for children's mental health issues since the death of her 17-year-old stepson in 2004. Currently the vice president of Long Island Families Together (LIFT), she also coaches softball, is an active PTA member and a 'retired' paralegal. Kim recently obtained her master's degree in social welfare and now works within the mental health system as a psychiatric social worker. A staunch and vocal advocate of Timothy’s Law, Kim has traveled all over New York to advocate for parity legislation at both the state and federal levels. In her spare time, Kim enjoys gardening, kayaking and bicycling with her daughter, motorcycling with her husband, and squeezing in as many Adirondack festivals as she can get away with.
Judy Swierczewski
Judy lives in Albany County and is currently the Children's Law Project Attorney at the Legal Aid Society of Northeastern, NY, Inc. As a staff attorney she assists low-income disabled children on a variety of issues including special education law. While attending SUNY Albany and concurrently working as a Teacher's Assistant in a special education classroom, Judy decided to attend Albany Law School to become an advocate for children. That remains her personal and professional goal.
Tom Whitney
With social issues a priority during a 14-year career in financial services, Tom served as president of the local chapters of the American Cancer Society, Rotary International, and church councils- efforts later recognized by the Prudential Community Champions Award. Pleased to be his sons’ soccer coach during this time, several experiences involving disadvantaged youth led Tom to begin exploring other careers linked directly with families in need. Today, work as a youth mental health case manager and, with his wife Sue, therapeutic foster parenting in their home provide plenty of opportunities to mentor and encourage young people with mental health needs. Tom is a member of the NYS Case Management Coalition, and enjoys playing-coaching-and watching soccer, birding with Sue, and mountain biking in Delaware County.
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