Kelsey is committed to racial justice and equitable opportunities for all children to grow and prosper. Kelsey was a founding member of Power of Two, a New York City child welfare organization focused on dismantling systems of oppression to support the city’s youngest residents, and has a background in attachment-based parenting and home visiting. In 7 years, Kelsey helped the organization grow to serve all 5 boroughs of New York City and reach thousands of children and their families. Kelsey has extensive experience in organizational growth and program development, cultivating and maintaining relationships, program design, training and implementation, and consultation. She is an organizational leader who leads with integrity and authenticity.

Kelsey holds a master’s degree from New York University School of Social Work and became Endorsed as an Infant Family Specialist in 2022.

Asata is an Early Childhood Education and Development Professional. Asata carries an Endorsement for Culturally Sensitive, Relationship-Based Practice Promoting Infant Mental Health® recognizing her expertise and experience in providing clinical services to infants, toddlers, young children and their families. Additionally, she is a certified Infant-Toddler Family Specialist with experience working with children and families as an early childhood center educator, family education facilitator, and early childcare and education provider coach.

With a strong focus on promoting healthy child development, Asata specializes in early relational health for young children. Her expertise lies in strengthening the important bonds between children and their caregivers. Asata is a registered Circle of Security Parenting Facilitator and Circle of Security Classroom Approach Facilitator, Coach, and Coordinator.

Outside of her professional life, Asata enjoys spending quality time with loved ones, immersing herself in nature and the arts, and actively participating in community service and development projects. Having lived in North Carolina for four years on the lands of the Indigenous Lumbee people, Asata is committed to fostering personal, professional, and community well-being.

Enthusiastic about Endorsement and reflective supervision/consultation, Jess sought Endorsement as an Infant Mental Health Specialist in 2017 and as an Infant Mental Health Mentor (Clinical) in 2020. She provides reflective supervision to individuals and groups, supporting supervisees in shifting the ways in which they view, wonder about, consider, understand, and respond to the pregnant women, infants, young children, and families whom they serve. Additionally, Jess enjoys bringing reflective practice into her current policy, systems, and partnership work.

Jess has extensive clinical experience working directly with infants, toddlers and their families in a variety of settings, including early care and education centers, in homes, and in a private practice setting. She graduated from Smith College School of Social Work in 2011. Her desire to support this unique population comes from a strong held belief that all children should be seen, valued and supported just as they are—which is what she is working towards in parenting her own young children too!

Based in Michigan and employed by the Alliance for the Advancement of Infant Mental Health (Alliance), Anicia is contracted to provide specialized support and guidance to our North Carolina Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Endorsement (I/ECMH-E®) applicants. Anicia brings to the team a refreshing viewpoint from her experiences as an Endorsed Infant Mental Health Specialist (IMHS) and IMH Home Visitor of 7 years, supporting Early Childhood Educators as well as families of 0-7 year olds. We are pleased to welcome her strengths in supporting applicants seeking endorsement in various stages and discussing inclusion, diversity, and equity within the workforce and its impact in the field of Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health. Anicia is excited to provide Endorsement applicant support here in North Carolina and to interact with applicants as they embark on their Endorsement journey.

Kate is a veteran early childhood teacher, administrator, coach, trainer and consultant who is passionate about the well-being of North Carolina’s young children. Coming alongside NCIMHA in 2020, she has worked with a wealth of organizations over many years – NC Smart Start, the Center for the Child Care Workforce, Early Head Start Partnerships and the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, among them. As an advocate for both children and the adults who care for them, Kate especially appreciates the urgency of supporting emotional health across all the professions that touch children and families. A certified Brazelton Touchpoints trainer, Kate has found many opportunities to connect her dedication to children to the social justice and equity issues that so strongly impact families, child care and education. A ridiculously proud grandmother of two school-agers in Durham, she gets to regularly see the theoretical “if only” up against the realities of real life. She has lived in Durham for most of her adult years, but still answers to Yankee.

Ro Lewis is a former early childhood educator, mentor teacher/teacher coordinator, and child care administrator. Their experience includes teaching adult learners as a community college professor and professional development trainer. Having grown up as a farm kid, raised in rural Appalachia, their absolute passions as an educator are outdoor learning and free play–especially the impact that play has on children’s social emotional learning and mental health. One of their proudest accomplishments is building and managing a forest classroom at an urban preschool where children ages 2-5 were able to play and explore in a woods setting with teachers trained to supervise and facilitate forest play. They founded a Professional Learning Community for Nature Based Learning for Early Childhood Educators which is still going strong. In their spare time they enjoy cooking and baking, leading a Girl Scout troop, camping, and going on adventures with their wife and kids.

They have a BA in Communications, an MA in English Writing and Literacy, and are currently working to finish an MEd in Nature Based Early Childhood Education.