NAMI Utah Staff

Administration | Programs 

 ADMINISTRATION

Rebecca Glathar - Executive Director

Rebecca works with individuals and families impacted by mental illness to grow and sustain grassroots, peer-led support, education and advocacy efforts. She has been a NAMI Utah advocate for five years and has worked on such projects as the Whole Health Integration Initiative and the Family Resource Facilitator program. She is a strong proponent of mental health integration into primary care settings and pushes for early identification and intervention for children at risk of developing mental disorders. She is honored to share in this work with many amazing individuals, families and professionals.

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Pam Saley - Operations Director

Pam handles all of the accounting and membership duties for NAMI Utah. Before coming to NAMI, Pam worked for the Salt Lake School District in Testing and Assessment with ESL students. She loved working with kids and has many wonderful stories from her teaching days. Pam loves her work at NAMI Utah not only because of her co-workers, but also because of all the beautiful people that come through NAMI's doors.

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 Amy Henderson - Executive Assistant

Amy Henderson is thrilled to be an Executive Assistant for NAMI Utah! She has a B.S. from Weber State University in Psychology and Criminal Justice and is currently working on her Master's Degree in Social Work at the University of Utah. She has always had a passion for empowering and advocating for those who are disenfranchised, particularly individuals and families who struggle with mental illness issues. Over the years, Amy has worked with children in the foster care system, adolescents and adults in inpatient behavioral health treatment, autism research, adults and aging populations in home health and hospice and adults with substance abuse problems.

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Mary Burchett - Outreach Specialist

Mary is the Development Specialist for NAMI Utah. She previously worked for the American Red Cross of Utah and is happy to be working with volunteers again. She loves learning, growing and sharing with the dedicated volunteers and staff here at NAMI. She received a Bachelor’s degree in Organizational Communication from the University of Portland.

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Susan Cates - Office Manager

 Susan has been with NAMI Utah since April 2005. She started out as a volunteer, but soon became the Receptionist for the NAMI Utah state office. She now acts as the Office Manager. She has become a very familiar voice to some as they call in often to talk to various members of the staff. Her sweet voice and classic sense of humor bring a pleasant air to the office.

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 PROGRAMS

 Annie Hanks - Programs Director

Annie has dedicated the last 20 years to working with people with disabilities and their families and more specifically children with significant behavioral and mental health needs who are involved in the foster care system. She received her degree in Community Recreation. Annie is passionate about providing good quality services so that people can be educated about services available to them and their family members and receive the supports that they need.

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Wendy Fayles - Family Mentor

Wendy has two children who were diagnosed with depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder at a young age. Through the PTA, Wendy became involved with NAMI’s Hope for Tomorrow program and helped edit one of the early versions of the HFT manual. Eventually, Wendy realized her “dream job” of coming to work for NAMI. Wendy is responsible for overseeing NAMI programs throughout the state. Wendy has a Bachelor’s degree in English, which she uses to correct everyone’s e-mails.

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Jacqueline Gomez-Arias -Programs and Diversity Outreach Coordinator

Jacqueline is from Colombia and has been living in the valley for 30 years. She graduated from the University of Utah and has dedicated her career to social service and to bettering the lives of other people, especially those of underprivileged circumstances and minorities. She has grassroots experience in mental health, alcohol and substance abuse and GBTL issues.

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Sarah Gilbertson - Programs Specialist

Sarah is NAMI Utah's Programs Specialist. In addition to assisting the Programs Department, she will also be responsible for handling NAMI's Provider Education component. Sarah recently graduated from BYU with a B.S. in Family Life (with an emphasis in Human Development). She has three children and tons of energy! (As soon as we figure that one out, we will bottle and sell it.)

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Kerri Ernstsen - Mentor

 Kerri began working at NAMI Utah in 2003. Kerri remembers struggling with illness as a child, going from one extreme to another. She was told she would be in and out of hospitals for the rest of her life. However, with the help of medication and her support system, she has been hospital free and gainfully employed for many years.

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Jackie Rendo - Criminal Justice and Family Mentor

Jackie has a close family member who has a serious and persistent mental illness. She has witnessed his struggles with insight, recovery, homelessness, stigma, and involvement with the criminal justice system. She has experienced the heartache and frustration of dealing with inadequately funded mental health care systems. These experiences have made her passionate about advocating for people with mental illness and their families. She has a degree in the medical field. She was actively involved with NAMI while living in Arizona and is a Family to Family instructor for the Davis County affiliate. She is an Executive Board member of the Disability Law Center and also serves on their Protection and Advocacy in Mental Illness Council.  

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Erin Akers - Mentor and Whole Health Project Manager

Erin Akers grew up in a small town that was less than welcoming to her transplanted family, and she dreamt of bigger and better things for herself while at the same time struggling with depression. After years of enduring bullying and harassment, she came to Salt Lake City to pursue her dream of helping others with mental illness. Erin graduated from the University of Utah in August 2011 with a BS in both Sociology and Psychology. She is currently a mentor with NAMI Utah and manages the Whole Health Project; she plans to pursue a PhD in clinical psychology in the future.

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Sherry Hunter - Family Mentor (Utah County)

Sherry has been a mental health advocate for her adult son for the past six years. She has worked closely with Wasatch Mental Health, Wellness Recovery Center, Intensive Residental Treatment Center, Provo Canyon Behavioral Hospital, Provo Housing and Utah State Hosptial. Her advocacy for her son is unconditional and continues to play a huge role throughout her sons treatment at Utah State Hospital. Sherry was introduced to NAMI by a friend of the family and has taken the Family-to-Family Class, participated and coordintated a team for the annual NAMI Walks, serves on the local NAMI Affiliate Board as the affiliates fundraising and email specialist.  She is very passionate about mentoring others and finding the resources that they may be in need of.

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Julie Schwartz - Prevention Specialist

Julie Schwartz is thrilled to be working at NAMI as their new Prevention Specialist, where her goal is to bring NAMI’s Hope for Tomorrow program and other school-based programs such as Parents and Teachers as Allies, Recognizing Early on-set mental illness in Children and Adolescents to as many schools in the state of Utah as possible.  Her hope is to spread NAMI’s message of understanding of mental health issues and provide the students, parents and teachers in these schools with the resources of where to turn and what to do if they or someone they know needs help.  Julie has recently been involved with the PTA of Utah as a Middle School PTSA President and is long-time volunteer with the Girl Scouts of Utah, where she is a troop leader of a senior girl scout troop and a Service Unit Director, leading 20+ troop leaders in the Salt Lake area.  She also serves on many committees at the Girl Scouts of Utah including being a Adult Press Core member, co-chair of the 100^th Anniversary Committee and chair of the Healthy Media Initiatives committee. 

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Kimberly Myers - Prevention by Design Program Manager

Kim works as the Utah Prevention by Design program manager for NAMI and brings experience working in health, substance abuse and mental health field in various community based settings.  She has worked with children and families in a variety of roles including counseling, supporting mentoring relationship, and partnering with youth and families to advocate for the families needs in school, in their communities, and the within juvenile and family court systems.   Kim received a BS from Weber State University and a MSW from Portland State University.  There she focused on social work practice in community based settings around mobilizing communities to advocate for positive change.  Kim has both personal and professional experience with those suffering with mental illness and is excited to use this experience to be a strong advocate for people living with mental illness and their families and communities.

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Melissa Moeinvaziri - Prevention and Promotion Specialist

Having worked with numerous, diverse populations who are deeply affected by mental health issues and coping with a history of mental illness within her own family, Melissa is excited to be working as the Promotion and Prevention Specialist for NAMI Utah. Melissa is the daughter of Persian and Portuguese immigrants and was born and raised in Salt Lake City. Channeling her global perspective and interest in taking on challenging issues, she graduated from the University of Utah with an Honors B.A. in Political Science and B.A. in International Studies. Her most poignant experiences include working in India with underprivileged children and migrant workers, and her continued volunteer work as a Refugee Advocate and HIV Prevention Counselor in Salt Lake City. Melissa has a passion for grass-roots, community advocacy work, which will be well served at NAMI.

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Michelle Vance- Utah Family Coalition Youth Facilitator

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Aprill Roberts - Patient Advocate

Aprill works at Intermountain Healthcare assisting patients who are being discharged from the Psychiatric Unit or the Emergency Department.  Aprill graduated from Brigham Young University in International Politics but quickly discovered she’d rather work in the non-profit sector, helping people face-to-face. She has worked with the Deaf and hard-of-hearing, people with developmental disabilities, and the chronically homeless. She is grateful to be able to use her varied professional and personal experience to help the patients at the hospital.

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