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written by WENDY HOLDREN and TAYLOR MAPLE
All across the state there are West Virginians experiencing a mental health crisis. But also all across the state are those whose mission it is to treat and prevent those crises and help put West Virginians in a healthier state of mind. This feature honors just a few of the most innovative, dedicated mental health professionals who are doing just that as well as a few of the caring leaders who are bringing those efforts to the forefront of their institutions and communities. Learn more in these pages about these West Virginia mental health care pioneers.
Chad Callen
CEO, West Virginia Junior College
As the CEO for West Virginia Junior College (WVJC), Chad Callen knows it is essential to understand his student demographic and the challenges they face. With a higher concentration of adult learners at the college, he also knows the impact support services can have on student success. That’s why, when the opportunity arose to partner with Moodr Health, Callen was fully on board.
Moodr, a technology platform that launched by offering mental health support to postpartum mothers, wanted to expand its services to additional populations. In April 2024, WVJC began the pilot with its online, hybrid nursing cohort out of Beckley, and 100% of students opted in. When students enroll, they are connected with a licensed counselor who offers outreach through texting. A simple text message can escalate to a phone call for further support or even a referral for services.
“Instead of waiting for a student to raise their hand and say, ‘I’m struggling,’ Moodr offers a proactive support system that builds trust,” Callen says. “Our goal is to help support them while in nursing school, and also to help them develop tools for coping and dealing with stress, both in nursing and in life.”
For Callen, a third-generation administrator for the 130-year-old college system, family values drive the mission and culture of WVJC. “It’s always been a focus of ours to have an environment where our students feel connected and cared about,” he says. “In student responses, they have shared that they really appreciate that we care enough about their success to provide this service.”
Callen says higher education is often slow to accept change, but he believes innovators like Moodr are essential in meeting students where they are. “Thinking about how tools like this can be used in the education sector in different ways can enable education to become an industry that’s 10 years ahead instead of 10 years behind.” — WH
Brad Story
CEO, West Virginia Behavioral Healthcare Providers Association
Originally an education major with plans to become a physical education teacher and coach, Brad Story never aspired to become a leader in behavioral health. But his first job out of high school completely reset his career trajectory, leading him to become the CEO of the West Virginia Behavioral Healthcare Providers Association.
“I really, really enjoy helping vulnerable populations, especially the people who depend on other folks to care for them,” Story says. When he was 18, he began working in direct care in group homes with individuals who had intellectual and developmental disabilities. He continued to advance in the company and saw his path forward.
After more than a decade climbing the ladder at ResCare, Story took a position as director of business development at Highland Hospital. While he loved his role there, he was encouraged to apply for the CEO role at WVBHPA when the position became available. He had always been an active member of the association from the provider side, so he decided to take a chance.
Now in the role for a little over a year, Story embraces his ability to advocate for providers across the state, including psychiatric hospitals, substance use disorder treatment centers, community mental health providers, and more.
“It’s really been rewarding in the sense that I have an opportunity to make real policy changes at this level,” Story says. “Mental health issues are on the rise, especially in children. The services we provide are super beneficial and needed, and we need to make sure our providers can provide their services without barriers.” — WH
The ASPIRE Program
West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine
At the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine, a team of professionals waits at the ready to field medical students’ academic support and mental health needs in one fell swoop.
Academic Support and Intervention Resources (ASPIRE) doesn’t just offer guidance when it comes to study skills, time management, and test-taking. It also fields issues related to stress, depression, low self-confidence, and other mental health issues, acknowledging that these struggles often go hand-in-hand and should be discussed in tandem. “If you’re struggling with your mental health, it’s going to affect academics,” says Julianna Quick, ASPIRE learning specialist and student counselor. “And if you’re struggling with academics, it’s going to affect your mental health.”
The free, confidential service is available to all students at the school, and the staff members providing it have a keen understanding of the demanding environment students are navigating. “We’re all licensed counselors in the state of West Virginia, but we have a special interest in helping students perform and thrive in high-stakes environments,” Quick says. While most medical schools are connected to a larger university offering more general counseling to all students, Quick says the ASPIRE program has the unique opportunity to accommodate the specific pressures of medical students. Students visiting the program can rest assured that staff members understand the intensity of their course load and can dive right into the deeper issues.
Quick says seeing students progress as the program supports them throughout college is the most rewarding part of the job. “It’s cool to see a student maybe struggle during their first two years, where it’s all didactic and they’re in the classroom,” she says, “but then get out there and really come alive as they start meeting with patients and confirming that, ‘OK, this was hard, but this was what I was meant to do.’” — TM
Jon Dower
Executive Director, West Virginia Sober Living
As someone who received support from friends, family, and mentors during his own struggle with substance use disorder, Jon Dower knows the importance of second chances. He now aspires to improve the lives of others experiencing addiction in many ways: through his work as the executive director for West Virginia Sober Living, as a board member of West Virginia First Foundation, as a nationally certified counselor, and as a college educator.
Working in the restaurant industry was challenging for Dower—the “work hard, play hard” environment was not conducive to his sobriety. But an opportunity from a friend in November 2013 set him on a path toward helping not only himself, but countless others.
Doug Leech, the founder of Ascension Recovery Services, offered him a part-time position with the potential for growth. As the recovery services grew, so did Dower’s role: “I went through the ranks through loyalty, determination, and being around amazing people who gave me opportunities that I probably didn’t deserve—but they gave me a chance anyway.”
On a whim, Dower enrolled in a newly launched addiction studies course at West Virginia University and began his educational efforts once again. After obtaining his bachelor’s degree, he then received his master’s degree in clinical rehabilitation and mental health counseling. He now works as an adjunct faculty member.
“I want to be able to help everyone, which is not realistic or attainable,” Dower says. “But if I’m in a classroom teaching 30 human beings, I can have a ripple effect by sharing the skills and the underlying fabric of how to treat this condition.”
He sees his role as an administrator as a way to give back, too, by eliminating barriers and making connections to needed resources. “If you give someone a chance, they have the potential to do amazing things if you give them the opportunity to do so,” Dower says. “Empathy is important, but so is education.” — WH
Karen Haring
Founder and Executive Director, Libera
When Karen Haring was 50 years old, her world turned upside down. In a short time period, two people with whom she was close tried to take their lives. “I was the person who found each of them and took them to the ER,” she shares. “They are both doing well now, but at the time, I didn’t really know how to deal with that.” She started seeing a therapist, and the trajectory of her life changed for the better.
After self-reflecting, Haring realized she was a perpetual people pleaser who never felt good enough or worthy enough. Through conversations with friends, she became aware that she wasn’t alone. “I wanted to create spaces where we can talk about our stories and be accepted without judgement.”
Offering mental health support, mentoring, and social enterprise, Libera was founded in 2015 to help build brighter futures for youth and young women in West Virginia. As the founder and executive director, Haring is especially proud of the organization’s three pillars of work: Libera Peer Groups, Mentorship & Success Planning, and Social Enterprise.
Based on the L.I.B.E.R.A. model (Listen, Illuminate, Believe, Envision, Reach, and Alight), peer groups across the state offer weekly support at locations including schools, detention centers, shelters, and libraries. The organization’s mentoring program connects volunteer community members who are trained in empathetic listening with young girls in need. The third component of Libera provides part-time employment to at-risk young women by creating STEAM activity boxes for elementary students.
“The past decade has been amazing, transformative, and a lot of hard work,” Haring says. “But it’s been a team effort. It’s kind of unbelievable to see how far we’ve come.” The goal is to have a presence in all 55 counties in the state, and Haring knows that, with sustained momentum, they will achieve that goal. — WH
Hearts of Gold Service Dogs
Hearts of Gold, West Virginia University
At Hearts of Gold, veterans with mobility impairments or psychiatric disabilities are paired with dogs that have been expertly trained and raised with service in mind.
Most dogs involved in the program come from a local nonprofit called Human–Animal Bond, says Lindsey Livengood, a behavior analyst with the program, and are bred for the potential to become service animals. By the time they are placed, they’ve been socialized, acclimated to home environments, trained, and sometimes even put through programs at local prisons, where inmates can help train and care for them. “Inmates are getting parenting skills and patience and social interaction skills—plus, they get to give back to veterans, which is rewarding for them,” Livengood says. “We’ve had several inmates who, after release, are out in the community now as dog trainers, which is really cool.”
The dogs help with a variety of issues. Some folks with PTSD request a dog that is trained to interrupt troubling nightmares they have as they sleep. Other dogs are trained to help their owners be more aware of their surroundings—when out and about, the dog scans the scene and signals when a person is approaching so the owner isn’t startled or caught off-guard. Many dogs are also equipped to handle general anxiety, noticing warning signs and approaching their owner to help bring them back from a panic attack or ground them in the present.
The program aims for a good match that fits both the dog and the veteran—and the dogs who succeed are truly special. “It takes a lot,” Livengood says. “You’re asking a whole heck of a lot for a dog to be able to handle what we’re asking them to handle, and we really strive to make sure that our dogs are not stressed out, too. We want to make sure that it’s good for the dog as well as the humans.” — TM
Kevin Junkins
Chief Medical Officer of Behavioral Health, Community Care of West Virginia
Although he now serves as chief medical officer of behavioral health for Community Care of West Virginia, Kevin Junkins didn’t initially plan to pursue a career in mental health. “Being a doctor, I loved the concept of having a relationship with my patients and wanted to pursue family medicine as my career,” Junkins says. “But family medicine wouldn’t allow me to get to know patients to the degree I wanted to.”
In his third year of medical school, the Grant County native found his calling, along with the doctor–patient relationship he desired, in psychiatry. After meeting with CCWV, Junkins fell in love with its mission. As the second-largest Federally Qualified Health Center in the state, CCWV offers 18 community health center locations, 50 school-based health sites, eight pharmacies, and one dental office. The mission is to provide high-quality, accessible health care services to West Virginians, regardless of their ability to pay.
Junkins started as the only staff psychiatrist, but when CCWV expanded its behavioral health mission, he was selected as chief medical officer for that division. He is especially proud of CCWV’s expansion of the Critical Access to Pediatric Psychiatry program and of a collaboration with West Virginia Wesleyan College to increase the number of mental health providers in the state through its clinical mental health master’s program.
“There’s a lot of satisfaction I get from helping people who are vulnerable, who don’t always have a voice for themselves,” Junkins says. “One really rewarding thing is being able to treat people with mental health conditions with respect. A lot of our patients, when they first come to us, they haven’t historically been heard. They felt like they were a number. We’ve really tried to build a program where we treat people like people.” — WH
Lata Menon
CEO, First Choice Services
As CEO of First Choice Services, a nonprofit that operates various helplines throughout the state, Lata Menon knows firsthand the need for mental health care in West Virginia and beyond. To manage the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, 1-800-GAMBLER, the Children’s Crisis & Referral Line, and other services that operate under the organization’s umbrella, Menon draws upon more than 25 years of expertise in social work to advocate for those who need these services.
Through training first responders to meet folks in mental health crises with empathy, attending conferences where she learns the latest in crisis response, and bolstering other ways in which the organization offers help to those working toward a brighter future for themselves, Menon is always looking to help. “I think for some of us who enjoy the helping profession, there’s so much out there to work on that the sky’s the limit,” she says.
Menon oversees approximately 240 First Choice Services staff members who man hotlines, help callers find support, gain access to resources, and even navigate their Affordable Care Act benefits, all free of charge. Importantly, more than half of the staff members are in some form of long-term recovery themselves. “I have the privilege of working with people who have gone through really difficult things and then come out of that in a really healthy and amazing way,” she says. “It’s truly humbling. It’s a privilege to work with them, it’s a privilege to know them, and it’s inspirational to hear what people are able to do.” — TM
Lisa Zappia
CEO, Prestera
When she started at Marshall University, Lisa Zappia planned to become a nurse. Her sister-in-law was a home health care nurse, and she would often accompany her on visits. “We got to hear about their family and a lot of social elements,” Zappia shares. “That’s what I thought I wanted to do.”
At age 19, she began working at Barboursville School with children who had mental health disabilities. Understanding Zappia’s true passion, an insightful professor suggested she take psychology and counseling courses. Just three years later, she completed her master’s degree in mental health counseling.
After working initially in outpatient therapy with children at Prestera, she shifted gears to focus on adults with substance use disorder. At 21, she took a leadership role as supervisor of outpatient services. She went on to lead the bereavement programs at Hospice of Huntington, including the establishment of a bereavement camp for children.
Zappia continued improving and developing programming wherever the work called her, including work with children, adolescents, and geriatric populations. “I wanted to do everything in the field to find my niche,” she says. Throughout her career, she continued private practice work as well as teaching at Marshall.
Karen Yost, a decades-long mentor and peer, led Zappia to many opportunities. While Yost served as CEO at Prestera, she asked Zappia to join her in January 2013 as director of clinical services to help improve patient outcomes. And when Yost retired in March 2021, Zappia filled the role as CEO of Prestera, the largest behavioral health services provider in West Virginia.
“I love working for a nonprofit, and I wanted to finish my career at one,” Zappia says. “I believe in our mission and our core values. I believe that we can make this world a better place through what we do every day.” — WH
Jennifer Bender
Perinatal Nurse Navigator, Vandalia Health
As a labor and delivery nurse for nearly two decades, Jennifer Bender is passionate about families and supporting them along their journeys. For the past five years, her role as perinatal nurse navigator with Vandalia Health has allowed her to enhance care for women before, during, and after their pregnancies.
“We pay attention to moms in pregnancy, but when they have the baby, the mom is often left behind,” Bender says. As early as her nursing school experience, Bender has focused on the health of the mom. When she was in school, she conducted follow-up calls at a breastfeeding resource center for proactive outreach. “Breastfeeding rates are higher if moms have support, so we’ve applied that same model to mental health.”
Progressing Through Postpartum, also known as the P3 Program at Vandalia Health, initially aimed to connect with moms three times in the first month after delivery, but a patient survey revealed that continued support would be helpful. Bender began reaching out for three months following delivery—and quickly realized she was at capacity.
In January 2023, the tech company Moodr Health reached out to see how it could support P3. Roughly six months later, Vandalia implemented the Moodr patient outreach program, completely transforming its outreach capacity. Now, Bender can connect with new moms throughout the first full year following delivery, along with newly pregnant patients who enroll.
Through this proactive outreach, moms in need of additional support can receive a warm handoff to trusted providers in their insurance network, along with other resources. “We talk about physical health, but mental health is physical health,” Bender says. “It’s your brain, and it’s your health. For me, checking on your mental health is as important as checking your blood pressure.” — WH
Janine Breyel
Deputy Director, West Virginia Perinatal Partnership
Janine Breyel began her career working as a health policy analyst in Washington, D.C., working with maternal and child health policy. Before moving to West Virginia and raising her four sons, one of her last projects focused on programming for pregnant women who have substance use disorder. When she re-entered the workforce in the Mountain State, she was well-equipped to help improve outcomes for moms and babies.
In 2009, she began working for the West Virginia Perinatal Partnership, where she is now the deputy director. WVPP is a nonprofit organization that provides advocacy, programming, and collaboration to improve the health and well-being of West Virginia families. WVPP was founded in 2006 to address the fact that, while many states were experiencing decreases in infant mortality, West Virginia was not. The team’s research showed them that one of the main factors was substance use in pregnancy.
Breyel knew the importance of a holistic approach to health care. “Having a comprehensive program that can look at the woman as an individual and look at all of her needs—not just prenatal care or someone with SUD in need of treatment—that’s how we developed the Drug Free Moms and Babies project,” she says.
DFMB was established to connect women in early pregnancy with the services they need, including substance use treatment and mental health support. What started as a four-site pilot has grown to become part of every delivery hospital in the state. Project leaders hope to continue expanding in rural areas and Federally Qualified Health Centers.
“I’ve been so impressed by the people who work in our programs,” Breyel says. “Their compassion, their joy, and their dedication to working with this vulnerable population—it humbles me every single day. It’s hard to express in words how meaningful this work is. Just being able to be a part of it gives me so much satisfaction.” — WH
Dr. James Berry
Professor and Chair, Department of Behavioral Medicine and Psychiatry and Director of Addictions, West Virginia University School of Medicine’s Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute
Born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, James Berry went to medical school thinking he’d be a family doctor. But one of his last rotations was with a psychiatrist who specialized in treating addiction, and it was a transformative experience. Berry changed course, heading to West Virginia University to begin a general psychiatry residency, and he got to work. Now the chair of the WVU Department of Behavioral Medicine and Psychiatry, he remains just as passionate about addressing mental health and addiction in West Virginia and beyond.
Berry spends his days helping to build and manage programs within the department and support faculty, staff, and trainees under his supervision. He also uses his platform—and his years of expertise in psychiatry—to bring awareness to the importance of mental health care and treatment for addiction. Berry has testified in front of the U.S. Senate about the nature of addiction, and he has lent his perspective to outlets like NPR, Politico, and a PBS NOVA documentary. Speaking out, he says, is essential to breaking the stigma and misunderstanding that often comes along with the struggle.
“For someone like me, who has been blessed enough to get a lot of training and have a lot of experience truly understanding the nature of mental illness, including addiction, I feel it’s an important and weighty responsibility to share that with others and help bring light into much of the darkness that exists out there,” he says. Berry has faith in West Virginia and its people and has high hopes for the future. Particularly if the state is able to expand the workforce and treatment capacity truly needed to address its behavioral health needs, he sees no reason why West Virginia can’t be a global leader in the delivery of behavioral health care. — TM
Brian Cooper
Veterans’ Mental Health & PTSD
Brian Cooper joined the U.S. Army Reserve in 1997 and served active duty until his honorable discharge in 2004. He was the life of every party, a joy to be around, his sister, Michelle Hopkins, shares, and he joined the military to bring some structure and positivity to his life. It wasn’t until years after his service time came to an end that he began showing outward symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Cooper knew he wasn’t alone in the struggle, and he dedicated much of his life to helping other veterans who struggled mentally after returning home. He consistently advocated for mental health care and suicide prevention on social media, and he created support groups in his community for veterans who needed a shoulder to lean on and a place where they felt understood. All the while, though, his own battle intensified.
Cooper died by suicide in 2023 at the age of 43, leaving behind countless folks he’d touched who remain dedicated to continuing his legacy—including his sister, who works with that in mind in her position at Moodr Health, a company championing early prevention, intervention, and treatment of mental health and behavioral challenges. “It’s not easy to ask for help,” Hopkins says. “But it feels good to reach out to someone if they’re heavy on your mind. Sometimes just asking someone if they’re OK, it can save their life.”
In perhaps the purest act of love and care for those around him, Cooper could often be found in the kitchen, putting his skills as a professionally trained chef to use feeding friends and family. “He made his kitchen the heart of his home, and he made his career serving others to be the center of everything he did,” Hopkins remembers. “His last message to us was to treat people with kindness. That’s his last message to us to share with the world.” — TM
Dr. Suzanne Holroyd
Professor and Chair, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine at Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine
When Suzanne Holroyd went to medical school, she had a passion for helping people, but she didn’t know what path her career would take. “I had zero knowledge, really, of what mental illness was,” she says. “When I did my rotation of the psychiatry clerkship, I was immediately like, ‘This is what I’m going to do.’ And it’s the best decision I ever made.”
Now years into her career, Holroyd stays busy in her leadership role as professor and chair at Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, but she never gave up the intimate level of patient care she wanted to deliver. She works as a geriatric psychiatrist for patients at a 10-bed unit at Mildred Mitchell–Bateman Hospital in Huntington and at a Marshall clinic, as well as working as a consultant for three state nursing homes. Geriatric psychiatry, she says, is an area of mental health that is much needed, but often overlooked. “Not only do people face a lot of challenges socially or medically, but as people age, their brains undergo changes with things like dementia or strokes, and that creates very unique psychiatric syndromes that you don’t see in younger people.”
Holroyd is from Virginia, but she has fond childhood memories of traveling to West Virginia to visit her father’s family. Working with its people now is special to her. “When I became aware of the mental health needs in the state, it was really heartbreaking,” she says. “All mental illness deserves treatment, but people with severe mental illness, with psychosis, unable to get treatment—that just should not be occurring. And so to me, being able to provide those services just means so much. Everyone in our department has that spirit. Everyone is here because we want to make things better.” — TM
Christina Mullins
Deputy Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders, West Virginia Department of Human Services
Christina Mullins knew from an early age that mental health was important to her—she recalls being about 8 years old when she started telling people she wanted to be a psychologist. “My mom suffered from depression, and I didn’t really understand it,” she says. “I just didn’t like that my mom was sad, and so I kind of always knew I wanted to work in this space.”
Now, as the deputy secretary for mental health and substance use disorders at the West Virginia Department of Human Services, she’s putting that passion and personal connection to good use. Mullins is guiding the staff as they expand and build crisis services, like the 988 Suicide and Crisis Help Line, throughout the state. West Virginia now has statewide mobile crisis coverage for children, ever-growing coverage for adults, and, just recently, certified behavioral health clinics.
It’s hard, emotional work, Mullins says, and the risk of burnout among mental health staff runs high, but progress keeps her motivated despite the difficulties. “We spend so much time talking about the challenges, but we’re also impacting the lives of real people, and there’s hope there,” she says. “It’s very personal to me. I don’t do it because it’s glamorous—it isn’t. I do it because it’s personal. Because when I’m working on projects, I see the faces of my own family, of the people that I grew up with, the people that I care about. And I think West Virginians are worth it.” — TM
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