Sherri Amen, MA, IMH-E® is a HealthySteps Specialist at Centura Primary Care of Fort Morgan in Fort Morgan, Colorado, a rural, diverse area on the eastern plains where she grew up and raised her sons with her husband. She feels the support she provides is reflective and preventative. She felt that the best part of being a HealthySteps Specialist was being the person she needed when she became a new mother many years ago. Recently, her first grandbaby was born and she now treats every family like she treats her son and his family, while giving individualized care to each family she supports. She is passionate about infants, toddlers, and those who teach and care for them. She was a family child-care provider and the director of an infant toddler center for teen parents. Sherri is a member of the Assuring Better Child Health & Development Regional Hub Advisory Council to expand HealthySteps in Colorado. She teaches and coaches the Colorado initiative, Expanding Quality for Infants and Toddlers, and teaches ECE1111 Infant and Toddler Theory and Practice for Morgan Community College. She has certificates in Advanced Infancy and Early Childhood Education Coaching from Colorado University of Denver.  She has Infant Mental Health Endorsement and did a Reflective Supervision/Consultation Learning Collaborative through the Colorado Association for Infant Mental Health. She is a Buell Early Childhood Leadership Fellow and an Irving Harris Program in Child Development and Infant Mental Health Community Fellow. Sherri has an undergraduate degree in Human Development and Family Studies from Colorado State University and a graduate degree in Educational Administration & Policy Study, Early Childhood Leadership.

Christy is a mom of a 16-year-old daughter. She lives in Plattsburgh, NY (about 30 minutes south of the Canadian border).  Christy is also a special education teacher and has been working with the birth to five population for over 25 years in a variety of roles.  She transitioned to her role as a HealthySteps Specialist in 2018 after working in an Early Intervention preschool program that she co-founded in 2004.  After becoming a HealthySteps Specialist, Christy obtained her Lactation Counselor Certification, and was chosen as one of the Principal Investigators for the Health and Early Roots and Origins research study with Harvard University. She is a doctoral student at Johns Hopkins University with a specialization in Mind, Brain, and Teaching as well as an adjunct at SUNY Plattsburgh in the Education Department.  Additionally, Christy is a certified DIR/Floortime practitioner focusing practitioner focusing on social–emotional wellness and behavioral health using a trauma transformed approach working alongside the parent-child dyad.  She is also endorsed as an Infant Mental Health Specialist through the New York State Association of Infant Mental Health, a certified content specialty trainer through the New York State Association for the Education of Young Children/ASPIRE and endorsed as a Continuing Teacher and Leadership Education trainer with the New York State Education Department.  Christy is actively involved with several coalitions and work groups that focus on advocacy efforts for young children and their families.

Robin Hartzman has been a HealthySteps Specialist since 2018 and is proud to work on a team of 15 HealthySteps Specialists serving 11 pediatric sites in North Carolina and counting!  While interest in holistic wellness led her to obtain a MS in Counseling Psychology, if asked, Robin would say that her experiences in parenting her two daughters are what forged the connection of purpose to her career choice and inform her practice. Robin has over 20 years of experience working with adults in mental health settings, teen parents, and young adult mothers at risk for infant mortality. Through various community-based initiatives, Robin witnessed the cultural and systemic practices impacting parenting and life trajectories. While developing, collaborating, and implementing person-centered family work in the areas of psycho-social education, early literacy, home visitation, case management, and healthy births, including doula services, she was able to fuel her passion for equity, informed decision-making, and strengths-based work. Through her work serving houseless families, Robin is proud to have served as a panel member on the Safe and Supportive Housing for Pregnant and Parenting Adolescents in NC forum, hosted by the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Campaign of NC. The pinnacle and highest gratitude of Robin’s career is having shared so many parenting and life moments with those she has had the privilege to serve through her two decades of working in the greater Greensboro community.

Latasha Nwajagu is a HealthySteps Specialist at the HMH Pediatric Academic Practice located in Hackensack, New Jersey. Hackensack Meridian Health is the first healthcare organization to implement HealthySteps in the state of New Jersey. Latasha works in collaboration with primary care providers and resident physicians to provide integrated behavioral health services.

Latasha is a licensed social worker in the state of New Jersey, she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Social Work from Southern Connecticut State University in 2015, then later on gained acceptance to the University of Connecticut with a full scholarship to pursue her master’s degree in Social Work. She graduated from UCONN in 2016.

Latasha has worked in several social work fields, such as child protective services, various hospital settings, and early childhood programs. She has two years of experience working as the HealthySteps Specialist in both Washington, DC and New Jersey. Latasha is passionate about this work and was recently accepted to Montclair State University’s intensive infant and early childhood mental health fellowship program, where she will continue to further enhance her knowledge within this field.

Ashley is a HealthySteps Specialist at Joel Health Clinic on Fort Bragg – where she works in collaboration with primary care providers to provide integrated behavioral health services. Prior to her work on Fort Bragg, Ashley served as a Healthysteps Specialist in Baltimore City, where she supported the Center for Infant Study with the development and implementation of the HealthySteps Program at the University of Maryland – Midtown Pediatrics Clinic.

Ashley started her career as a child therapist. She is committed to helping families strengthen their child’s emotional and behavioral development through treatment, training, consultation, and research. She has collaborated with caregivers, psychologists, counselors, nurses, social workers, psychiatrists, preschools, pediatric practices, social services, and other community agencies to perform diagnostic assessments and provide comprehensive treatment and consultations to families. In addition to deepening her understanding of developmental growth, variance, and psychopathology in children aged 0 to 5, her work continues to develop skills and attitudes needed to deliver culturally competent, child and family-centered, attachment-based services within the early childhood system of care.

Ashley has a Master of Science degree in Social Work from Columbia University, New York, NY, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from Saint Augustine’s University of Raleigh, NC. Ashley is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in both North Carolina and Maryland.

Cadi is a HealthySteps Specialist at the Tim & Carolynn Rice Center for Children and Adolescent Health in Greensboro, North Carolina. Each day nearly half the families she serves are native Spanish speakers, and as a recent immigrant herself, she could not be more honored to join these and all families on their parenting adventures.

Born and raised in Chile, Cadi got her B.S. in Psychology from California Polytechnic University of San Luis Obispo. Upon graduation, she returned to Chile and worked in different fields serving diverse populations, including a residential addiction treatment center, a Down syndrome early intervention foundation, and two hospital schools. It wasn’t until she was living in a yurt on a remote island in the Patagonia with a wild toddler in tote that she discovered her desire to work with families of young children.

As a HealthySteps Specialist, a Certified Lactation Counselor, and recently a Primary Care Triple P Provider (Positive Parenting Program), she hopes to continue to support and advocate for el bienestar of Latino families.

In her spare time, Cadi enjoys being in the sunshine with her husband and two curious kiddos, taking spontaneous weekend trips, being a part of her local church, reading, and trying recipes from around the world

Rebecca is a HealthySteps Specialist at University of Maryland School of Medicine – Midtown Pediatrics. She works on an interdisciplinary team with primary care providers, residents, psychologists, and licensed mental health clinicians. Midtown Pediatrics supports children and families with primary care as well as mental health services, and connections to other services.

Rebecca Sellman is also the Counselor and Early Childhood Mental Health Specialist at the Center for Infant Study, University of Maryland – Baltimore. She pursued her education at McDaniel College, receiving her Bachelor’s degree in Social Work, minoring in Sociology and Psychology. Rebecca later went to University of Maryland, School of Social Work, receiving a Masters in Clinical Social Work. Rebecca’s passion is supporting Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health, focusing on the importance of early interventions, and advocating for children and families through education, resources, and one-on-one support.

In Rebecca’s spare time, she enjoys working with children through education and teaching. She also teaches providers at Early Childhood Centers on skill building, mental health wellness, and classroom support.