Our Soul Care Team
Sarah Gaer
Sarah Gaer is a highly experienced mental health professional with over 25 years in the field, specializing in trauma, addiction, and suicide prevention. She holds a Masters degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Antioch University. Sarah has served as a Suicide Prevention Specialist, training more than 1,000 persons in suicide prevention techniques and leading crisis response efforts in various crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic and natural disasters. She has been at the forefront of crisis response, leading teams in the aftermath of suicides, homicides, natural disasters, and terrorist attacks. As a consultant and trainer for the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health, she specializes in Law Enforcement mental health and suicide prevention. Additionally, Sarah is a National Trainer for Psychological First Aid. She is actively involved in the H.O.P.E. Certification program, a culture-changing initiative to promote evidence-based practices in mental health promotion and suicide prevention. Sarah is a renowned speaker who has delivered multiple keynote speeches on her innovative work with Soul Exhaustion and Soul Care in the public and private sectors. Her speeches provide a unique perspective for self-reflection and understanding, validating struggles while instilling hope for finding peace. Sarah’s keynote speeches bring the concept of the soul back to the forefront of discussion regarding how we conceptualize ourselves, others, our world, and mental health.
Cassandra Kelly is a professional marketer, storyteller, and changemaker. Through her work, she hopes to empower others with knowledge and understanding about science, history, and above all themselves. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Journalism from Ohio University. After a brief stint as a journalist in New York, Cassandra moved back to her home in Columbus, Ohio to serve her community as a nonprofit communicator. She has worked with multiple nonprofits to achieve visibility around topics such as suicide prevention, mental health, affordable child care, and the environment. She also continues to freelance as a science writer for national publications, including Mechanical Engineering Magazine.
Cassandra Kelly
Dr. Pata Suyemoto is a feminist scholar, writer, educator, curriculum developer, equity trainer, mental health activist, jewelry designer, and avid bicyclist. She earned her PhD. from the University of Pennsylvania and did her research on anti-racist education and issues of race and racism. She is the Executive Director for the National Asian American Pacific Islander Mental Health Association (NAAPIMHA). She also is the Associate Director of Equity for the Massachusetts Coalition for Suicide Prevention (MCSP). Pata is founder and co-chair of the MCSP Alliance for Equity and one of the authors of Widening the Lens: Exploring the Role of Social Justice in Suicide Prevention – A Racial Equity Toolkit. She has spoken and written about being a suicide attempt survivor and her struggles with chronic depression and complex PTSD. She is also the chair of SPRC’s (Suicide Prevention Resource Center’s) Lived Experience Advisory Committee. Her claim to fame is that she rode her bicycle across the country in the summer of 2012.
Dr. Pata Suyemoto
Ms. Oss is a person with lived experience and started volunteering in Idaho’s Correctional facilities at one year of sobriety. She has worked inside and outside juvenile and adult correctional institutions, hospitals, and treatment agencies as a Correctional Officer and an SUD Counselor. She opened her own outpatient facility in Idaho between the years 2008-2013 and offered SUD Education, Relapse Prevention, Anger Management, and various Cognitive-Behavioral groups. Marsha also completed SUD Assessments to determine the level of need and developed individual treatment plans to address SUD issues as well as TBI’s, and challenges related to pre-natal SUD exposure. Marsha Oss relocated to Alaska from Idaho in 1996 and went to work for Tanana Chiefs Conference between 1997-2002. She worked in the Community Health Department, traveling the Interior of Alaska working with prevention and chaperoning elders and youth for Denakkanaaga. In 1998, she moved to the position of Primary Counselor, then Clinical Supervisor, and finally Acting Director of Old Minto Family Recovery Camp. Marsha spent the past 6½ years as the Fairbanks Reentry Coalition Case Manager, helping justice-involved folks return to the community. Marsha joined the City of Fairbanks in 2022 as the Reentry Coalition Coordinator. Marsha completed her AA and BA in Interdisciplinary Studies with Minors in Justice, Political Science, and History through UAF in August 2022. She currently holds an NCAC-I and is certified through Alaska as a CDC/BHC II, and Peer Support Specialist III. Other training includes Suicide Prevention using the Gatekeeper model, Grief Specialist, and Domestic Batterer’s Education Facilitator.
Marsha Oss
Jen Kelliher is the Managing Director for the Massachusetts Coalition for Suicide Prevention, co-chair of the MCSP Alliance for Equity, and co-author of the Widening the Lens Racial Equity toolkit. She graduated from Smith College with a degree in Women's Studies, and currently lives in Lowell, MA. Jen's soul care includes listening to Jagged Little Pill on repeat, watching her cats chase each other around her condo, writing and journaling, and carbs.
Jen Kelliher
Karen’s career is steeped in human service and program development, highlighted by work as a Licensed Mental Health Counselor, Board Certified Music Therapist, Program Director, and most recently as an advocate, public speaker, and mental health training facilitator. Her passion for change making and awareness building has been lifelong and significantly influenced by the suicide death of her teenage son, in 2018. Karen is a member of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention MA Chapter Board of Directors and co-chairs their Advocacy and Public Policy Committee. She is a certified trainer in Adult, Youth, and Teen Mental Health First Aid, QPR and AFSP programs, facilitating training and engagement across New England. She co-chairs the Pioneer Valley Regional Suicide Prevention Coalition and is an Advisory Board member of the Ludlow CARES Coalition. In Southern VT, Karen supports the mental health initiatives of the Nathan M. Carreira Endowment Fund for Mental Health and this past March she was a recipient of the 2024 Massachusetts Leadership in Suicide Prevention Award.
Karen Carreira, MA, LMHC
Jill Wallace is a retired Probation and Parole Officer and the President of Kodiak Reentry, Inc. in Kodiak, Alaska. She has a BS in criminal psychology and is currently a master’s student in forensic psychology. In 2014 Jill co-founded the Kodiak Area Mentor Program (KAMP), a faith-based nonprofit organization that serves the needs of people who have been impacted by the criminal legal system. She presented this model of filling in the gaps between parole/probation and meaningful community integration for reentrants and their families to the American Probation and Parole Association (APPA) conference in Boston in 2021. In 2019 she co-developed The Treatment Game, designed to teach empathy and understanding of the stages of change for individuals who struggle with addiction to controlled substances and alcohol, and presents the game to local and state agencies and conferences. Jill facilitates a weekly discussion group, KAMP Growth Group, that focuses on topics related to healthy boundaries, relationships, and personal growth and has co-facilitated an online CRAFT (Community Reinforcement and Family Training) based support group for families with loved ones in addiction. Her passion for working with people inspires her soul care journey for herself and those she serves.
Jill Wallace
Christina Lorenzo
I am glad you are here and congratulations on taking another step forward in your journey. Finding and maintaining wellness is an individualized process that is ongoing and ever changing. We all deserve a path towards wellness that fits our needs. As a person in recovery from substance use, a recovery coach, and a peer specialist, I use my lived experience to deepen connections with those I work with and help them find a path that works for their lives. I will soon be a recipient of a master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling and am so grateful for the opportunity to grow. I support all methods towards wellness, traditional and non traditional: peer support, therapy, nature, animals, yoga/exercise, social connection, personal development, spirituality and more. Come find what works for you!