A native of Tennessee, Melissa has been a strong and effective parent leader at the local, state, and national levels and a dedicated staff person in the Family Support and Strengthening field.  Her experience includes over 10 years as a Parent Leadership Coordinator, as well as working in child abuse prevention services, mental health direct services, and Juvenile Justice Reform. For the past three years she has co-trained the National Family Support Network’s Developing & Sustaining Effective Parent Advisory Committees Training, coaching various family support and strengthening programs on the importance of parent leadership development. 
 
She earned her B.S. in Liberal Arts And Sciences/Liberal Studies, Psychology, and Sociology from Middle Tennessee State University, and is currently pursuing a M.S. in Psychology.
 
In 2023, she moved to Wichita and began working at the Kansas Children’s Service League as a Parent Leadership and Engagement Supervisor. She has two adult daughters.

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