Our Team

We work alongside partners across Oregon to strengthen the behavioral health workforce, prevent suicide, and close critical gaps in care.

Staff

Oscar Alvarez

Training Coordinator

Oscar Alvarez

Training Coordinator

Oscar is based in Based in Marion County. He leads statewide efforts to expand access to high-quality mental health and suicide-prevention education, supporting ORBIT’s mission to strengthen equitable, community-centered systems of care across Oregon. Based in Oregon, he coordinates training programs that support instructor onboarding, certification requirements, and the delivery of evidence-based courses such as Mental Health First Aid in English and Spanish and Oregon CALM (Counseling in Access to Lethal Means).

Oscar’s career path is rooted in psychology, community education, and culturally responsive practice. He earned a degree in Psychology from Western Oregon University and previously served as a Nurturing Fathers Program coordinator, experiences that shaped his commitment to trauma-informed education and community engagement. As a bilingual English and Spanish instructor and curriculum developer, he delivers and adapts training for diverse communities, including rural communities and partners specializing in Spanish-speaking populations. Through collaboration with trainers, stakeholders, and community organizations, Oscar works to expand accessible mental health resources and strengthen Oregon’s statewide preventative network.

Amanda Ferrat

Contract Staff

Amanda Ferrat

Contract Staff

Amanda supports the Oregon Alliance to Prevent Suicide and works closely with Jenn Fraga to help guide the Alliance’s work through June 2026. In this role, she contributes to ORBIT’s mission by supporting statewide collaboration, advancing youth suicide prevention efforts, and helping steward the YSIPP initiatives housed within the Alliance. Amanda brings a strong community centered and prevention focused approach to this work, informed by years of coalition leadership and systems level engagement.

Based in Tillamook, Oregon, Amanda has an extensive background in mental health and social services. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Family Science from Montana State University and completed graduate-level coursework in social work at Portland State University, with a focus on school social work. She currently serves as the lead of the Tillamook County Suicide Prevention Coalition, is a QPR Gatekeeper Trainer, and operates a private practice as a healing practitioner. Amanda’s dedication to youth suicide prevention is shaped by both professional and lived experience, having grown up in a family impacted by suicide. She believes deeply in strengthening communities of care to increase protective factors so youth, families, and communities can thrive.

Jennifer Fraga 

Alliance to Prevent Suicide (APS) Program Lead

Jennifer Fraga

Alliance to Prevent Suicide (APS) Program Lead

Jennifer is the Oregon Alliance Program Lead with AOCMHP and staffs the Oregon Alliance to Prevent Suicide. Jenn started with The Alliance in January 2020 with the hope of being able to use her lived experience to influence positive and lasting change in suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention work. Her professional experience includes direct care at a transitional age youth group home, crisis response in an emergency department, and policy and program compliance management for Youth Villages Oregon, a statewide nonprofit organization. She helped implement Zero Suicide initiatives at Youth Villages, is a Board Member for the Oregon Chapter of the American foundation for suicide prevention, and active on the Suicide Prevention Coalition of Clackamas County. Jenn is an attempt survivor and wants to use her story to spread hope, help, and healing. Jenn lives in Yamhill County with her family.

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Tim Glascock

Community Suicide Prevention Training Program Lead

Tim Glascock 

Community Suicide Prevention Training Program Lead

Tim's trauma-informed, collaborative youth mental health experience sets a foundation while his Master's of Public Health guides him in a wide variety of community mental health promotion and suicide prevention efforts. While upstream mental health promotion is his passion, suicide prevention trainings have been his focus for the past ten years, five of which have been at AOCMHP/ORBIT. Previous roles also allowed Tim to hone skills in grant writing, federal-level grant administration, training development, and evaluation implementation.

As a Portland native and current resident, who's lived half his life in rural communities throughout the Willamette Valley and Oregon Coast, Tim brings a thoughtful and dynamic approach to his role as Community Suicide Prevention Training Lead. Tim greatly values actively building relationships throughout the state to better understand the varying needs and opportunities for partnership. Presently, his focus includes statewide ASIST implementation (including community-specific ASIST workshop coordination for Veterans and Latine communities) along with coordination of a rural older adult social connection mini-grant project. Tim is active in the Oregon Alliance to Prevent Suicide, including the equity subcommittee and white accountability learning collaborative.

Maria Gdontakis-Pos

Director of Operations & Training

Maria Gdontakis-Pos

Director of Operations & Training

Maria serves as the Director of Operations and Training at ORBIT, where she guides statewide efforts to strengthen Oregon’s workforce. Her career has been shaped by a deep commitment to building opportunities that support people in their most vulnerable moments. For more than a decade, she led Oregon’s Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) and Advanced Clinician Skills Trainings, helping expand access to practical, compassionate education for professionals and community members across the state. She also supervises and supports a range of suicide prevention and intervention trainings and other evidence‑informed practices.

Maria played a pivotal role in creating Oregon’s first formal Mobile Crisis Foundational Training, an initiative designed to meet OAR requirements and give crisis teams the structure, skills, and confidence needed to respond effectively in their communities. Her work helped establish a consistent, statewide training pathway that continues to shape how Oregon prepares its crisis workforce. With master’s degrees in Counseling and Education, Maria brings both clinical expertise and a strong foundation in adult learning. She has worked in mental health for many years, including more than five years as a therapist, and has extensive experience in crisis intervention and suicide prevention. Her approach blends practical wisdom, empathy, and a belief in the resilience of individuals and communities. Maria is passionate about promoting mental health awareness, fostering healing and recovery, and supporting those navigating mental health challenges.

Sierra Henderson

Operations Specialist

Sierra Henderson 

Operations Specialist

Sierra holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication and has built her career in environments centered on supporting people and communities, including mental health and human services settings. She serves as ORBIT’s Operations Specialist, focusing on the behind-the-scenes coordination that allows ORBIT’s programs, partnerships, and initiatives to move forward effectively. By supporting daily operations and strengthening internal systems, she helps maintain the structure needed for collaborative work across behavioral health, suicide prevention, and our community-centered work.

Sierra previously lived in Salem and now supports ORBIT’s work remotely from Oklahoma, maintaining a strong connection to Oregon through her role. She travels back to Oregon each year in support of ORBIT’s annual training summit and values the opportunity to continue working alongside Oregon’s behavioral health community. This ongoing connection to the state and its people remains an important and meaningful part of her work with ORBIT.

Cherryl Ramirez

Executive Director

Cherryl Ramirez

Executive Director

Cherryl has served as Executive Director of the Association of Oregon Community Mental Health Programs (AOCMHP) for fourteen years. In this role, Ms. Ramirez advocates for policy and resources to support and improve community behavioral health and developmental disabilities systems, in collaboration with behavioral health associations, human service advocacy organizations, and other system partners.

Cherryl Ramirez is also the Executive Director of Oregon Behavioral Health Innovation and Training (ORBIT). In this role, she leads the organization in implementing its mission to support the public behavioral health workforce through training programs and learning communities.

Other roles are member of the National Association of County Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities Directors (NACBHDD) Board and member of Oregon’s Universal Health Plan Governance Board. Prior to her work in Oregon, Cherryl served as Executive Director of the Association of Community Mental Health Authorities of Illinois for eight years.

Ms. Ramirez lives in Salem, Oregon.

Ariel Singer, MPH

Strategic Projects Consultant

Ariel Singer, MPH

Strategic Projects Consultant

Ariel has been leading strategic projects as an AOCMHP and ORBIT partner since 2017, ranging in focus from value-based care and person-centered intake to organizational development and strategic planning. Ariel is the founder and principal consultant for Waterwheel Health Consulting, and brings extensive experience as a community health transformation strategist and program leader. Ariel earned a Master of Public Health with an emphasis on health promotion at the OHSU-PSU School of Public Health. She has been a member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers since 2013 and has partnered with hundreds of individuals and organizations around the country to co-create shared goals and action plans for health improvement.

Heather Stewart 

Training Coordinator

Heather Stewart

Training Coordinator

Heather is based in Salem, Oregon, where she supports statewide efforts to strengthen suicide prevention and mental health awareness through evidence-based training. She holds a Master of Public Health in Health Promotion and Health Behavior from Oregon State University.

During her time at OSU, Heather served as a Graduate Program Assistant, delivering Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR) and both Adult and Youth Mental Health First Aid trainings across Linn, Benton, and Lincoln Counties. In this role, she collaborated closely with community partners and organizations to increase confidence, knowledge, and capacity to recognize and respond to mental health concerns and suicide risk.

In her current position, Heather continues to support Mental Health First Aid initiatives across Oregon, along with advanced suicide prevention skills trainings and Connect Postvention. Her work is grounded in a strong commitment to community-based prevention, practical skill-building, and reducing stigma around mental health and suicide. Heather is passionate about supporting organizations and individuals in creating safer, more supportive environments where people feel empowered to help one another. Her professional interests include youth mental health, suicide prevention, and the evaluation of training programs to inform continuous improvement and meaningful impact.

Nicole Vega

Administrative Specialist

Nicole Vega 

Administrative Specialist

Nicole serves as an Administrative Specialist with ORBIT, supporting the organization’s mission by ensuring day-to-day operations and logistics run smoothly. In this role, she manages administrative tasks such as coordinating calendar invites, supporting meetings, and documenting clear and accurate meeting minutes.

Based in Keizer, Oregon, Nicole brings a background in healthcare and human services. Prior to joining ORBIT, she worked extensively with the geriatric population across a range of healthcare settings. This experience deepened their understanding of person-centered care, collaboration, and the importance of strong systems of support.

Nicole earned a bachelor’s degree in Human Development and Family Science from Oregon State University, which provided a strong foundation in understanding individuals, families, and systems across the lifespan. Nicole approaches her work with care, attention to detail, and a commitment to supporting teams that are making meaningful change across Oregon.

Board of Directors

Al Barton

Hood River, Sherman & Wasco Counties 

Mid-Columbia Center for Living
Executive Director

Caroline Suiter

Deschutes County

Deschutes County Health Services Mental Health Promotion Strategist

Janie Gullickson

Multnomah & Washington County 

The Peer Company Executive Director

Craig Leets

 Multnomah County 

Line For Life Director of YouthLine Oregon

Galli Murray 

Clackamas County 

Clackamas County Health, Housing & Human Services Suicide Prevention Coordinator

Jacob Dilla 

Lane County 

PacificSource Behavioral Health Program Manager

Todd Noble 

Linn County 

Linn County Mental Health Services Health Administrator

Seth Bernstein

 Benton County

Retired

Melinda Avila

 Marion County

OYEN Emotional Wellness Center Chief Executive Officer

Abbie McClung

 Klamath County

Klamath Basin Behavioral Health Chief Public Relations Officer

James Dixon

Multnomah County 

Multnomah County Health Department Black Youth Suicide Prevention Coordinator