Meet the board
It's great to meet you!
If you have a question about what we're up to, please email us anytime.
If you're interested in joining us, we would love to hear from you.
Kim Hawley
President
(she/her) | kim@wholeparentfoundation.org
Kim is dedicated to serving parents, plus their support systems, in Missouri and beyond. With a personal background in trauma, perinatal mood & anxiety disorders and loss, she serves as the Postpartum Support International (PSI) State Lead Coordinator for Missouri and vice chair of the PSI-MO board. Kim is currently pursuing her Master of Social Work at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, where she is focusing her research on perinatal mental health. She has certifications from the Pregnancy & Postpartum Resource Center (PPRC) and PSI in support group facilitation, Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders (PMADs) and perinatal mental health care. Kim has spoken about parental mental health for organizations including Parents as Teachers, Mental Health KC, St. Luke's Health System and the Missouri Hospital Association.
Emilia Mense Caby
Vice-president
(she/her) | emilia @wholeparentfoundation.org
Emilia Mense Caby is a community activist, advocate and educator in mindfulness, trauma, resilience and violence prevention. As a leader in the violence prevention movement in the Kansas City metro, she has worked with thousands of community members, both young and old, on preventing and healing from violence and building resilient communities. When she isn’t working with communities to heal trauma and build resilience she’s reading, eating and cuddling her babies.
Geornesha Clayton
Parent Liaison
(she/her) | geornesha@wholeparentfoundation.org
Geornesha is a social worker in the greater Kansas City area who has a passion for trauma-centered practices, meeting clients where they are, and helping others. With a background in child behavioral therapy, she has worked with underserved youth for positions with the St. Joseph Youth Alliance, Jackson County Children’s Division, the YMCA of Greater Kansas City Head Start, Early Head Start, and Raytown C-2 School District.
Taylor Ulrey
Community Outreach Coordinator
(she/her) | taylor@wholeparentfoundation.org
Taylor Ulrey, LCMFT, LMFT, MHP, PMH-C, LCMFT-S is a fully licensed marriage and family therapist who specializes in treating the transition to parenthood, such as postpartum depression and anxiety, pregnancy and infant loss, birth trauma, and more. A loss mom of two and mother of one baby girl earthside, she is passionate about increasing quality and affordable access to mental health care to all parents of Kansas City. She volunteers by fostering bulldogs through the Kansas City English Bulldog Rescue. In her free time, she loves being in nature with her dog and her family.
Toph Cooper
Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Accessibility (I.D.E.A.) Coordinator
(they = he) | toph@wholeparentfoundation.org
Toph Cooper earned an MA in Sociology in 2019 with a focus on mental health and the creative mind. Discontent with academia, they chose to support individuals and families in domestic violence shelters, behavioral health systems, foster care, and through other forms of direct and programmatic service. From perinatal work to hospice, they have served others at every stage of human development. They are a certified perinatal doula, childbirth educator, and contraceptive counselor. Through Uzazi Village, Toph became Kansas City’s first Brother Doula: a guide to new, expectant, and evolving partners of birthing persons. As a trained craniosacral body worker, they offer somatic support to new parents and their infants. Toph is a proud parent of four, with over 20+ years of parenting experience. They are an inclusive provider with diverse expertise in childbirth, intimate relationships, parenting, and most importantly, self-care. In their free time, they are a singer/songwriter, portrait artist, and lover of nature.
Maggie Chandler
Grants Coordinator
(she/her) | maggie@wholeparentfoundation.org
Maggie Chandler is a certified prevention specialist and public health professional that has focused her career on working with nonprofits. She is very passionate about addressing the gaps within the mental health care system in Kansas City and the surrounding areas. She has previously worked as a youth suicide prevention specialist where she has collaborated with school districts, businesses, and community coalitions within the greater Kansas City area who were all working towards increasing resilience and access to mental health support. She has experience with nonprofit work, public health policy development, and grant writing. Maggie is the parent to two small babies and her greatest goal is to create a community in which all parents and children can thrive.
Sus Jones
Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Accessibility (I.D.E.A.) Coordinator
(they/them) | sus@wholeparentfoundation.org
Sus is a queer and trans midwife. They offer preconception counseling and fertility services, full spectrum perinatal care and homebirth services. The foundation of the care they provide is embodiment, loving and building trust with one’s body and learning and listening to the messages it provides. The path to parenting can be challenging and transformational for everyone, but they acknowledge the specific barriers and challenges that are unique to queer, trans and gender nonconforming folks and especially when other intersectionalities are present. Outside of their midwifery practice they focus a lot of time on building and nourishing the many relationships in their life, with their family, partners, friends, nature and most importantly with themself.
Lindsey Phelps
Treasurer
(she/her) | lindsey@wholeparentfoundation.org
Lindsey Phelps, MPH, is a data analyst who is passionate about health economics, especially in the parental and child health space. Her experience as a public health professional and as a mother makes her particularly invested in closing gaps in care and access for parents. She is the parent of two young babies and likes to bake, read, and travel in her free time.
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Lisa Soleymani-Alizadeh
Education Coordinator
(she/her) | lisa@wholeparentfoundation.org
Lisa Soleymani-Alizadeh, LPC-S, LCPC, PMH-C, is a fully licensed professional counselor who specializes in perinatal mental health from a trauma-informed lens, including supporting parents following traumatic experiences related to pregnancies, birth, medical interventions, NICU and postpartum recovery. A loss mom of one and two younger children earthside, she experienced various forms of trauma throughout her perinatal journey and is passionate about supporting others in their own journey healing from trauma through connection, relationships, somatic-based methods, and feeling emotionally and physically safe in our bodies. Lisa has her own private practice, which offers outpatient trauma-informed counseling and equine-assisted psychotherapy utilizing the healing powers of animals and nature.