Posts by Shannon Simmons

Kailay is the Veteran Housing Coordinator with the South Carolina Department of Veterans’ Affairs. She is a native of Sumter County and served more than eight years in the United States Air Force as an Information Management Specialist. She has earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Management and an MBA in Human Resource…

Dr. Mackenzie Soniak is the Infant and Early Childhood Capacity Building Director with SC Infant Mental Health Association (SCIMHA). She earned her doctorate in Clinical Psychology from Antioch University, New England. She completed her pre-doctoral internship in infant mental health at Tulane University School of Medicine and her postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Colorado…

Christi L. Jeffcoat has expertise that spans over 29 years in the SC Voucher Program, where she is the Control Center manager for the Early Care and Education Division at the South Carolina Department of Social Services. She is responsible for child care eligibility determination, special programs such as Homeless and Domestic Violence voucher initiatives,…

Amaris Gibson comes to SCIMHA after a decade of serving children and families in different capacities throughout the Upstate of South Carolina. Amaris has a contagious passion for educating families on mental health care and the impacts of intergenerational trauma on children and families. She wholeheartedly promotes community cohesiveness, trauma-informed education, and services to increase…

Dr. Leaf is a communication pathologist and cognitive neuroscientist specializing in cognitive and metacognitive neuropsychology. Since the early 1980s, she has researched the mind-brain connection, the nature of mental health, and memory formation. She was one of the first in her field to study how the brain can change (neuroplasticity) with directed mind input. During…

Anthony A. Dicks, Jr. is a leader’s leader! His passion for leadership development shows through his work with emerging leaders across various industries. He has spent over two decades preparing people with diverse responsibilities to reach their optimal leadership potential. He firmly believes that leaders are not developed by accident; they must be engineered. Here’s…

Misty Pearson is the Early Care and Education Consultant at the SC Department of Health and Environmental Control. Misty works with partners to integrate nutrition and physical activity policies and practices into South Carolina’s early care and education system. She holds a Master of Education in Early Childhood from the University of South Carolina and…

Mindy is a Claims Technical Expert and the Vulnerable Populations Expert for the state of South Carolina. Mindy has extensive knowledge of Social Security benefits and programs. She has worked in several field offices across the states, including Greenville, SC, Kansas City, MO and Rockville, MD, since she started in Anderson, SC, in 2008.