Meet Our Team

Dierdre is the Director of Women’s Substance Use Disorder & Co-Occurring Services at the Richmond Behavioral Health Authority, Richmond, Virginia. She has worked in the field of social work for more than 20 years, and in the area of women‐specific treatment services for over 17 years. Additionally, Ms. Pearson has an extensive background working with persons diagnosed with mental health and other co‐occurring disorders. As a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with a Certification in Substance Abuse Counseling, she has provided local, state, and national trainings in the areas of gender‐specific treatment. Under her leadership, the Women’s Substance Use Disorder Unit has expanded its reach and has introduced trauma-informed treatment to the entire continuum of services.

Ms. Pearson is an active member of the Board of Healthy Families Richmond, and holds memberships in the local chapter of the Substance Abuse and Addiction Recovery Alliance, the National Association for Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselors=, and the National Association of Social Workers. She also serves as an active member of the local United Way’s Action Council.

Sandy has over 27 years of experience as an outpatient therapist at the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Community Services Board treating people with mental health, substance use and co-occurring disorders. She has had extensive training in the therapeutic use of motivational interviewing since 1998 and has been a member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers since 2004. Sandy conducts training workshops in motivational interviewing, SBIRT, and other evidence-based approaches for clinicians and staff working in home-based services, health care, social services, corrections, residential programs, educational settings, and mental health and substance use treatment settings. She has co-authored a chapter entitled “Motivational interviewing groups for mandated substance abuse clients” in the 2013 book Motivational Interviewing in Groups by Christopher Wagner, Ph.D. and Karen Ingersoll, Ph.D.

Tracey Wingold is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with over 20 years of experience in the field of social work practice. She has a B.A. from James Madison University, and a M.S.W. from Virginia Commonwealth University. Her experience in a variety of settings, including schools, health care and nonprofits, has given her a breadth of knowledge in addressing maternal/child health and behavioral health issues. She is currently the owner of Tracey Wingold, LCSW, LLC, a mental health counseling practice that uses video technology to deliver services to clients (primarily mothers) throughout Virginia. In addition, Tracey is an experienced trainer on topics related to Maternal Mental Health and Behavioral Health Screening and Referral, primarily training home visitors, social workers, and health care providers.

She resides in Richmond with her family, including two teens and a tween, and they always keep her on her toes!

Denise serves as the Clinical Coordinator for the Department of Rehabilitation Counseling. She has her license as a professional counselor in Virginia, is a nationally certified counselor, a certified rehabilitation counselor and a member of Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers. Hall graduated from VCU with her MS in Rehabilitation Counseling in 1992.

Prior to joining the department in 2015 as the Clinical Coordinator, she served as an adjunct since 2011. Through her career, Hall has worked along the continuum of care in both public and private mental health and substance abuse systems as a clinician and clinical supervisor. Hall has experience in developing skill sets of MS level students as well as providers in the field. Hall has 16 years of experience in the development and provision of continuing education for service providers, supervisors and administration.

Dawn has a BS and MS in Developmental Psychology from Old Dominion University. She has conducted and/participated in several research projects including being published in a scientific journal. She is endorsed as an IMH-E (II)-Infant Family Specialist (Infant Mental Health Endorsement II) and a nationally certified board licensed massage therapist.

Dawn has over two decades of home visiting experience through her various roles in early intervention. She is currently the supervisor of the Infant and Toddler Mental Health statewide program and has been a trainer for over two decades.

Ebony is a licensed professional counselor (LPC), a licensed substance abuse treatment practitioner (LSATP) and a Lived Experience Expert (LEE). In her career she has served several capacities including, a Special Education teacher, Domestic Violence Advocate and Counselor, Mental Health and Substance Abuse Counselor, Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor and Lived Experience Expert (LEx Leader).

Ebony is the mother of five amazing children. Her happiest times include spending time with family, having great conversations, learning about new topics, and shopping for great socks.

Juliana Weaver, Family Support Supervisor, has served as an FSS for the Charlottesville/Albemarle Child Health Partnership site since 2013. In this capacity Juliana provides individual and group reflective supervision to the Family Support Specialists. Juliana is endorsed as an Infant Family Specialist. She holds a Masters of Arts in General Experimental Psychology and is working on her Masters in Mental Health Counseling. Juliana is fluent in Spanish, English and Portuguese. She served as a trainer for Early Impact Virginia for more than 4 years, providing training to home visitors around trauma informed care and reflective practice. Juliana participated in the first reflective supervision learning community in 2014. She is a passionate advocate for reflective supervision and the impact it has on home visitors and the families we serve.

Outside of work, Juliana can be found spending her time with her two daughters and walking her Labradoodle, Bernie.

Christine Camper, PAT National Trainer has served as the PAT Training and Technical Assistance Specialist with the Virginia PAT State Office, under the Families Forward umbrella since 2012. She works closely with Virginia PAT Affiliate Programs to assist with model fidelity, develops supervisor/parent educator workshops to enhance the quality of PAT services, and coordinates all of the PAT trainings in Virginia. Her home visiting experience includes 9 years delivering PAT home visits in a CHIP program and 5 years supporting breastfeeding mothers as a La Leche League Leader. Her supervisory experience includes 3 years supervising a 3–5-person program within the CHIP program. Her training experience includes 13 years as a PAT National Trainer and 5 years as a childbirth educator. Christine participated with the second cohort of EIV’s Reflective Supervision 2.0 learning community.

Ashley is the Coordinator of Families First, an early childhood home visiting program that utilizes the Healthy Families and Parent as Teachers program models in Chesterfield County and the City of Colonial Heights. Prior to beginning her work in early childhood home visiting in 2019, Ashley facilitated individual and group clinical and subclinical work for about fifteen years. Ashley is passionate about the field of prevention and strongly believes that a healthy community starts with healthy children and families.

Ashley received her Bachelors in Sociology with a concentration in Family Studies and Master’s in Counseling from Longwood University. In 2022 Ashley obtained Infant Mental Health Endorsement as an Infant Family Specialist.

One of Ashley’s favorite things to do is enjoy the outdoors with her husband and two children, a son aged 9 and daughter aged 7. Some of her favorite outdoor activities include swimming, fishing, hiking, and playing with her five rescue dogs.

After years of working with children and families in many capacities, Shannon found the world of home visiting which felt like a perfect fit! For the past five years, she has served as the Program Supervisor for the Charlottesville/Albemarle (and now Nelson!) Healthy Families program at ReadyKids. For the first four years, Shannon also served as the Famil & I Resource Specialist, the initial point of contact for families interested in the program.

Shannon wrapped up the Reflective Supervision 2.0 cohort in 2021 and is excited to continue on this journey as a lead supervisor. She is a big believer in the parallel process, and she looks forward to partnering with other home visiting professionals to further develop reflective skills and provide the best services possible to families all across the state.

Outside of work, Shannon enjoys time spent with friends and family doing things such as traveling, playing games, and sitting around a campfire. She lives in Charlottesville with her husband, two teenaged sons, and three rescue dogs.

Iman Omer-Bahar is a Registered Nurse with over 18 years of experience, primarily in public health. Graduating from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, she earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree as well as her Master’s degree with a focus on Public Health Nursing Leadership and a minor in Education. As a Public Health Nurse (PHN) Manager in the Maternal Child Health Program at Fairfax County Health Department, she is responsible for the daily operations of the MCH Field Home Visiting Program and staff across four District Offices within the County. Iman also served as a supervisor of PHN Home Visitors in the Healthy Families Fairfax Program for several years in this role.

Having joined Early Impact Virginia’s second Reflective Supervision (RS) 2.0 cohort as a participant and then as a Lead Supervisor in the following cohort, Iman brings a unique perspective to this learning community. In this Lead role, she supported other Maternal Child Health home visiting program Supervisors throughout the state, helping to develop and enhance skills in reflective practice, with a focus on infant mental health. Iman believes that one of the characteristics most needed for success in the home visiting field is keeping the baby at the center of the work and programmatic initiatives. Keeping the baby’s well-being and safety at the forefront of every action, thinking “How will this impact the baby?”, will provide direction, motivation, and empowerment for meeting set goals.

Iman is excited to join you along this journey in reflective practice!

Brooke Garcia is the Program Coordinator for Healthy Families of the Blue Ridge. Brooke has experience in clinical social work in the medical setting as a Case Manager, and worked with Healthy Families as a Program Supervisor, Family Resource Specialist and Family Support Specialist. Brooke also facilitates workshops for Early Impact Virginia's Reflective Supervision learning community. 

Brooke is passionate about supporting staff through the reflective process and supporting families to have what they need to assist their child's growth and development. She believes that a strong parent-child relationship begins at infancy and is key to healthy development in young children. 

Brooke enjoys the diversity of living in Harrisonburg. She and her husband have 4 children and a grandson. She enjoys football games, thrifting, traveling, and is actively involved at her church. 

Brooke is looking forward to joining efforts to build capacity for Reflective Supervision in Virginia. Item description

Janet has over 30 years of education and experience working with individuals and families with substance use disorders, mental health and co-occurring disorders as a therapist, supervisor and program manager. Extensive training in Motivational Interviewing, Eye movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR) and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT). She is a former member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers. At Chesterfield CSB developed and implemented the DBT treatment program, enhanced and expanded the Women’s Substance Abuse Treatment services, developed trauma informed services with the agency and her team. She developed implemented the Office-Based Opioid Treatment program, grew the peer recovery services, managed jail based services and diversion programs at Chesterfield and expanded services to reduce obstacles to participating in treatment, i.e. transportation, housing assistance and case management. Designed and provided trainings in Motivational Interviewing, trauma, DBT and gender-specific treatment.