Mental Health Champions: Meet Sheandinita Dyson

Mika Rhabb

Mika serves as a Senior Embryologist at Shady Grove Fertility Center, boasting over a decade of clinical expertise focused on enhancing patient outcomes and supporting individuals on their journey to parenthood. Her comprehensive knowledge extends to optimizing workflows, implementing process improvements, and providing centralized patient care. Mika earned her degree in Communication with a concentration in Pre-Medical Studies from Villanova University. Currently, she is dedicated to furthering her skills and leadership acumen through pursuit of an Executive MBA at Georgetown University.

Outside of her professional endeavors, Mika finds joy in spending quality time with family, going on runs and gym workouts, and expressing her artistic side through singing and painting.

Donna Calderone

Donna Calderone is a financial consultant working for Beckway. She specializes in financial organization transformation and procurement best practices. She has worked in public and private finance with time spent working for the government as well as in government consulting with Accenture Federal Services. She enjoys the intersection between data and strategy and is passionate about public economics.

Donna graduated with her Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration and Finance from Drexel University and her Master’s Degree in Public Policy from American University.

Outside of her professional pursuits, Donna teaches yoga, enjoys cooking, reading, and spending time with friends at new restaurants.

Yajie Li, MD, MS
CareFirst, Chief Care Delivery Officer

Yajie Li, MD, MS, is a leader trained in preventive medicine and health policy with over 15 years experience in payer and provider systems. Currently, as Chief Care Delivery Officer for Medicaid and Medicare programs at CareFirst, she’s deeply involved in value-based care, social health drivers, care transformation and provider partnership. Driven by personal experience, Yajie is passionate about self-care and providing social and behavioral support to others. Yajie connects with McClendon Center due to its emphasis on art therapy and its compassionate approach to patient engagement. Yajie takes pride in her heritage as an immigrant, coming to further her study at Carnegie Mellon University in her 20s after graduating from West China School of Medicine, a tertiary teaching hospital with 4000+ beds. She has lived in the DC area for over 13 years, and outside of healthcare, she is a proud mom and an avid Latin dancer/instructor.

Denesia D. Rodgers
Guidehouse
Manager, Public Health Sector

Denesia is a passionate healthcare project management consultant with over ten years of supporting federal and state-level clients and over thirteen years managing projects within the healthcare space. A graduate of Johns Hopkins University and Tufts University School of Medicine, she brings experience in program and project management, operations, client management, change management, process improvement, and public health research. Her keen interest in improving the delivery of health care and eagerness to acquire more tools to effectively administer change in the health care system draws her to continually find ways to push the needle in health care forward.

Outside of work, Denesia is a children’s book author and certified yoga and pilates teacher, spreading the practice and love of yoga and pilates to various communities.

Neil Hamilton

Neil started his career at PwC in the Assurance Practice, where his primary focus was on audits of publicly traded companies. In 2015, he left PwC to join Lasership, Inc as its Corporate Controller. After helping guide Lasership through a Private Equity recapitalization, Neil joined CIBT, Inc in 2018 as its Global Corporate Controller. With over fifteen years of experience in finance and accounting, he founded his own CFO and Controller Advisory Services firm, NH Consulting, Inc.

Neil received his BS in Business Administration and Accounting from Christopher Newport University and his Masters in Accounting from the College of William and Mary. He is a Certified Public Accountant and Certified Fraud Examiner. In addition, he is currently enrolled at the University of Maryland obtaining a Masters in Medical Cannabis Science and Therapeutics.

Amy McKee
Physician Assistant, Vienna Family Medicine

Amy has been working in family practice as a physician assistant for 13 years in the Northern Virginia area. She has a particular interest in providing mental health care. Prior to that she worked at the U.S. Department of State on human rights and democratization issues.

Amy is a 26-year member of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, where the McClendon Center started. She hopes to work with the church to support social outreach in Washington, DC.,. especially in the mental health field. She sees the McClendon Center as a key part of that outreach.

Beth Nevins

Beth is an accomplished quality improvement and compliance professional with over 10 years of experience in practice administration. She joins the McClendon Center directly from the Chevy Chase, Maryland-based Washington Behavioral Medicine Associates, where she was responsible for overseeing administrative processes that helped ensure high-quality client experiences.

Prior to WBMA, Beth served as the operations manager for a federally-qualified health center that served the homeless in Southern California. There, her contributions led to the organization being awarded federal funding to address primary care and behavioral medicine integration.

Beth holds a master’s degree in public administration from California Baptist University and her bachelor’s from Cal State Fullerton.

Melanie Stargell

Melanie Stargell is a Licensed Therapist and the Founder of Anchored Counseling & Consulting, a mental health practice that specializes in and focuses on utilizing expressive arts to explore and process thoughts and feelings, reduce anxiety, and increase self-confidence. She also has interests in the intersections between psychology and the criminal justice system and has several years of experience working with justice-involved populations through the Prince George’s County Department of Corrections and the Prince George’s County Mental Health and Adult Drug Courts.

Melanie is a proud graduate of two Historically Black Colleges and Universities, obtaining a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from Texas Southern University and a Masters Degree in Mental Health Counseling from Bowie State University. Melanie also has a Masters Degree in Forensic and Legal Psychology from Marymount University.

Outside of her professional pursuits, Melanie enjoys yoga, cooking, and spending time with family and friends.

Porter is an experienced finance professional and founder of The Daughtry Group in Washington, D.C. With over five years of experience in the industry, he specializes in private equity and has a proven track record of success in building best-in-class organizations and unlocking value for clients. Prior to starting The Daughtry Group, he worked with CrossCountry Consulting and BDO USA, LLP.

In addition to his professional pursuits, Porter is a dedicated volunteer and leader in his community. He has held leadership roles in various organizations such as the Robert Alexander Mercer Veteran Foundation, Volo Kids Foundation, Junior Achievement of America, and Tunnel 2 Towers Young Professionals Network. He holds a BBA in Finance and Accounting from Georgia State University, and in his free time, enjoys traveling, golfing, snowboarding, cooking, and following college football.

Stephen Lucas serves in the Biden-Harris Administration as Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary in HUD’s Office of Public and Indian Housing. He brings a decade of multi-sector experience in both housing and health policy to HUD. In this role, he helps oversee PIH’s expansive portfolio including public housing, the Housing Choice Voucher program, HUD’s many Native American housing programs, and COVID-related initiatives such as the Emergency Housing Voucher program.

Prior to joining HUD, Steve served as Senior Manager of Housing and Health Research and Policy at the Council of Large Public Housing Authorities. Steve also worked in health policy at The Lewin Group, and he co-founded EquityEats (now inKind), a startup helping first-time entrepreneurs access capital.

Birhanie Geleto

Birhanie is an experienced finance and accounting professional with 15-plus years of experience, most recently at one of the nation’s leading public affairs firms. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from the University of the District of Columbia.

Sheandinita Dyson

Sheandinita Dyson is a highly-engaged, respected, and effective people leader who understands the McClendon Center, its mission, its people and operations inside and out.

Dyson, who has ascended the leadership ranks since joining the Center over a decade ago, has extensive compliance and management experience across the behavioral healthcare industry. She originally joined the McClendon Center in February 2008, beginning her tenure as a Community Support Specialist, before quickly assuming a supervisory role as Team Leader.

Prior to her previous and most recent role as Senior Director and Chief of Staff, her management portfolio included compliance and training, as well as a six-month period serving as the Center’s Interim Executive Director from January-July 2021.

Dyson is a proud alumna of Howard University. She resides in Clinton, Maryland with her three daughters.

Michael Burt

Michael Burt serves as Senior Director and Chief of Staff at McClendon Center.

In this role, Michael is responsible for strengthening existing services, leading key strategic initiatives, and supporting the CEO the development and day-to-day management of organizational operations.

Michael joined the Center as a Team Leader in March 2009, before assuming a dual role with additional responsibilities as its Director of Quality Improvement in April 2014. Among the many highlights of his tenure, Michael has played an instrumental role in leading McClendon Center through its Joint Commission accreditation processes in 2017 and 2021. Michael was promoted to his current role in 2022.

Michael earned a Master’s degree in Counseling from Bowie State University and earned his Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Frostburg State University. .

Alex Korobkin

Alex Korobkin is a Senior Associate with JLL in Washington, DC, where he specializes in tenant representation. Alex works with his clients to develop strategies that are designed to align their real estate facilities and operational strategies with their overall business objectives. His clients range from small non-profits to large corporations. Alex joined the McClendon Center’s Board of Directors in 2022 to honor his passion for mental health and the community. In his spare time, he does standup comedy, roots for the DC sports teams and can be found trying out the newest local restaurants. He resides in Bethesda, MD with his wife, Mel, and his dog, Louie. Alex has a BA in Corporate Communication from College of Charleston.

Jahmal Lake

Jahmal Lake is a Senior IT Program Manager with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, a bureau of the U.S. Treasury Department in Washington, D.C. and the Executive Director of a MD-based 501c3, Our Kids Read.

Jahmal has over 20 years of experience in financial management at the enterprise, program, and project level. As an IT program manager, he has managed projects and programs all over the world (US, UK, India, Brazil) ranging from managing global payment systems to the implementation of project and portfolio management software to the support of US goverment eDiscovery programs.

Our Kids Read, the non-profit he manages, donates diverse books to U.S. public schools. Lake’s vision is to enrich, empower, and engage young minds through the joy of reading diverse books (books featuring positive Black, Hispanic, and Native American main characters). As a Board Member of the McClendon Center, Lake welcomes the opportunity to get to know and support the mental health needs of under-served communities in the Washington, D.C. area.

Dr. Samuel Allen

Dr. Allen is a proven clinician who brings significant experience advocating for vulnerable and at-risk populations in Washington, DC, Egypt, and his native England.

He joined McClendon Center after completing his psychiatry residency at Georgetown University Hospital, where he served as Chief Resident. He attended the University of Sussex for his undergraduate studies and received his medical degree from St. George’s, University of London.

As Medical Director, Dr. Allen is responsible for the psychiatric health and wellness of McClendon Center’s clients, the Center’s assessment and prescribing processes, and is the ultimate clinical decision maker for the agency. He also provides direct services for the Center’s clients, supervises all psychiatry staff members, and is the agency’s administrative representative for psychiatry.

Dr. Allen is dedicated to providing high-quality mental health treatment to the communities he serves, with an understanding of the role trauma often plays in people’s experiences. He understands that recovery starts with the whole person and is best achieved when done in partnership, meeting the individual’s goals.

Sophie Stern

Sally He

Sally He is currently a practicing adult psychiatrist at Kaiser Permanente. She is passionate about addressing health disparities and improving mental health access. She has background in addictions psychiatry, as well as working with special populations such as minorities and LGBTQ+ community.

She completed her medical school at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in NY, and Master of Public Health from Yale School of Public Health. During her psychiatry residency training program at George Washington hospital, she had the opportunity to provide services and work with the wonderful team and patients at McClendon Center, and is thrilled she can continue to contribute to the organization.

Kim Y. Jones

Ms. Kim Y. Jones is a non-profit Executive who has worked extensively in the area of policy, particularly, delinquency, special education, health access, and children’s mental health. Ms. Jones interests are in ensuring the continuity of care for, youth, and families. She has provided legal representation and technical assistance to community based programs nationally and in the District of Columbia.

Ms. Jones served for 10 years as a member of the Moriah Fund board working with fellow members and the staff on the technical issues related to education, charter school expansion, and their impact on low-income communities of color. In this capacity, she was engaged in the Fund’s efforts to engage and support communities of color in the reproductive health advocacy, sustainable program development, income inequality, and human rights.

Ms. Jones is a sought after trainer in the area of special education, delinquency, juvenile justice and civil rights, as it relates to disability and education. Her most recent training and presentations include, National Council on Disability, Fall 2016, “Impact of Charter School System on Low-Income Children and Communities of Color; The Campaign for High School Equity, “The Impact of School Reform on Communities of Color”; National Conference for the Alliance of Parent Centers, “Juvenile Justice and School Discipline: Why Parent Centers Need to Care”.

Ms. Jones has been recognized for her work as an Advocate and Effective Non-Profit Executive having received the 2010 Meyer Foundation Award for Excellence in Non-Profit Management and the 2006 Advocate for Justice Award from the David A. Clark School of Law.

Specialties: Education, Health, Delinquency, Probate, and Family law; Community organizing/ engagement; Policy Development and Implementation; Non-Profit Management.

Amanda Walker

Amanda has been with The McClendon Center for over 6 years starting out as a Community Support Specialist. Within the first 8 months working with McClendon she was promoted to the new pilot program as a Patient Discharge Coordinator. An innovative program designed to assist and develop plans with DCs MCO’s and there members who are admitted to a psychiatric inpatient unit, to experience a comprehensive approach with transiting back into the community. In 2018, she took on the role as Team Leader with PDC; assisting with managing and organizing the teams daily schedule and needs. As of April 2021 she was promoted to Director of Hospital Transition and Reintegration Services; where she is now managing 2 teams within the company. Her growth and development within McClendon Center has been supported from day one from the managers and directors. Amanda has a Bachelor in Rehabilitative Studies from Winston-Salem State University, and a Masters in Science from Howard University.

Elizabeth Sternberg

Elizabeth was born and raised in the District and is grateful that she can help McClendon with its mission to serve District residents. She worked as a city planner developing affordable housing for over 25 years with a break to live her dream to go to cooking school and cook professionally. She now works with Defend Yourself and Safe Bars Inc., two programs that empower people with skills to prevent and stand up to harassment and race and gender-based violence.

Amanda Holloway

Amanda Holloway graduated from Drew University in 2007 with a degree in Neurosciences and German and then attended Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. She completed her residency in psychiatry at George Washington University in 2015. During her residency, she was fortunate to complete rotations at McClendon Center both at the CSA and the Day Program from 2013-2015. She has been working as a psychiatrist at the Washington DC VA Medical Center since 2015 providing patient care in an integrated primary care clinic. In addition to clinical work, she teaches students and residents and has faculty appointments at several local universities. She is honored to serve on the board of such a wonderful agency with such dedicated staff.

Sarah Barclay Hoffman

Sarah Barclay Hoffman is a Program Manager with the Community Mental Health CORE team at Children’s National Hospital, where she leads mental health policy and community engagement efforts. Ms. Hoffman also serves as Director of Policy for the Early Childhood Innovation Network. She has expertise in policy and system approaches in perinatal and infant and early childhood mental health, integration of mental health in pediatric primary care, and community-based mental health care. In her role, she also works with citywide, cross-sector partners to advance child- and family-serving policies and systems. Ms. Hoffman has nearly 20 years of experience in policy and advocacy focused on children’s issues, including as an advisor on education policy and strategy to national philanthropic organizations, nonprofits, and state education agencies at EducationCounsel LLC, and as a government relations specialist at the Children’s Defense Fund. Perhaps most importantly, she has lived experience as a caregiver of a loved one who has a severe mental illness diagnosis. Ms. Hoffman graduated from Colby College, and holds a Master of Public Policy from Duke University. She resides in Washington, DC with her husband and two sons, and is an active member of The New York Avenue Presbyterian Church. In her free time, she enjoys walking, dancing, exploring the local train landscape with her railfan children, and relaxing with a cup of tea.

David A. Harris

David A. Harris is working with his wife Megan Draheim to realize their dream of establishing a craft distillery in the D.C. area focused on locally-farmed heritage grains and local flavors. In the world of non-profit management, David previously served as the President & CEO of the National Jewish Democratic Council; the Executive Director of the Israel on Campus Coalition; and the Director of Governmental and Public Affairs for the American Jewish Congress, among other positions spanning 20 years in the non-profit sector. In Democratic politics, David was a congressional fellow for the late Senator Paul Simon (D-IL), serving on his Senate Foreign Relations Committee staff, and a congressional campaign manager as well. David is a native of West Lafayette, Indiana, and lives in Washington, DC with his wife and daughter.

Caitlin Gritt

Caitlin Gritt is a founding partner of Bisceglie & Gritt, PLLC, where her legal practice focuses

on nonprofit organizations, corporate governance, and business and entertainment law. A proud

graduate of Cornell University (go Big Red!) and The George Washington University Law

School, she’s a New Englander at heart (from Connecticut), who has spent the past decade

calling D.C. home. Caitlin joined the McClendon Center’s Board of Directors in 2016, and

currently serves as Vice Chair, as well as Chair of the Governance Committee. When she isn’t

practicing law or volunteering to support McClendon Center, she loves fishing and crabbing with

her family on the Chesapeake Bay, hiking and exploring National Parks, playing with her rescue

pup (Riggins), rooting for New England sports teams, and reading, cooking, and baking.

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Shawn Johnson

Shawn joined McClendon Center in November 2020 as the Human Resources Director. Previously, she held the position as the Human Resources Director at a correctional facility. Her experience includes working in various industries throughout her career as a Human Resource Director/Manager. Shawn holds a master’s degree in Human Resource Development from Bowie State University. She enjoys gaining new knowledge and experiences.

Hiwot Dinku

Hiwot joined the McClendon Center in 2011. Previously, she worked for a construction company and an oil company. Hiwot is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) licensed by the Common Wealth of Virginia and holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Business Management.

Aisha Shabazz

After graduating from Morgan State University, Aisha Shabazz started her career in Baltimore City working with mentally ill teen parents in the foster care system. Upon relocating to the Washington DC area she worked at The Green Door Clubhouse as a job coach. Aisha later was hired by S.O.M.E. as the program manager for the Isaiah House Day Program. Aisha has worked at the McClendon Center in 3 roles: Mental Health Specialist, Office Engagement Coordinator and currently as Day Program Manager. Aisha is committed to being an advocate and improving the lives of adults living with mental illness in Washington DC.

Caitlin Apo

Caitlin Apo is the Director of Clinical Services at McClendon Center, a five star Washington DC community mental health agency. She manages community outreach teams to serve adults diagnosed with complicated mental health needs by utilizing innovative approaches to care. In addition, she has promoted various community partnerships to coordinate services for complex medical, psychiatric, and substance abuse recovery programming. Lastly, her belief that every person deserves unique and individualized comprehensive care has led to improved healthcare access in low income communities.

Dr. Pamela Jones is the Director of Nursing and Health Services at McClendon Center. Prior to joining McClendon Center, she was a Global Health Service/Peace Corps volunteer. While in Tanzania, she taught nursing to undergraduate and graduate students. She received her BSN from the University of Northern Colorado, a MPH from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a PhD in nursing from the University of California, San Francisco. Her nursing experience has focused on health disparities, providing care through all phases of the cancer continuum, and community-based nursing. In her spare time, she enjoys live music, traveling, and spending time with her nieces and nephews.

Mental Health Champions: Meet Sheandinita Dyson

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