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About the Youth Involvement Content Specialists
Reyhan Reid
Reyhan Reid is a youth involvement content specialist with the Technical Assistance Partnership for Child and Family Mental Health. He supports system of care grantee communities funded by the Center for Mental Health Services by sharing strategies and resources for involving youth with multi-system experience in systems of care. He facilitates peer-to-peer networking, conducts presentations, coordinates youth involvement in conferences and national initiatives, plans youth leadership tracks at conferences, and provides technical assistance and support to youth coordinators, youth leaders, and others within systems of care.
Brittany Couch
Brittany Couch is a youth involvement content specialist with the Technical Assistance Partnership for Child and Family Mental Health. She supports system of care communities by sharing strategies and resources for comprehensively infusing youth within local systems of care communities. She is responsible for encouraging youth in system of care communities to become educated and responsible advocates for themselves and their peers. As a co-youth involvement content specialist, she also works with youth coordinators in system of care communities to develop effective youth groups, educate youth about their rights, provide resources, and answer questions. Additionally, Brittany works with Reyhan and others to plan the youth tracks at national and regional conferences.
Brittany is uniquely qualified for her position because of her experience as the former Youth Coordinator for Oklahoma Systems of Care, one of the first Systems of Care communities to seek statewide operation. Brittany has extensive national and statewide facilitation experience that has sparked her work with youth from a variety of ethnic backgrounds as well as rural and urban communities. She has also engaged youth in many arenas such as youth in policy, life-skill building, and at-risk programs as well as across backgrounds such as mental health, child welfare, juvenile justice, and special education.
James Sawyer
James Sawyer serves as a Youth Involvement Content Specialist for the Technical Assistance Partnership for Child and Family Mental Health. He supports system of care grantee communities funded by the Center for Mental Health Services by sharing strategies and resources for involving children and youth with multi-system experience in systems of care. In this role and alongside his peers, James provides mentoring to Youth Engagement Specialists, facilitates peer-to-peer networking, coordinates conference and webinar presentations, and provides technical assistance and training.
James is both a Licensed Professional Counselor and National Certified Counselor, achieving his master’s degree in community counseling while working as a system of care Youth Coordinator. James was a Youth Coordinator for an early childhood system of care community in Sarasota, Florida. Through this position, he was charged with bringing community collaboration and consensus around how to operationalize youth-guided principles in an early childhood setting. During this time James was successful in completing Florida State University’s Harris Institutes for Early Childhood Mental Health Therapists. Through the Harris Institutes,he obtained training in diagnosing and therapy techniques for working with infants and young children with mental health–related issues. Prior to this position, James served as youth coordinator for a statewide system of care initiative in Idaho, where he was instrumental in developing a multifaceted youth initiative. During his tenure in Idaho, James developed and directed an annual statewide mental health conference youth track, organized a statewide poetry project, and co-organized a statewide social marketing youth and child art project. During the implementation of such projects, he was able to bring these programs into both juvenile corrections and mental health residential treatment facilities. He also led the development of the Idaho Youth Council, where youth from varied backgrounds shared their experiences within the systems that affected them, provided important feedback, and influenced systems change through youth voice.