Coalition Leadership Team

Mallory Gevertz

Community Prevention Coordinator
Johnson County Mental Health Center

Mallory implements evidence-based programs throughout the community on the topics of suicide prevention, substance use prevention, and mental health promotion. She is a member of the Prevention and Recovery Coalition, is certified to facilitate Strengthening Families Program, QPR (Question, Persuade, Refer), Parent Project, and Parent Project Junior. Mallory also promotes and coordinates Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST).

Zachary Mallory

LGBTQ+ Advocate for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention

Zachary Mallory has spent the last decade advocating for mental health, suicide prevention, harm reduction, and community organizing. Zachary is heavily involved in advocacy efforts in Kansas, Missouri, and Minnesota, and Federally. 

Zachary is a person with lived experience with mental health and substance use disorder, and is a dedicated leader for public policy, advocacy, and uplifting the experiences of people with lived experience. Zachary is an advocate for violence and harm reduction. 

Shana Burgess, MSW

Pronouns: She/Her/Hers

Director of Prevention and Community Relations
Johnson County Mental Health Center

Shana serves as the Director of Prevention and Community Relations for JCMHC in addition to being a member of the center’s executive leadership team. Based on a local spike in completed suicides in 2012, Shana and her team worked to establish the Johnson County Suicide Prevention Coalition. The coalition has since grown to over 450 members and has made a significant collective impact in preventing suicide and promoting mental health. Shana is passionate about prevention and believes in the power of communities to make a difference.

Mary Ann Pitnick

Pronouns: She/Her/Hers

Programs Coordinator
Johnson County Department of Corrections

Mary Ann assesses the Intake and Assessment Center and uses evidence-based programming for youth in confinement at the Juvenile Detention Center. She is passionate about preventing and addressing suicide prevention in our community and especially regarding the most vulnerable population, our youth. She is blessed to have three beautiful girls, adopted from the state foster care system on life’s journey. 

Jennifer Pennington

Shawnee Police Department

Jennifer is a Detective at the Shawnee Police Department. She has been in investigations for a little over 4 years, and with the department almost 12 years. She serves on the department as a Mentor, Crisis Negotiator, Peer Support Team, Metro Squad member, Officer Involved Shooting team member, and many other miscellaneous duties/committees/ etc. She recently developed a program along with our previous co-responder, to implement mental health outreach and follow up upon releasing any firearm from the property room.

Lydia Nganga

Vince Ngatara Memorial Foundation, CEO

Lydia is a dedicated Refugee FN Provider at a federal health clinic. Her passion extends beyond clinical care, as she founded the Vince Ngatara Foundation. This organization tackles mental health concerns among immigrant and refugee youth, promoting emotional well-being, suicide prevention, and mental health awareness.

Lydia champions culturally sensitive mental health tools and trauma-informed care within the healthcare system. She empowers first-generation immigrant families with knowledge to navigate mental health services, fostering a safer and healthier community for all.

Patrick Bainbridge

Kansas City VA Medical Center

Patrick began work at the Kansas City VA Medical Center in 2016 as a behavioral health social worker in the outpatient behavioral health clinic, providing a variety of clinical services including biopsychosocial assessments, case management, crisis intervention, and evidence-based psychotherapies. In 2018, transitioned to the Suicide Prevention Program as a suicide prevention coordinator. In this role, assisted the Kansas City VA Medical Center in implementing national VA suicide prevention initiatives, educated facility staff on identifying and engaging veterans at high risk for suicide, and engaged community partners as part of the Veterans Health Administration's public health approach to suicide prevention. In June 2022, accepted the position of community engagement and partnership coordinator within the Suicide Prevention Program, which focuses entirely on the VA's public health model of community-based interventions for suicide prevention.

Linda Gallagher

Strategic Initiatives Administrator
Kansas Department For Children and Families

Linda has been with DCF for five years, based in Overland Park. Her responsibilities include outreach to collaborate with community partners. She served in the Kansas House of Representatives from 2015 to 2018, representing portions of Shawnee, Lenexa and Overland Park. She served on the House Children and Seniors and Social Services Budget committees and on the Child Welfare System Task Force.

Janis Davis

Associate Clinical Professor and Program Director
The University of Kansas Medical Center

Janis, a Kansas City native with a Ph.D. in education (University of Kansas) and a master's in counseling (University of Missouri, Kansas City), founded the entry-level occupational therapy program at Stanbridge University (Irvine, California). Her career as an occupational therapist began in mental health settings, fostering her interest in therapeutic listening for stress, anxiety and depression. Janis trained with the Compassionate Listening Project and participated in conflict resolution efforts in the Middle East. She recently completed a certificate in applied compassion training at Stanford Medicine.

Clay Norkey

Managing Attorney

Carey Spain, MBA, MSW, LCSW

Senior Director of Integrated Community Care 
Children's Mercy Hospital

Carey is responsible for the oversight of delegated medical & behavioral health functions for health plans contracted with Children's Mercy's Pediatric Care Network. Carey also oversees community partnerships that aim to support children and families in reaching optimal health and well-being.  Carey is a master's prepared Social Worker and Accredited Case Manager with 25 years of experience in health care.  Carey currently serves as Lee's Summit appointee on the Health Forward Foundation's Community Advisory Committee.

Rennie Shuler-McKinney, LCP

Pronouns: She/Her/Hers

Director of Behavioral Health
AdventHealth Shawnee Mission

Rennie leads the Behavioral Health Service Line to provide comprehensive treatment for those with mental and substance use issues. She has spent her career connecting with individuals who are considering ending their lives and assisting them in finding hope, treatment, and resources. Rennie is honored to serve our community in efforts towards ending suicide.