Lighthouse TCO

By trade I am a social worker. But social work, specifically, Lighthouse Therapeutic Community Outreach, LLC is much more than just therapy for children and families.

Since opening my private practice I have served the Topeka community as:

President of the Kansas African American Foster Care/Adoption Coalition (KAAFCAC);
Coordinator for CarePortal;
Board member for the Community Resources Council, Kansas Action for Children and the Shawnee County Suicide Prevention Coalition;
Member of the Shawnee County Social Service Advisory Committee;
Participant in the Kansas Diligent Recruitment Planning Group, and a Member of the Governor’s Child Welfare System Task Force Protective Services and Family Preservation Working Group and the Kansas Citizen Review Custody to Transition Panel.

I have also served as a case manager and Certified Marketplace Navigator (coordinated by the Kansas Association for the Medically Underserved) assisting individuals and businesses with enrolling for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act.

Years of working with individuals, especially those connected to the child welfare system revealed an extreme lack of education and understanding of the unique belief systems and practices held by Kansas families.  This lack of cultural appreciation has resulted in a significant number of children being removed from their homes and placed into adoptive or foster care situations.  These experiences often lead to a vicious and unnecessary cycle of childhood trauma that damages children and their families for generations.

Serving as a broker, facilitator, mediator, researcher and community change agent allows me to be a voice for those who have yet to discover their own.