New Mexico Suicide Prevention Coalition Board of Directors:
The NMSPC Board oversees all operations of the coalition. However, member input on direction and support are critical to the success of the coalition mission and efforts.
Per articles of incorporation and bylaws of the NMSPC: The Board of Directors shall manage the business and affairs of the corporation. The number of Directors constituting the whole Board shall be not less than three nor more than nine. Each Director shall hold office for two (2) years or until his/her resignation, retirement, removal, disqualification, death, or until his or her successor is elected. Directors may serve two consecutive terms, and thereafter may be elected to the Board after a hiatus of one year. Each Director is expected to serve on two committees, and contribute financially to the corporation to the best of his or her ability.
New Mexico Suicide Prevention Board of Directors
Sabrina Strong
President/Chair
Laura Rowland
Executive Director
Joan Murphy, served as President FY06/08
Board Member
JoAnn Sartorius, LISW, served as VP FY04/06
Board Member
Barbara Lopez
Board Member
Susan Casias
Board Member
Lisa Kolberg
Board Member
Jennie McCraw
Board Member
Jessica Krakow
Board Member
Michelle Linn-Gust, served as President FY 04/06
Advisory Board Member
Board Profiles:
Sabrina Strong - President/Chair
Sabrina Strong is a Health Promotion Specialist for the New Mexico Department of Health and a suicide survivor. She holds a Masters in Public Health from Boston University, and has been a health educator for fifteen years teaching about unintended pregnancy and sexuality transmitted diseases, especially HIV/AIDS. Sabrina worked for several years as a case manager for individuals with severe mental illness and developmental disability, and served as a program coordinator for a substance abuse prevention program for youth in Massachusetts.
Laura Rowland - Executive Director
Laura has been an active member of the Coalition for four years, and recently was elected to the Board. However, when the Executive Director position for the Coalition became available in September 2008, it was clear that her talents and enthusiasm for suicide prevention were a good match for the job. Now she can put her energy full time into promoting the mission of the Coalition statewide. Laura’s heartfelt passion for suicide prevention comes from her status as a survivor. She says, “After losing a friend eight years ago, I started trying to learn everything I could about suicide. After countless hours on the internet, and wondering why this had happened, I started speaking at a few local high schools and middle schools about what I had been through as a survivor. My hope was that I could reach out to someone who might be able to see the warning signs that I felt I should have seen. I am very excited about the road ahead, and the challenges of breaking the silence, so that others will not have to carry the label of "survivor".
Joan Murphy - Board President /Chair
Joan Murphy, former Chair of the New Mexico Suicide Prevention Coalition is a two-time survivor. She is a certified substance abuse counselor and has worked in both treatment and prevention. She is currently employed by the New Mexico Department of Health as Population Outreach Planning Coordinator for the Bureau of Health Emergency Management. She co-facilitates the Santa Fe Survivors of Suicide Group, which meets twice monthly in Santa Fe.
JoAnn Sartorius, LISW - Board Director
JoAnn Sartorius has worked with high risk youth for over thirty years in educational settings, in juvenile justice, and private practice. Since 1995, she has specialized in suicide prevention, implementing school-based prevention programs, and training professionals and non-professionals in workshops throughout the state. JoAnn was a founder of the Coalition, serving previously as Co-Chair with Michelle Linn-Gust in 2003 and Vice President from 2004 to 2006, and remains on the Board as a Director. She has worked and lived in Santa Fe since 1983, and feels honored to help represent the needs of all Northern New Mexicans for the Coalition.
Barbara Lopez - Board Director
Barbara Lopez is Director of IT Infrastructure at PNM Resources in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She has over 20 years of experience in the IT industry. Barbara has served as Chair of the YWCA Women on the Move Awards banquet, regularly volunteers at the Roadrunner Foodbank, and has organized, run, and judged numerous Science Fairs for APS. She is an active member of the Albuquerque Women's Soccer League and Toastmasters International. As a board member with the New Mexico Suicide Prevention Coalition, Barbara hopes to be instrumental in securing funding and resources to increase suicide prevention awareness and reduce the suicide rate in New Mexico.
Jennie McCraw, M.S. - Board Member
Jennie McCraw has a Master’s in Social Work from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and is a Licensed Independent Social Worker. She has worked in both medical social work and inpatient and outpatient behavioral health. She is currently employed at the Lovelace Health Plan in the Quality Management Department. Her interest in suicide prevention activities began in Baton Rouge with volunteer work at the Baton Rouge Crisis Intervention Center as a paraprofessional answering the crisis hotline. This experience led her to pursue graduate studies. She is excited to be returning to suicide prevention activities in New Mexico.
Jessica Kohr Krakow, M.S. - Advisory Board Member
Jessica Kohr Krakow settled in Santa Fe in 1981 from Lancaster PA. After SFHS and Colorado Springs School she received her GED. She graduated with an AA from SFCC and later, with her infant son looking on, a BUS from UNM. She and her husband were blessed again, with a daughter in 1996. She and her husband have collaborated on many projects including the SWEET (Sleep, Wake Education, Evaluation and Treatment) Project, a research protocol for the Assessment & Treatment of Sleep Disorders in Adolescents with Depression and Suicidality. She trained with doctors Greg Mertz and Lucy Bradley-Springer at NM AIDS Education and as a facilitator of the Buddy Program with Mary Maulsby at NM AIDS Services. Living in denial of the edge of life and death is at times as painful for her as living on the edge of life and death. She strives for a balance between recognizing the preciousness of the gift of life with the stimulation that comes from seeing off the edge.
Jessica looks forward to this year’s Suicide Prevention and Awareness Walk with OutoftheDarkness.org and dancing in The Nutcracker with her family. Volunteers are needed for the Walk, please call us.
Michelle Linn-Gust, M.S. - Advisory Board Member
Member of the advisory committee and past president of the NMSPC, is a writer, international speaker and survivor of her sister’s suicide. She is the author of Do They Have Bad Days in Heaven? Surviving the Suicide Loss of a Sibling, the first comprehensive resource for sibling survivors of suicide. A co-founder of New Mexico Suicide Survivors, serving previously as Co-Chair with JoAnn Sartorius in 2003, is the current Survivor Division Chair for the American Association of Suicidology and a doctoral candidate at the University of New Mexico in family studies.
Lisa Kolberg - Board Member
Lisa Kolberg Salopek has worked in Home Health, Dialysis, and Hospice as a Medical Social Worker. Lisa possesses a Master's Degree in Social Work and is a Licensed Independent Social Worker (LISW) in New Mexico.
Her LISW includes specialization as both a Medical Social Worker and a Clinical Social Worker. In addition to Medical Social Work, Lisa is trained as a counselor/psychotherapist and has worked exclusively with Older Adults since moving to New Mexico nearly 10 years ago.
