Meet Our Team

Julia Morton

Program Assistant

Julia is a Nevada County local who attended Nevada Union and Sierra College. Studying Social & Behavioral Sciences. In her spare time Julia enjoys Mountain biking, hiking, and traveling with her husband and two young children. Julia is passionate about helping the children in her community who need it the most.

Sue Van Wazer

Program Manager

Sue joined the Healthy Babies program as the Program Manager in September 2021. She holds a master’s degree in Marriage Family and Child Therapy and a bachelor’s degree in Social Work.

Sue has 30 years’ experience in the social services field in such roles as a social worker, therapist, and program manager. Prior to joining Healthy Babies, Sue worked for the State of California, first as an analyst in the perinatal unit for substance abuse prevention, and then promoted to manager of grants and contracts in a substance prevention unit. Additionally, Sue’s background includes experience developing social service programs, supervising clinical and non-clinical programs, successfully completing state and federal level accreditation processes, implementing evidence-based programs, and working with communities and stakeholders to promote healthier lives for families.

Sue enjoys being outdoors in nature, hiking, and is an avid meditator. Her philosophy is whenever possible take it slow and steady and remember self-care.

Nicole McNeely

Executive Director

McNeely has resided in Nevada County for more than 40 years. She is a graduate of Nevada Union, Sierra College, and earned a Bachelor’s degree from California State University Chico in early childhood education. In her past, she has worked with children in a variety of settings including special education, personal tutor, children’s entertainment, preschool teacher, and multiple grade classroom instructor. McNeely cares deeply about helping and protecting children. She has a strong commitment to securing the health and safety of all children in Nevada County.

She and her husband live in Grass Valley with their 3 children.

Fatima Galindo

Home Visitor

Fatima is originally from Honduras and has lived in the USA little over ten years now. She recently graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and minor in Arts. In the past, she has worked as a bilingual counselor for victims of domestic violence. She looks forward to working with families through the Healthy Babies program to help them fulfill their needs and help them develop to be happy and productive members of our community.

In her free time she enjoys visiting the river, exploring the area with local road trips, making ceramics, and cooking Honduran food.

Mari Briviescas

Home Visitor

Mari was born and raised in Truckee, CA. She was a former participant in the Healthy Babies program and understands first hand the positive impact it can have on children and families. Mari is grateful to have the opportunity to help other families in the community where she was raised.

Mari enjoys taking trips with her family, exploring new places. With two young children of her own, she leads a busy and active life and enjoys going to parks, practices or the movie theater with her family.

Karen Hamlin

Home Visitor

Karen has recently moved back to California and has settled in beautiful Nevada County. Her background is in Early Childhood Education and she served as director/teacher of a state licensed preschool program for 10 years. Later she was employed by Lyon County School District as a paraprofessional, and eventually served as school secretary. This position offered the perfect balance of serving parents, staff and best of all students.

Karen looks forward to having the opportunity to serve our local families. She feels education begins in the home and parents are the most important teachers.

Karen’s free time is spent with family (especially my grandson), reading mysteries and always up for a tea party!

Rose Chin

Home Visitor

Rose comes to Healthy Babies with a background in Early Childhood Education. Prior to joining Healthy Babies, she was Case Manager for a nonprofit organization supporting families with childcare resources and referrals. She also has several years of experience as a preschool teacher and loved taking part in their growth and development as they began to understand the world around them.

Rose is passionate about making a difference in the lives of children and families, being part of creating a lasting impact in the community. She is dedicated to supporting positive parent-child interactions and healthy child growth and development through the Healthy Babies Program.

Chelsea Bryan

Home Visitor

Chelsea Bryan is a life-long Nevada County resident. She has been involved in working families as a licensed midwife, birth doula and childbirth education teacher in Nevada County for over a decade and is looking forward to serving families in a new way with Healthy Babies. Her work with birthing families has taken her from Nevada County to Salt Lake City, Vermont, the Texas border, the Plain Community in Lancaster County, PA. and back home again. Chelsea appreciates there are many ways to create a strong family and to connect with children through play, discovery and joy.

Road trips, hot springs and foraging are always on Chelsea’s agenda. As a mother of three adult children, she can almost always find someone willing to go on another adventure with her. Daily walks, early morning coffee, knitting hats, growing tomatoes and making bad jokes are a few of things that make her happy.

Linda Collins

Program Manager

Linda retired from Ready Springs Elementary school, and has been working with the Child Safety Puppeteer program since 2012. Linda and her husband Dan have been in Nevada County for nearly three decades and have raised two sons here. They are now enjoying two grandsons, as well.

With a passion for the Child Safety Puppeteers program, Linda’s goal is to make students feel more comfortable talking about issues and topics that they may otherwise be embarrassed or afraid to talk about. She feels the program is an effective way to engage students, parents, and teachers in conversations about difficult subjects and keeping children safe. Linda feels very fortunate to be able to bring this program to the young students of Nevada County.

Monica L’Etoile

Home Visitor

Monica earned her bachelor’s degree in Psychology with a focus in child development and child psychology. She previously worked in daycare facilities and as a caregiver for developmentally delayed adults before starting her career at Child Advocates in 2012 and becoming a working mom.

As a Home Visitor in the Foothills and Truckee Healthy Babies program, Monica enjoys the relationships that develop with the families that she serves while helping them to reach their goals.

Doe Grady

Home Visitor

Doe Grady has a masters degree in child development and over twenty-five years of experience working with young children and their families. Doe was formerly a family advocate for Head Start, a parent co-op preschool teacher, a director of both an infant-toddler and preschool program, as well as an online instructor at Napa Valley College.

Doe enjoys working as a Home Visitor in the Foothills and Truckee Healthy Babies program because it fits her passion to empower families. She believes that the parent is a child’s first and most important teacher and working to strengthen families will help children too succeed.

Doe has three children of her own and one grandchild. In her spare time, she enjoys growing a variety of tomatoes and herbs in her garden, and mountain biking and hiking with her husband and family.

Joette Collier

Bilingual Family Assessment Worker

Joette is a third generation Nevada County resident and has lived in the area most of her life. She has also spent some time living in Mexico loving the culture and learning the language. Joette studied human development and nursing in college. As a longtime resident, Joette has always wanted to continue to make Nevada County a better place to live.

Joette’s work has always involved nurturing people, whether it be working in schools with children, in homes with the elderly, or in hospitals with the sick and injured. She was first a Home Visitor with the Foothills Healthy Babies program as is now a Family Assessment Worker.She has a desire to encourage people and supportive relationships, and to highlight one’s strengths and abilities.

Joette has raised four children and is enjoying the fruits of that labor with her five grandchildren. She enjoys time with friends and family, gardening, day tripping, and the beautiful Nevada County outdoors.

Kathleen Barale

Quality Assurance Technician

Kathy has a Bachelor of Science degree in Math and has worked in Information Technology for over 40 years. She has been a computer operator for GEICO Insurance and a computer programmer/analyst for Lockheed Martin Missiles and Space Company before moving to Nevada County and working for the County of Nevada Information Systems Department. As an Information Systems Analyst, Kathy supported a number of County departments including Social Services, Behavioral Health, Community Development, Elections, Clerk-Recorder, and Sheriff.

Kathy now supports the Foothills and Truckee Healthy Babies program as the Quality Assurance Technician and is responsible for verifying data entered by the program’s Home Visitors. Kathy takes pride in concise and in-depth error reporting to staff, allowing the program to adhere to HFA standards.

Kathy enjoys spending time with her grandsons, as well as gardening, crafting, walking, bowling, and caring for her pets. Kathy has received her preschool associate teacher certificate and is also a certified clinical medical assistant.

Susan Duffey Smith

Program Supervisor

Susan has been working with families in various capacities for over 20 years. She earned her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Romance Languages with a minor in Recreation Administration which included a concentration in Early Childhood Development from the University of Arizona.

She enjoys working with community partners, nurturing relationships, and connecting families to resources. As a mother of two daughter born prior to the availability of today’s family resource programs, Susan is passionate about building collaborative relationships that give families access to information and connect families to the community.

Jane Houston

Case Manager

A background in education and college counseling led Jane to the team at Child Advocates of Nevada County. After earning her Master of Education degree at Southern Oregon University, Ms. Houston worked in public and private education, and opened a college counseling business.

She is passionate about supporting Court Appointed Special Advocates in seeking the best interests of abused and neglected children. Jane enjoys spending time with family, listening to music, watching movies, walking, and slaying (almost) all competitors in ping-pong.

Melinda Douros

Program Manager

Since graduating from Stanford University, Melinda Douros has pursued her interest in mentoring, nurturing, and educating young people. She knows the difference that one caring, committed adult can make in the life of a child and considers it a privilege to work alongside CASA volunteers that bring needed support to children who have been victims of abuse and neglect.

Melinda and her husband of over 35 years are the parents of five children, some biological and some adopted. Melinda is well acquainted with the challenges of loss and grief in the lives of children, as well as with the hope and joy of healing. She enjoys spending time with her family, including her grandchildren; as well as playing and singing classical music and reading.

Rebecca Duff

Marketing/Events Coordinator

A lifelong learner, Rebecca is adept at a wide variety of tasks or abilities. Her unbridled creativity, dedication to customer service, organizational skills and adaptability have helped to showcase Child Advocates through advertising, social media, events and print.

Rebecca’s work with children, whether it be on the stage, in the classroom, on the field, or with Child Advocates, is driven by her desire to provide children with a safe and secure environment for learning, growing, and building self-confidence. Rebecca has lived in Nevada County with her family since 2008 and is a joyful mother of two young boys, Diego and Levi.

Nikki Robertson

Administrative Assistant

Nikki and her husband retired to Nevada City in 2004 from Southern California where they raised their three children. They were both self-employed in the manufacturing industry for 30 years. Having always been drawn to children, Nikki felt Child Advocates was the perfect fit for her to give her time as a CASA. She began her first case in 2012.

Nikki started working in the office at Child Advocates in 2014 as an administrative assistant of the CASA program. In 2015, her role was expanded to included working with fundraising development efforts. It is important to Nikki to increase community awareness about the work that Child Advocates does including the details of each Child Advocates program and how they benefit the children of Nevada County.

Nikki enjoys spending time with her family and five grandchildren, as well as working on antique wood boats with her husband in her spare time

Lynda Roath

Bookkeeper

Lynda’s early accounting experience was learned from patient, helpful people and has taught her to be patient and helpful herself. She enjoys being involved in the day-to-day operations of a business and has become detail-oriented and precise with her work. Lynda has a variety of experience with different businesses, from CPA and architecture firms to firms to construction and ready-mix companies.

Lynda enjoys working with numbers and solving puzzles and problems. She has recently been learning the value of healthy eating and cooking with exotic spices. She enjoys traveling and learning about other cultures and feels that experiencing different places in person makes learning geography, cuisine, and geology much more interesting.

Susanne Kemmer

Home Visitor

Susanne earned her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Special Education from Purdue University in 1997 and has been working in support of children and families since that time. She moved to Nevada County in 2001 and loves to call this area home! She was a Special Education teacher for several years, a Principal at a Small Private School here in Nevada County and a Director at Big Brothers Big Sisters of Nevada County.

Susanne says she feels honored to work at Child Advocates, working with, assisting, and learning from families in Nevada County. She sees the real benefit of working with community partners, nurturing relationships, and connecting families to resources to create a healthy community. Outside of work, she enjoys creating art, hiking, gardening, The YUBA, Sailing, cooking and spending time with family and friends.

Melika Campbell

Home Visitor

Melika recently graduated from the University of California, Irvine in 2020 with her Bachelors of Psychology and Social Behavior. She also obtained four Associate of Art Degrees. She moved from Southern California to Grass Valley during the Corona Virus pandemic to be with her husband and has been working with families since.

Before her time at Child Advocates of Nevada County, Melika was a Case Manager at a Residential Facility in Grass Valley where she managed to get seniors out of homelessness and into permanent housing and facilitated their daily activities to ensure they were having pleasure in their daily life

Danielle Goodfellow

Home Visitor

Danielle Goodfellow was born and raised in Reno, NV. From a young age she knew she wanted to help people. As she grew up, Danielle found her passion in social work. Danielle graduated from the University of Nevada, Reno where she obtained her bachelors in social work. She will continue at UNR to receive her Masters in Social Work. Danielle moved to Truckee, CA in January of 2022, and soon found her dream job at Healthy Babies where she gets to serve families in need. Danielle loves what she does and feels grateful for the work she does everyday.

The Child Advocates Administrative Team

Nicole McNeely

Lynda Roath

Nikki Robertson

Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA)

Melinda Douros

Jane Houston

Healthy Babies

Sue Van Wazer

Meet Sue

Susan Duffey Smith

Susanne Kemmer

Joette Collier

Doe Grady

Monica L’Etoile

Rose Chin

Karen Hamlin

Mari B

Fatima Galindo

Child Safety Puppeteers

Julia Morton