Supporting Our Community through Mental Health Awareness

Brandi has served Mental Health America-Wabash Valley Region since 2016, initially as executive director and most recently as president and CEO. She is a tireless advocate for anything related to mental health and was instrumental in lobbying the Indiana legislature to designate the Lafayette Crisis Center as one of the two Indiana call centers for the national 988 Lifeline program. 

Kevin Koors is a long-standing member of our community, St. Tom's, and volunteered as a crisis call center volunteer and trainer for 40+ years. A software engineer who recently retired from TRW (now ZF Corp.), Kevin began his support to our community as a mental health call center volunteer while still in college at Purdue. He shares insights about how he has been trained and what he has learned through his experiences supporting those in personal crisis. You can read more about Kevin and his 40+ years of involvement with the local Crisis Center
in the September 4th edition of the Catholic Moment (page 9)

Allen is a Boiler Catholic Ministry Team Leader and a Boilermaker who will be graduating this December with a degree in Industrial Engineering Technology and Supply Chain Management. As a student, Allen shares some practical ways for students struggling with the stress of college through his own personal experiences. 

Dr. Brandie Oliver is a new resident parishioner of St. Tom's and associate professor in the school counseling program at Butler University. Before her current role, she worked as a middle school counselor and has experience at the elementary and high school levels. Brandie sees her role as a resource and support for Professional School Counselors as well as an advocate and source of positive change for all students, parents, and educators.  She presents at state, regional, and national conferences, provides professional development to educators, and collaborates with other educational fields to emphasize the importance of working across disciplines for compelling and long-term change. Her specific areas of interest include the development of comprehensive school counseling programs, school culture and restorative practices, culturally responsive practices, suicide prevention/intervention, and implementing social-emotional learning within an MTSS framework. Dr. Oliver is dedicated to the training and professional development of all educators that strive to be change agents in PK-12 education.

Dr. Oliver has also served families at Brooke’s Place for Grieving Young People as a support group facilitator for grieving teens and as an individual grief counselor in the Therapy Services program. She is involved both at the national and state level, serving on the Evidence-Based School Counseling Advisory Board, and the Indiana School Counselor Association Board, and served on the Presidential Advisory Board for the American Counseling Association.  (Bio Resource: Butler University)

Julian currently serves as vice president of the Boiler Catholics student organization. He is studying psychology as his major and human development and family studies as a minor at Purdue. Julian offers his perspectives as a Purdue student who has navigated through the challenge of adjustments to college life and has persevered through his own personal mental health experiences. 

For the past three summers, Julian has worked as a Mental Health Tech at Memorial Epworth Psychiatric Center and for the past two years as a Purdue Research Assistant within the Social Psychology department studying the effects of ostracism (the effects of being left out).  Learn more about Julian on the Boiler Catholics webpage.