Breeah Kinsella
Executive Director
Breeah Kinsella joined the COPA team in 2021 from Mancos, a frontier community in the farthest Southwestern corner of Colorado. She has been working in Behavioral Health for over 20 years and has led coalitions, associations, and grassroots initiatives focusing on diverse sets of behaviors including violence, child sexual abuse, suicide, and substance misuse across the continuum of care. Breeah is a collaborative leader who believes that when stakeholders work together to address behavioral health, all people have equitable opportunities to succeed.
Breeah’s role at COPA include:
- New Membership
- Board Partnership
- Organizational Strategy
- Lobbying & Advocacy
Sydney Melson
Association Manager
Sydney comes from a facilitation role in Southwest Colorado, from a coalition that focused on youth substance use and upstream prevention. In that work, she helped create and support several community connectedness programs with organizations across La Plata County. In her work with COPA, she aims to assist all of COPA’s members with new and exciting programs that support their every day work in the behavioral healthcare field.
Sydney’s role at COPA includes
- Member Engagement
- Program Development
- Communications
- Outreach
Precious Collins, CCPS (pending)
Certification Manager
Precious Collins joins us from her position as the Native Connections Program Specialist for the Southern Ute Behavioral Health Division, addressing both suicide and substance use prevention on the Southern Ute Reservation. As a person with lived experience, Precious is passionate about being of service to people seeking recovery from behavioral health challenges.
Precious’s role at COPA includes:
- Credential Program Development
- Credential Administration
- Credential Outreach
Katie Novitskiy
Certification Specialist
Katie’s background in premature death research and the funeral industry fuels her emphasis on prevention. As a person with lived experience and volunteer work as a peer grief support group facilitator, she is invested in the interaction between grief and mental health, especially where serious mental health illnesses (SMI) like Bipolar disorder are involved. She is also passionate about the role of physical activity in recovery and is an ACE Certified Personal Trainer.
Katie is committed to strengthening the peer and prevention workforces through the Certified Peer and Family Specialist (CPFS) and Colorado Certified Prevention Specialist (CCPS) credentials. She values every interaction she gets to have with applicants to the CPFS/CCPS credentials, so don’t hesitate to reach out!
Katie’s role at COPA includes:
- Credential Technical Assistance
- Certification Committee Support
Lydia Donaldson
Communications Specialist
Lydia’s background in journalism from the University of Missouri has equipped her with skills in strategic messaging and storytelling. She is passionate about marketing in the health industry, and is working to expand her knowledge in multicultural studies to aid her work in developing equitable, inclusive communications. In her role, she aims to communicate information in an engaging and effective way to COPA members and clients.
Lydia’s role at COPA includes:
- Communications
- Social Media Content Creation
- P-TECH