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
Jacob Merrion, CPFS
Certification Manager
Jacob Merrion is an individual with lived experience and has been in recovery since 2013, gaining his Colorado Peer and Family Specialist Certification in 2017. Jacob joined COPA as the Contract Certification Manager in 2021, and moved into his full-time role in April, 2022. As the Certification Manager Jacob, has a passion for helping the helpers providing behavioral health services to the people of Colorado. His goal is to elevate the voices of peer and prevention specialists across the State.
Jacob enjoys rock climbing and the wonderful outdoors of Colorado, and spending time with his cats.
Jacob’s role at COPA includes:
- Certification Technical Assistance
- Certification Committee Support
- State Collaboration
- Outreach & Education