Jane Kallal
Executive Director

In 2001, following a class action lawsuit, Jane became instrumental in transforming Arizona's behavioral health system for children.  Focused efforts began on building collaboration with families.   Since that time, Jane has been integral in creating Arizona's behavioral health infrastructure including the design, delivery and monitoring of services.

In 2002, Jane established the Family Involvement Center, which now holds contracts with both state and local entities.  Today through the efforts of the Family Involvement Center, Arizona families are now involved in multiple aspects of federal, state and local level policy and program development, staff education and consultation, service delivery, quality management, and practice improvement of the behavioral health system.

Jane is the parent of a 27-year-old daughter with serious behavioral health needs identified early in her life.  Living with the challenges of raising a child with severe behavioral health issues has been Jane's inspiration to become an active family advocate, educator, community spokesperson and systems transformation leader.

Phone  602.412.4095; email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it  

Antoinette T. Issadore (Toni)
Director of Training and Family Education

Toni leads a staff dedicated to providing superior programs in support of families with children who have emotional, behavioral and mental health challenges.  These programs include family education series, practice improvement reviews, youth leadership development projects, trainings for FIC staff and family members employed in roles within the children's behavioral health system, and events such as family-professional partnership workshops and children's mental health awareness activities.  In addition to providing staff direction, Toni develops curriculum and and trains and facilitates series and workshops.  She also provides local and national technical assistance around parent-to-parent support and family leadership in the behavioral health system.

Toni’s most important role has been raising three sons with emotional and behavioral health challenges.  She and her children have had experience in both the public and private sectors of behavioral health.  Her son Michael was served by multiple child-serving agencies as a teenager, and he was one of the first 180 youth that received services and supports through the Child and Family Team process.  Her advocacy as a parent on behalf of her children, coupled with her growing ability to navigate the behavioral health system, compelled Toni to become actively involved in the family movement.  She began her career in the family movement as a Family Support Partner for the Family Support Organization in Burlington County, New Jersey, and ultimately became its Executive Director.

Toni worked for the Family Involvement Center from 2004 until 2005, when she became Children’s Division Network Development Manager at Value Options.  While at Value Options, Toni led the creation and implementation of the quality management system for the evaluation of Child and Family Teams.  This landmark effort paired family members with other behavioral health professionals in the evaluation process.  Toni returned to Family Involvement Center as Director of Training in 2006.

Her passion to address attitudinal bias and stigma by increasing awareness led Toni to develop a non-confrontational Facilitated Book Club.  The concept was featured as a promising practice by Georgetown University Center for Child and Human Development, National Center for Cultural Competence:  Washington, DC (Using a Book Club to Confront Attitudinal Barriers and Other “Isms,” Dunne, C. & Goode, T. 2004) from the series Seeds of Change:  Promising Practices.)  Toni is also passionate about supporting Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day and Week.  She collaborates with several organizations to plan and coordinate events that promote awareness that Children’s Mental Health Matters. Toni’s professional credentials include certification as a Train the Trainer for Cultural Competency (Arizona) and ASIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training).  In addition, she is Secretary of the Board of Directors for the National Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health (www.nffcmh.org).

Phone  602-412-4074; email  This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Joe Anne Hust

Director, Institute for Family Involvement and Innovation

Joe Anne Hust entered the world of children’s mental health as an advocate for her own child in 1999 and soon became aware of the challenges facing families navigating the complex system.  Joe Anne spent more than eight years developing family involvement and a Parent Peer-to-Peer Support (Parent Partner) program at a large children’s mental health provider in Southern California. 

Joe Anne’s expertise is building family involvement at all levels of the child serving system.  She is a Director on the Board of the American Association of Children’s Residential Center’s (AACRC) and participated in the development of the AACRC Position Paper Redefining Residential: Becoming Family Driven.  She is also co-chair of the Youth and Family Workgroup of the National Building Bridges Initiative.

Joe Anne is passionate about building a sound foundation for family involvement and partnerships in the mental health field.  She has presented at numerous conferences on the subject and has done extensive training and consultation on parent peer to peer support, family professional partnerships, Wraparound, and residential transformation.

Phone  602.412.4069; email  This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

As Community and Family Networks Integration Manager, Deidre collaborates with child-serving agencies, focusing on system improvement activities with youth and families.  She passionately trains, coaches, mentors and develops family members to cultivate their skills and self-efficacy in meeting their children’s needs in the community.  Deidre also facilitates and trains Strengthening Multi-Ethnic Families and Communities, Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST), Cultural Competency, and Knowing Who You Are to parents, professionals and community members.

Deidre began her work with the Family Involvement Center as the Manager for Family-to-Family Services—the outpatient clinic of FIC.  In this role, she supported and sustained the important work of Parent Partners and Youth Mentors, whose work in our community has a positive impact in assisting their peers on journeys to self-sufficiency.  Prior to joining the Family Involvement Center, Deidre spent 19 years working for the State of Arizona in various positions with the Division of Developmental Disabilities and the Division of Children, Youth and Families.  Deidre has been a line worker, supervisor and manager in the Department of Economic Security’s child serving system.

Deidre was a part of a team of experts who developed a statewide, community-based substance abuse program for families involved with multiple social service agencies.  She worked in collaboration with state and community-based agencies to develop policies, procedures and trainings which guided the practice of providing opportunities for families to overcome their substance abuse barriers in order to reach self-sufficiency, family reunification and permanency for children.

Deidre led the implementation and development of the Arizona component of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Family-to-Family Services Program. She worked with parents, community partners and state agencies to create an atmosphere conducive to youth, parents, foster and kin families becoming advocates, mentors and valued members of child welfare decision-making meetings.  Deidre was instrumental in assisting child welfare leaders across Arizona in the integration of four core strategies of Family-to-Family.  She coordinated work with state staff, community contractors and parents for the implementation of Building a Better Future the parent mentoring component of Family-to-Family. 

During her tenure with the Department of Economic Security, Deidre participated in several trainings which addressed concerns of discrimination against children and families.  These trainings included Undoing Racism by The People’s Institute and Knowing Who You Are through Casey Family Programs.

Deidre is passionate about her role in assisting the transformation of systems to better serve the children and families for which the systems were designed.  She is the proud grandmother of two and the mother of an adopted daughter.

Phone  602.412.4101; email  This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Valerie VanAuker
Family Integration Manager  

Valerie VanAuker is the parent of two adopted siblings with emotional and behavioral challenges.  She has been navigating through the system for over eight years dedicated to educating herself about the challenges facing her children in the areas of Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD), Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Mood Disorder and ADHD.  She has developed strong partnerships with all of the professionals working with her children, and as a result has created a Child and Family Team that works very well together. 

Valerie has over 29 years of experience in areas of management, supervision, process and systems improvement, and 14 years of experience as an instructor.  As a community family leader, helped in the development of the Unique Needs of Children in the Child Welfare system curriculum.  Currently, she is a member of the Magellan Governance Board as a family member with children in the behavioral system. 

Valerie came to work with Family Involvement Center in September 2007.  In Valerie’s current role, she recruits and mentors family members who want to serve as an advisor on various committees or other system development initiatives.   Valerie provides business management, budget administration, and project and policy development for Family Involvement Center and is also the Co-leader for the Statewide Quality Management Committee, coordinating meetings with the family leaders and Department of Behavioral Health Services (DBHS) staff to monitor and advise state representatives about quality concerns. Valerie is a family interviewer and participates in all of the committees associated with the Practice Improvement Review process for Maricopa County.  In addition, Valerie participates on various committees at both the Regional Behavioral Health Authority (RBHA) level as well as the state level.

Phone  602.412.4082; email  This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Lillian V. Armstrong
Family Education and Training Specialist

 Lillian has been a Family Education and Training Specialist for the Family Involvement Center since 2005.  For the past three decades, Lillian has been on a journey to help, educate and empower families who have the great responsibility of raising children with special needs. She has raised two sons and three daughters as a single mom who became a widow when her children were young. Her experience in caring for a daughter born with birth challenges has given Lillian a wealth of knowledge in how to successfully collaborate with medical, behavioral and school staff in making sure children receive the necessary services to become successful and productive adults.

On this journey, Lillian has served on various committees to be that “Family Voice” in making sure parents know what they need for their families to be successful.  She worked for ten years in the community as a Family Support Specialist teaching young mothers how to bond with their babies as well as teaching parents how to survive in the hospital for months while their children are ill. Lillian then entered the Children’s Behavioral Health System, working as a Family Support Partner for two years before accepting her current position at FIC.  Lillian is a certified trainer for Partnering for Safety and Permanence Model Approach to Partnerships in Parenting (PS-MAPP), Strengthening Multi-Ethnic Families and Communities: A Violence Prevention Parent Training, Unique Needs of CPS Children, and Substance Use Disorders. In addition, she has the gift of mentoring and coaching families who may be in need of support as they travel down the road of behavioral health services or just everyday life issues.  Spending quality time with her 10 beautiful grandchildren keeps Lillian young and active.

Phone  602.412.4072; email  This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Kara Fullmer
Communications and Training Coordinator 

Kara coordinates external communications, professional and family/professional trainings, and special events including Children’s Mental Health Awareness events. Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Trainings (ASIST), and local conferences.  She serves as staff consultant in drafting and editing of written communications, translation, and curriculum design.  In addition, Kara conducts practice improvement standard needs reviews, manages special projects, and serves on a number of behavioral health committees, including the Mental Health Awareness Coalition (www.azmhac.org), the Extraordinary People Campaign (www.oneinfour.org), the Family Leadership Network Group, and the Family Involvement Subcommittee of the Children’s Executive Committee (AZ Division of Behavioral Health Services).

Kara’s background includes experience in federal government, higher education, and corporate leadership and support.  Previously, Kara was Director of International Planning for the Citizen Ambassador Program of People to People International and Bilingual Research Technician at the US Embassy in Madrid.  Kara also taught English and American Studies for sixteen years to foreign university students and holds a bachelor’s degree in Spanish and a master’s in teaching with an emphasis on linguistics and teaching ESL.  She also is licensed to practice massage therapy in the State of Arizona and has a special interest in massage for cancer patients and women suffering from stress and trauma. 

Kara is mom to an adult daughter who received children’s behavioral health services in Washington State.  At that time, there were no Family-Run Organizations to provide peer support and education to families.  How wonderful it would have been to have someone to talk to who had walked in the same “mom” shoes and knew the journey!  She is thrilled that FIC provides this essential support to families in Maricopa County and beyond.

Phone  602.412.4087; email  This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Antonio Wilson 
Youth Development Coordinator 

Antonio Wilson’s passion for youth leadership is rooted in his own difficult childhood.  He spent most of his early life in foster care and his preteen and teenage years in an orphanage.  Antonio felt utterly lost in the system, passed from place to place and therapist to therapist.

Antonio’s involvement in the Youth Movement began at the age of thirteen when he met with President Clinton to request an increase in the maximum age that youth could receive assistance from the system.  Today, Antonio serves on the boards of the National Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health, Youth Move National, the LGBTQI2-S (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning, Intersex, Two-Spirit) National Workgroup for Systems of Care, and two SAMHSA committees:  YADA (Youth Advisors Driving Action—the youth component of the National Evaluation of the Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for Children and their Families Program), and Building Bridges Between Residential and Community-based Service Delivery.

Antonio believes that now is the time for youth to stand up and be heard in the behavioral health system.  He foresees a great future for youth as leaders and is committed to bringing youth leadership, advocacy, and eradication of stigma to Maricopa County and the nation.

Phone  602.412.4080; email  This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it