TyJha Jackson, MPH
TyJha "Ty" Jackson is the YA CAT admissions coordinator and outreach specialist at HMHI. She has worked at HMHI since 2010. She has a bachelor of science in psychology and health science minor from Clemson University and a master's in public health from Westminster College. During graduate school, Ty was a part of the HMHI nursing staff, working as a psychiatric technician on all inpatient units, as well as day treatment before her transition into outreach. Ty has lived in nine different states, spanning from California to New York. She loves her family, enjoys traveling and learning about different cultures. One of her favorite quotes: 鈥淒o the most good for the most amount of people in the shortest amount of time.
Tina Halliday, LCSW
Tina Halliday is the admissions coordinator for the HMHI CAT Program in Salt Lake City, Utah. She has worked with HMHI (formerly UNI) since 1999 and the CAT program since its inception in 2011. Tina graduated from the University of Utah, Graduate School of Social Work with her MSW. She has practiced for 30 years in the behavioral health field. She has provided direct clinical care to a variety of age groups and treated a variety of mental illnesses. Tina has also worked with employee assistance programming throughout much of her career. This includes clinical services, management consultation, critical incident debriefing, and wellness seminar trainings to many employer groups. She enjoys her family, friends, and a variety of outdoor activities.
Thomas Conover, MD
Dr. Conover is an assistant professor (clinical) and a graduate of the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine in Cincinnati, Ohio. He completed residency training in pediatrics/psychiatry/child psychiatry at the University of Utah Hospitals and Clinics. He is board-certified in general pediatrics, general psychiatry, and child and adolescent psychiatry. Dr. Conover practices at HMHI where he provides care for psychiatrically hospitalized children and adolescents, and serves as the medical director for Youth Services, and co-medical director for the HMHI CAT Program.
Rachelle Wilson, RN
Rachelle Wilson is the clinical director of HMHI Youth Services for inpatient care and is responsible for the management and coordination of nursing care for HMHI CAT program. Rachelle holds a master's degree in the science of nursing with a focus on leadership and management; she is also is a board-certified psychiatric nurse. She has worked in the CAT program from its beginning in 2011. She has over 20 years of psychiatric nursing experience and is passionate about child and adolescent psychiatric nursing care. Rachelle's professional mission and purpose is to provide leadership and direction to direct care providers following evidence based best practice standards to ensure an exceptional patient experience. Rachelle is a native to the Salt Lake Valley and appreciates all the activities this exquisite mountain setting has to offer.
Amanda Stoeckel, PhD
Dr. Stoeckel is a licensed psychologist and the clinical director/program manager for the Comprehensive Assessment and Treatment (CAT) Program at the Huntsman Mental Health Institute (formerly UNI). She received her Ph.D. in school psychology from the University of Northern Colorado and completed her doctoral internship at the Huntsman Mental Health Institute. Dr. Stoeckel completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the VA Advanced Fellowship Program in mental illness research at the VISN 19 MIRECC VA Salt Lake City Health Care System. She has an adjunct faculty appointment at the University of Utah Department of Psychiatry. Her focus is overseeing and providing psychological services to youth and emerging adults within the CAT and Young Adult CAT Programs, and she has extensive training in psychological assessment. Dr. Stoeckel's therapeutic orientation is typically based on acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT).
Jaremy Stucki, RN
Jaremy Stucki is the Nurse Manager responsible for HMHI's YA CAT program. Jaremy joined HMHI in 2010 as a psychiatric technician and worked with the adult population for six months before graduating with his nursing degree. He received his certification in psychiatric-mental Health nursing in 2018. Jaremy completed his bachelor of science in Nursing from Western Governors University in 2019. He worked on the child unit as a charge nurse at UNI for several years and loved his time working with the child population and their families. In 2017, Jaremy moved to the nurse educator, clinical nurse coordinator, and infection preventionist roles at HMHI. He is engaged in HMHI's Nursing Shared Governance Council and has served as the co-chair of Quality and Research Nursing Council. Jaremy helped create the HMHI Staff Educational Series, which occurs twice a month and is designed to educate our frontline nursing staff about psychiatric mental health. In his time away from HMHI, Jaremy enjoys spending time with his wife and four kids going camping and enjoying the beautiful outdoors of Utah.
Kristin Francis, MD
Dr. Francis joined the child and adolescent inpatient team at HMHI (formerly UNI) in 2013 after completing medical school, residency in adult psychiatry, and a fellowship in child and adolescent psychiatry at the Mayo Clinic School of Medicine in Rochester, Minnesota. During her 10 years of inpatient work at HMHI, she had the opportunity to pursue passions of working with patients with eating disorders in addition to providing psychiatric care for patients with a myriad of severe psychiatric conditions. She teaches resident didactics to patients with eating disorders, psychotherapy techniques, and complex interviews and case discussions. She won Best Teacher awards both in residency and as an attending. Dr. Francis loves providing practical, relevant, evidence-based recommendations on social media and is often in the news. She has contributed to many online articles and websites on numerous mental health topics, and served as president for the Utah chapter of an eating disorder advocacy group. Additionally, she has presented at local and national conferences on the detection, treatment and prevention of eating disorders as well as suicide risk. She currently serves on the board of the HMHI hospital as president of the Executive Committee and started an acute psychiatric clinic for medical providers. Dr. Francis formally served as an inpatient CAT Medical Director and has joined YA CAT full-time since July 2022. She loves working with young adults and supporting them in their individuation and launch.
Kristin Becker, DO, MS
Kristin R. Becker, DO, MS, assistant professor (clinical), earned her medical degree at Rocky Vista University College of Osteopathic Medicine in Parker, Colorado. Prior to attending medical school, she graduated from ATSU Arizona School of Health Sciences with her master's ofpPhysician assistant studies, and practiced as a family medicine PA in Northern New Mexico. She completed her general psychiatry residency and fellowship in child and adolescent Psychiatry at University of Arizona, Department of Psychiatry where she served as chief resident. Dr. Becker is board-certified in psychiatry and child and adolescent psychiatry by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN).
Before joining our faculty, she worked in both outpatient and community based mental health programs in Tucson, Arizona. She is attracted to many aspects of child and adolescent mental health and advocacy and has a special interest in the effects of traumatic/adverse early childhood events on neurodevelopment, attachment, and future behavior. Dr. Becker is a psychiatric hospitalist on the child and adolescent inpatient team at HMHI.
Kelly Caughey, LCSW
Kelly Caughey is a clinical social worker for the YA CAT program at HMHI. Prior to her position at YA CAT, she worked as an inpatient acute social worker at HMHI, as well as a social worker in the Adolescent CAT program. She received her bachelor's in sociology and master's in social work from the University of Montana in Missoula, Montana. She has been in the field of social work for more than 12 years working in many different capacities including public schools, emergency rooms, and community based mental health programs. She completed her master's level internship at Western Montana Mental Health Center working as a reunification in home support specialist with families whose children were removed by the Department of Child and Family Services and were required to receive individual counseling and support in order to earn their parental rights back.
She has an advanced understanding of systems issues and can organize and address patient needs on multiple levels. Kelly understands the possible interactions and implications of the relationship between individuals and their communities. Her treatment philosophy includes elements of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT), and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). She has completed trainings in DBT, ACT, and the Gotman Method. In her free time, you can find Kelly playing in the mountains with her two young daughters and husband. She loves to cook, bake, and traveling to southern Utah for camping trips. Kelly loves to spend time in her garden and enjoys moving through yoga and pilates.
Mona Yaptangco, PhD
Dr. Yaptangco is a licensed psychologist at the YA CAT program at HMHI. She was awarded a PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Utah and completed her predoctoral internship at HMHI. Dr. Yaptangco completed her postdoctoral fellowship at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island where she trained across inpatient, partial hospitalization, and outpatient settings. She has clinical and research interests in mood disorders, self-harm, and suicidal behaviors in adolescents and young adults, and is intensively trained in dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) through behavioral tech. She is a primary supervisor within the psychology internship and post-doctoral programs and is a member of the Psychology Training Committee at HMHI. Dr. Yaptangco holds an adjunct faculty appointment at the University of Utah Department of Psychiatry.
Marcy Porritt, PhD
Dr. Porritt (she/they) received her PhD in clinical psychology from Loma Linda University with a formal specialization in neuroscience and neuropsychology. Her clinical emphasis is assessment and treatment of severe psychopathology and developmental disorders in adults and children. Dr. Porritt鈥檚 work experience includes community mental health, homeless outreach, Veteran鈥檚 Administration, and inpatient/intermediate psychiatric settings. Dr. Porritt currently works at HMHI YA CAT program and is the director of the post-doctoral training program at HMHI. She identifies primarily as a contextual behavioral scientist focusing on acceptance and commitment therapy with compassion and dialectical behavioral therapy. Dr. Porritt is a member of the LGBTQ Affirmative Therapists Guild of Utah and is actively involved in engaging issues of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion.
Danielle 鈥淒ani鈥 Marquardt, B.S.Ed.
Dani Marquardt is an education specialist for the CAT program at HMHI. She teaches on both the child and the young adult units. Dani is a licensed teacher for grades 1st-8th grade and is a certified health education specialist (CHES) with an endorsement in health education. Dani recently graduated from the University of Utah with a masters of special education in mild to moderate disabilities. Her areas of expertise include teaching foundational reading, writing, and math skills, as well as study habits and life skills through the use of executive function coaching. Dani utilizes metacognitive strategies to encourage students to be active participants in their learning.
Jacob Hansen, MST
Jacob Hansen is the education specialist in the CAT Program at the HMHI. He is a certified secondary education teacher and has taught courses across the curriculum including history, math, the sciences, and literature. He earned his masters of science and technology degree at the University of Utah. Jacob has worked in the educational field with teens for nearly 10 years as a wilderness guide, a classroom teacher, and as a director of local tutoring organizations. Jacob takes an adaptive approach to learning. He works to establish a growth mindset in each student he works with in the CAT program. He enjoys reading history and the sciences and fixing up his old house. He can often be found traveling around the mountains and deserts in the West.
Megan Moser, MTRS, CTRS
Megan is the recreation therapist for the YA CAT program. She has been practicing recreation therapy since 2006. She graduated from Longwood University with a bachelor's degree in recreation therapy and later completed a master's degree in parks, recreation, and tourism at the Unversity of Utah. She is licensed in the state of Utah at the master's level and nationally certified as a therapeutic recreation specialist (MTRS, CTRS). Throughout her career, she has worked with adolescents and adults in multiple mental health treatment settings. Megan is passionate about using a strengths based holistic approach while helping people find healthy and fulfilling leisure lifestyles. She also enjoys using outdoor recreation for teaching moments to link what is learned in therapy to how it can be practiced in real life situations. During her free time, Megan enjoys skiing, hiking, climbing, mountain biking, pottery, and live music. She enjoys being able to provide positive recreational opportunities to the patients at YA CAT.
Daniel Blair
Daniel Blair is the administrative assistant for the Young Adult CAT program. He earned his bachelor's of science in psychology and business management from Southern Utah University and his master's in industrial-organizational psychology from Eastern Kentucky University. He has been a team member with the Huntsman Mental Health Institute since 2017 working as a psychiatric technician on all youth inpatient units before transitioning over to the Young Adult CAT program. In Daniel's free time, he loves to travel, spend time outdoors with his dogs, and consistently be learning new things.
Patricia Gurule
Patrica Gurule was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah. She has been with HMHI for the past five years as a nutrition care supervisor. Prior to that, she was a kitchen manager at Juvenile Justice and a Deli manager at smiths. She has always been a part of the food industry in some way or the other, starting with doing catering with her sister back in the 90's and has progressed from there. She enjoys cooking and coming up with new and creative ideas to enhance her cooking skills. When Patricia is not at work, she enjoys spending time with her family, gardening, and being outdoors as much as she can. She has always been the type of person who likes to keep busy.