Great Plains Disaster Behavioral Health Conference

Stacey Hoffman focuses on disaster behavioral health response planning, risk and crisis communication, public health monitoring system evaluation, program evaluation, and program management in her work at the NU Public Policy Center. She received her Ph.D. and M.A. in psychology from UNL, and her B.A. from Cornell College.

Nathan Mueller earned his B.S. and M.S. in agronomy from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a Ph.D. in agronomy from Kansas State University. His thesis was on sediment and phosphorus movement in an agricultural watershed and his dissertation on soil fertility for corn and soybean. Previously, Nathan worked as a resource specialist team leader with the Indiana State Department of Agriculture–Soil Conservation Division and as an assistant professor and an extension agronomist for South Dakota State University.

Chris Schroeder serves as long-term recovery specialist and voluntary agency liaison with the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency. In this role, since last year and in the 2019 flooding aftermath, he coordinates the Governor’s Long-Term Recovery Task Force and the state’s Food Security Task Force, and assists with recovery operations, individual assistance, and mass care efforts around Nebraska. Originally from West Virginia, Chris served in similar disaster recovery capacities around the Appalachian region following the West Virginia flood and the forest fires in the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, both in 2016. Before that, he led a small nonprofit in repairing and rebuilding homes for people living in poverty around Appalachia, the operations of which became the structure of FEMA’s Rapid Rebuild program.

Mikayla Johnson is the network administrator for the Division of Behavioral Health (DBH) within Nebraska’s Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). Part of her role within DBH is the behavioral health disaster lead, working with sister divisions in DHHS, University of Nebraska’s Public Policy Center, six regional Behavioral Health Authorities, and other state agencies when natural or man-made disasters occur. Mikayla also has experience with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMSHA) Crisis Counseling Assistance and Training Programs grants. The State of Nebraska has again been awarded the Immediate Services Program grant for COVID-19.

Alice Mitwaruciu is a licensed psychologist who specializes in trauma, PTSD, and crisis intervention and management. She earned her Master’s and Ph.D. in psychology at the University of Utah and her Master’s in education at the University of Idaho. In 2019, she joined the Counseling and Psychology Services (CAPS) at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln as the assistant director.