Physical Address: Mailing Address: 1425 Crooked Hill Road PO Box 61620 Harrisburg, PA 17106 Business Hours: Give us a call: Office Phone: 717-221-1022 Send us an e-mail: |
PMHCA & Youth MOVE PA Staff | YMPA Staff at "Wellness Days 2022" Presque Isle State Park |
Youth MOVE PA Staff
Kevin Puskaric is the Program Director at Youth Move Pennsylvania, where he specializes in empathetic leadership, youth engagement, and has overcome experiences in his life to support representing the voice of our youth. To fully support the community, he has dedicated time in his professional career to become certified as a Peer Specialist, Recovery Specialist, and a Family Recovery Specialist. Kevin continues to deepen his knowledge and share his experience within the youth population by serving as a co-chair to the Children's Committee of Mental Health Planning Council and the Transition Age Youth and Young Adult Advisory (TAYYA) Subcommittee, as part of the Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (OMHSAS). He showcases his knowledge, dedication, and fierce advocacy through youth peer support initiatives within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. |
![]() | Zoe Small (she/he/they) is a passionate advocate for the voices of youth and cares deeply about connecting young people to the resources they need to thrive. Zoe loves active listening, providing care, and making those around her feel seen and valued. As a Certified Peer Specialist, Zoe uses their own lived experience with mental health challenges to connect with others experiencing similar struggles. A 2020 graduate from Bryn Mawr College, Zoe began his career in the non-profit sector serving youth with disabilities and their families, and now continues to support youth in their self-advocacy as the Community Outreach Coordinator for Youth MOVE PA. Zoe believes in the power of building community and living with the values of kindness and compassion. In her free time, Zoe enjoys singing, dancing, hiking, reading, and watching sitcoms. |
Christopher Lunsford is a diverse and charismatic individual with a passion for advocacy and support towards other human beings, particularly youth and young adults that live with mental illness. He has lived experience with bipolar disorder, depression and ADHD since early childhood and has developed an ever-growing skillset for successfully working through recovery. Chris has worked in a wide variety of fields before mental healthcare including electrical work, foodservice, transportation, technical support, content creation, and more. Through it all, he has developed an increasingly wide understanding of diverse groups of people. Chris was trained as a Certified Peer Specialist in 2020 and previously worked as a Case Management CPS in the Lehigh Valley and Northampton Counties at Sevita; formerly known as The MENTOR Network. He has also been providing intentional peer support to gamers of all ages on the online platform Twitch since 2014. There, he shares his experience with others and gives people a place to make their stories and voices heard, receive support, and build meaningful connections with their peers. Chris believes the power of connection, support, and representation is crucial to the wellbeing of humanity and the world around us. With his lived experience, broad worldview and passion for supporting others, Chris is now the Call for Change & Youth Care Coordinator at the Pennsylvania Mental Health Consumers' Association (PMHCA) and hopes to make a positive impact in the way that mental health services are provided to youth and young adults. To Chris, everyone has a story worth hearing and knows that the voices of young people will tell the stories of our future. |
Tyanna became a Certified Recovery Specialist in June of 2023 and is currently continuing her education to obtain her Certified Family Recovery Specialist and Community Health Worker credentials. She recently celebrated 7 years of recovery from drugs and alcohol and 5 years of recovery from mental health-related conditions. She has lived experience with borderline personality disorder, bipolar, anxiety, and ADHD since her early teen years and through her adverse life experiences has grown a passion for advocacy and learning. Tyanna previously and currently works as a Direct Support Professional helping those with intellectual and physical needs enjoy their communities to the fullest and advocate for themselves. Tyanna is an avid intellectual, enjoys learning more than anything else, and is pursuing her bachelor’s degree in social work. She also enjoys spending time with her 4 children and her husband, playing video games, shopping, and just relaxing. |
Ed Cunningham comes to the peer support role as a natural extension of his lifetime of work in the public service sector. After a career in policing that spans more than thirty years, including receiving his bachelor’s degree in communication from Duquesne University, and his master’s degree in law enforcement management from Aspen University, Ed has transitioned into working in the peer mental health space out of a passion for helping others. Ed is a passionate advocate for those who are living with mental health and substance use problems in their life, and his focus is on smashing the stigma that exists between those who are living with these issues and those who are supposed to be helping them. In his professional career, he has seen and dealt with the impact of this stigma, and in his personal life, his struggles with depression and PTSD have allowed him to experience the stigma from the other side. Ed loves working with young adults, and really cherishes the opportunities to change the future, one handshake at a time! In his free time, Ed enjoys working in the deli that he owns with his wife and using his culinary skills to give back to his community.
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Dan Krupinsky (he/him/his) entered the behavioral health field in 2023 when he became a Certified Recovery Specialist and, shortly thereafter, a member of both PMHCA and PaPSC. As a proud graduate of Penn State’s Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications, he is excited to use the skills that he has gained and honed over years of working with and in front of the public to do good and make a difference in his home state of Pennsylvania. Despite entering the behavioral health field as a professional relatively recently, he has years of experience working with children and young adults in various volunteer positions and is thrilled to finally be able to do it full-time. In his free time, Dan loves being active, exploring new places and attending live shows (especially music and comedy), as well as reading and watching too many TV shows and movies. |
![]() | Mandie worked as a physical therapist assistant in nursing homes from 2008-2020. Mandie started her bachelor’s degree in public health at Cedar Crest College because she felt she needed a change, but still wanted to work in a field that is helpful to others. She completed her bachelor’s degree in 2023 while working at Lowe’s regional distribution center. After finishing her degree, Mandie became a part-time substitute teacher for the local school districts and enjoyed working with youth and young adults. Mandie is currently working toward a master’s degree in public health at Chamberlain University. In her free time, she spends time with her two children, her parents, her poodle, and her cat. She also likes travelling and watching old television shows. |