Episode 102: Holly Miles, Executive Director of NAMI Greater Kansas City and Mom Part 1

Don’t miss the first of this three-part series featuring Holly Miles. Holly has quite a story of her own mental health journey, her work as a psychiatric nurse, her journey with the foster care system, and her eventual adoption of her son, Jacob. Holly shares her personal and professional experiences that led her to her present work as the Executive Director of NAMI Greater Kansas City.  Holly always wanted to have children but was unable to do so. She and her husband went through the process of becoming foster parents.  Holly conveys her feelings vulnerably about fostering twins and eventually adopting a 12-year-old boy. Holly does not sugarcoat her experience with and feelings about the foster care system and the impact on her son, who was in the foster care system from the age of two until Holly and her husband adopted him at age twelve.

Susie Gurley

Susie Stapp Gurley was born and raised in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. She married her college sweetheart, Dan Gurley, shortly after graduating from TCU with a degree in advertising and public relations. In her first career, Susie worked in college admissions and academic advising. Simultaneously she pursued a master’s degree from The University of Central Missouri in sociology and then worked for the Sedgwick County, KS Department of Aging as a case worker. Susie stepped away from the professional world in 1997 to become a stay-at-home mom. She spent the majority of the last 25 years as a wife, mother, and volunteer, primarily in her church and her three children’s schools and activities.

Susie became a mental health advocate after her youngest son became a teen spokesperson about his battle with depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation. In 2018, at the age of 15, Will founded the You Matter Festival, a music festival promoting mental health awareness and suicide prevention. Will shared his personal mental health struggles with the 1,000-person crowd, which started his role as a local KC teen advocate for mental health. Because of Will’s involvement, Susie recorded a video #Zeroreasonswhy (https://zeroreasonswhy.org), a Kansas City area organization working to end teen suicide in the Johnson County, Kansas area. This video was viewed over 10,000 times, which was the impetus of the Just A Mom podcast. Susie decided that she needed to follow the brave trail blazed by her son and became an outspoken advocate for parents of children who struggle with mental illness. The Just a Mom podcast launched in September of 2022 and encourages parents to know that they are not alone and there is hope.

Susie served as the Executive Director of the You Matter Festival and is currently on the Friends of Johnson County Mental Health Board. Susie has grown three children, two daughters-in-law, and a son-in-law.

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Episode 101: Mary Pruitt, Executive Producer and Co-Author, NEVER2LATE Productions