Chair

Elizabeth Bojie, CD/PCD(DONA), PMH-C

Elizabeth Bojie is the mother of 7 and has a passion for maternal mental health advocacy and awareness. After winning her own battle with PMADs, Elizabeth began to share her journey through essays and articles, finding purpose through helping others realize that they’re not alone.

Since 2009 Elizabeth has helped parents as they birthed and brought home a new baby. She is a DONA certified birth and postpartum doula, a certified perinatal mental health professional (PMH-C), and a mentor with PSI’s peer mentor program. Wanting to offer another level of service to her clients and to the overall perinatal community, she is currently earning a masters degree in counseling.

Understanding the fear of stigma and judgment, Elizabeth is working to build a community where those affected by PMADs can feel safe to share their struggles and begin their path to winning their own battles. She is honored to serve on the Board of PSI Arkansas and is inspired daily as she serves alongside an amazing group of like-minded individuals who have a genuine desire to bring hope.

PSI Chapter Liaison

Stephanie Sweat, LCSW, PMH-C

Stephanie is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) with a certification in Perinatal Mental Health (PMH-C). She graduated with a masters in Social Work from Arkansas State University in 2016. She has worked in various settings throughout her career including community mental health, medical social work, and most currently, private practice. Clinical experience includes working with individuals experiencing anxiety, depression, mood instability, trauma, life transitions, and difficulty managing their work/life balance.

She enjoys working with individuals and families. Stephanie is excited about the opportunity to serve on the board of Postpartum Support International Arkansas Chapter. She looks forward to engaging with individuals and communities across the state to bring awareness and resources for those affected by Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders.

Secretary

Morganne Brown, LCSW, PMH-C (pronouns: she/her).

I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) with a certification in Perinatal Mental Health (PMH-C). Professional roles include community mental health, medical social work, and private practice. Clinical experience includes working with individuals experiencing anxiety, depression, mood instability, trauma, life transitions, and difficulty managing daily functioning and/or stressors.

Private practice work focuses on individuals affected by Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders. I enjoy helping and guiding individuals, couples, and families through a time full of adjustments and change associated with the perinatal period. Focus areas include mood disorders and anxiety related to or experienced by teen mothers, role changes, breastfeeding, losses, post-adoption depression, and balancing career and home changes.

I am excited about the opportunity to serve as Secretary on the Postpartum Support, International Arkansas Chapter Board. I look forward to engaging with communities across the state to bring awareness and resources for those affected by Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders.

Treasurer

Meg Sandlin, CD-L, PIC

Meg Sandlin is a Labor and Postpartum Doula serving Eastern Oklahoma and the Arkansas River Valley. The mother of 3 experienced a range of labor and postpartum trauma that resulted in undiagnosed depression and anxiety. Spending years silently suffering, she finally recognized the symptoms and had to reach out for help on her own. These experiences led her to birth work and she developed a passion for mental health.

After her grandfather committed suicide and various family members were admitted to inpatient facilities, she knew she needed to make mental health part of her career. Meg will be graduating from the University of Arkansas – Fort Smith with a Bachelor of Science in Organizational Leadership, with plans to eventually pursue a degree in Psychology.

Meg has a background as a Certified Yoga Instructor and has led several workshops on mental health and stress management. She wants others to know that what they are going through can be common, but not necessarily normal, and there are many ways professionals can help.

“No matter how deep and dark it may seem, it can get better and you are so worth the effort we go through to help you. You are not a burden. You are not alone. You deserve life. Just stay.”

Advocacy Lead

Desiree Jenkins, RN, BSN

Desiree Jenkins RN, BSN is currently the lead RN educator at the University of Arkansas Medical Science Office of Community Health and Research in Northwest Arkansas (NWA). Desiree supports the Family Wellness programs and leads health care initiatives for the maternal health programs. Desiree has also completed doula training and is actively working towards certification through DONA International. She has a personal connection to seeing better maternal health outcomes. Desiree, herself was a young mom overcoming the barriers that have penetrated our maternal wellness systems. Desiree was recently accepted into the BSN-PhD program at UAMS-Little Rock. This step supports the passion Desiree has to bring better maternal health care to her community and the surrounding states at a systems level.

Board Member At Large

Shona Ray-Griffith, M.D.

Dr. Ray-Griffith is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Obstetrics & Gynecology at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS).  She is board certified in both psychiatry and addiction medicine with fellowship training in perinatal mental health. Dr. Ray serves as the outpatient director of the Women’s Mental Health Program at UAMS.  Her clinical expertise includes the management of mental illness, substance use disorders, and chronic pain throughout pregnancy and the postpartum period.

Board Member at Large

Kelsie Hammons, LCSW, PMH-C

Kelsie has been involved with PSI- Arkansas Chapter since March of 2021. She serves as a Board Member at Large. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) and is certified in Perinatal Mental Health (PMH-C).  Kelsie currently works in private practice serving individuals in their reproductive and parenting journey at RiverStone Wellness Center in Little Rock, Arkansas. Kelsie is a mother who has lived and professional experience in the realm of maternal mental health. She is passionate about and committed to supporting individuals and families directly as well as collaborating with community partners that expand resources for families across the state.

Board Member at Large

Melissa Ruiz Eudey, Doula, RYT

Melissa is a Certified Holistic Birth & Postpartum Doula and a Yoga instructor. Melissa is bilingual and serves English and Spanish-speaking families in Northwest Arkansas through doula work, childbirth and postpartum classes. She also provides experiences through Yoga. She currently serves mothers and families with Arkansas Family Doulas and the UAMS Healthy Start program. Her training includes emphasis on prenatal care, holistic birth, anatomy & physiology, conflict resolution, tending the postpartum mind and body, and breastfeeding.

She is passionate about her community and dedicated to improving maternal health care and outcomes by supporting, advocating, educating, and holding space for mothers and families. She is dedicated to empowering and elevating mothers and families in the pregnancy, birth, and postpartum experience that they want. She holds a Bachelor of Public Health from the University of Arkansas and lives in Bella Vista, AR with her husband, son, dog, cat, and a daughter due in late summer

Board Member at Large

Angel Mattes, Doula, LE, CPST

Angel is a postpartum doula and passionate advocate for women and their families. When her first baby was born in 2006, she experienced a traumatic birth and both postpartum depression and anxiety. She realized the wide gap between the support new parents need and what they’re given and set forth to help other families avoid what she had gone through. She trained as a Labor Doula with DONA in 2012, and as a Lactation Educator with CAPPA in 2014. She later became certified as a Child Passenger Safety Technician to help new and expectant parents keep their babies safe in the car and while traveling. She loves educating and encouraging new parents to learn about their babies, follow their instincts, and cultivate their confidence. She is an outspoken advocate for nursing mothers in the workplace and helped establish the first lactation room for employees at William Rainey Harper College in Illinois, prior to the Affordable Care Act, which required employers to do so. She has been working toward a nursing degree, with the end goal to become a Certified Nurse-Midwife and lactation consultant. Although she has spent most of her life in the suburbs of Chicago, she now happily resides in Northwest Arkansas with her husband, three children, and two fat cats.

Board Member at Large

Mackenzi Davis, LCSW, PMH-C

Mackenzi Davis received her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Philander Smith College in
2010. Returning to school in 2012, she received her Master of Social Work degree from the
University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

She currently works full-time at Arkansas Children’s Hospital and it was here that her interest and passion grew for perinatal mental health.

In 2022, she became a certified perinatal mental health provider in the state of Arkansas. One of the
most consistent things that she has learned in her time as a therapist is that creating safe
spaces for black women is part of her purpose. When she is not working at Arkansas Children’s
Hospital, she enjoys speaking and educating others on working with black women and ways to
create safe spaces. She believes that our voice is one of the most powerful tools that we could
be given, and it is important that her voice is used to advocate for black women through the lens
of perinatal and maternal mental health. She is the owner of Holding Space Counseling, LLC, a
private practice that accomplishes this goal while holding space for women.