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Meet the Board

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Acey Mercer, Board President

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Acey Mercer, LCSW is a passionate and driven social worker who has dedicated his career to providing support and advocacy for vulnerable communities marginalized by social inequality and institutional oppression based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Acey studied at Radboud University in the Netherlands where his academic focus was in Gender & Sexuality Studies. These foci ignited Acey’s passion to further explore and examine human behavior, relationships and the intersections of class, race, ability, gender and sexual identity. These motivating factors drew Acey to pursue his Master's in Social Work and ultimately to become a licensed therapist, trainer, consultant, and educator.

 

Acey is the owner of ACME Advocacy and specializes in providing professional training as well as policy and curriculum development relating to best affirming practices with *2SLGBTQIA+, transgender, nonbinary, and gender expansive populations across a vast array of disciplines. The consulting services Acey delivers are enhanced and complimented by the strong clinical lens he has as a therapist. In his private practice, Acey supports adults, youth, and their families as they navigate questions, challenges, and celebrations related to the emotional, psychological, social, legal and medical aspects of gender journey and transition.

 

Acey is a consultant for New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) and the Office of Mental Health (OMH) providing gender-affirming assessments, clinical care, and transition education to incarcerated individuals. Furthermore, Acey teaches affirming clinical practices to postgraduate level students as a lecturer at the State University of New York at Albany, Department of Educational & Counseling Psychology and School of Social Welfare.

 

Acey has written articles published in print and online and has had various media appearances, been referenced, and given professional statements and interviews for National Geographic, Huffington Post, Doctor Radio on SiriusXM, WalletHub, Giddy, Times Union, Spectrum News, and WIOX Radio. 

In honor of truly saving the best for last - Acey is a proud husband and father of a tenacious toddler and bubbly baby.

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Bree Gaddy, Vice President

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Bree is a macro social worker who is deeply curious about how we can create and maintain alternative structures and systems that better care for our communities. Bree’s professional experience ranges from working in affordable housing and family shelters to economic security to reproductive justice.

They specialize in organizational development and facilitation. Currently, Bree co-directs a technical assistance department at the National Network of Abortion Funds, where they support abortion funds with growing and tending to their organizations. They take a healing justice and liberation approach, including centering pro-Black, anti-racist, anti-capitalist, abolitionist, and radical feminist principles in all of their work. 
 

Bree's heart work is facilitation and mutual aid. They've helped to open a community free store and co-facilitated political education spaces for social workers. Bree enjoys checking out the library for magic realism, developing their ceramics practice, traveling to see family and friends, and visiting the ocean.

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Taylor Edelmann, Secretary

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Taylor has worked in community health for the last decade, providing direct service, managing communications, and facilitating trainings on various LGB/TGNCNBI+ health topics. He lives in Connecticut with his wife, children, and three spoiled cats. 

 

He has been featured in USA Today, Out Magazine, Outsports, and the Us & Them podcast, to share his experience as one of the first out NCAA trans athletes in the country. This has helped give his work a unique perspective and trajectory to increase awareness of trans bodies and the community's varying needs.
 

Taylor oversees the Lighthouse Learning Collective, a program within the National Harm Reduction Coalition (NHRC) focused on supporting the work of queer harm reductionists and LGB/TGNCNBI folks who use drugs and/or engage in sex work. 
 

Additionally, Taylor is a trainer for the NHRC. He engages frontline staff to think about the foundations and intersections of harm reduction, safer drug use, sexual & reproductive health, and queer identities to create a world where everyone can live more authentically.

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Marina Franchild, Treasurer

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Marina Franchild worked as a Mechanical Engineer and Deputy Project Manager. For the past ten years she has provided strategic financial planning for a small business, and has tutored high school mathematics, physics and chemistry, the latter also on an advance placement college level.

 

In addition, Marina has worked as a volunteer mentor for: Schenectady Working Group on Girls; and as a volunteer pre-college math instructor/tutor at Greene Correctional Facility. Since 2005 Marina has been the Co-Commissioner of a citizens’ group overseeing Park District #2 in Niskayuna to maintain an 8 acre green space.

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Kitty McLeod

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Kitty  is a self-described blerd. She facilitates organizational culture change management as the President of the Inclusion Plus Institute, guided by data to coach organizations to maximize inclusive and creative collaboration.
 

In 2021, she founded Illumine Wellness (@illumine.wellness) to support others as they integrate safety and joy in their bodies through body awareness, play, and sound healing.

Kitty is also a choreographer and dance/yoga instructor (200 Hr YTT). Her style is influenced by movement forms from Hip Hop to Circus Arts, as well as her training as a Dance major at Ursinus College and her current study in Dance Movement Therapy at Rider University.

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Jeremy Boyce, LMHC

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Jeremy Boyce, LMHC, is a licensed psychotherapist, with a master’s degree in Mental Health Counseling from the University at Albany, and a bachelor’s in biology and psychology from SUNY Geneseo. Jeremy has worked in various settings within the mental health and healthcare industries, including a counselor at an elementary school, clinician, and teacher at a community mental health program for adults with severe mental illness, living skills trainer for individuals with traumatic brain injuries, and various outpatient clinics.

 

In 2016, Jeremy joined CDPHP, a local health plan, where he has developed and conducted suicide prevention and crisis intervention trainings, oversaw the Behavioral Health Access Center, which assists members in locating mental health and substance use providers and resources, and currently, serves as Director, Integrated Care Management, managing the mental health, substance use, long-term care, and pediatric care management teams.

 

In his clinical work, Jeremy specializes in children, families, and trauma-informed care, and holds a certificate as a Child and Adolescent Trauma Professional through the International Trauma Training Institute. Jeremy joined the Board of Directors of Prism Counseling & Advocacy in the Summer of 2019. Jeremy lives in Albany, NY with his husband, and enjoys traveling, cooking (and eating) food, and playing piano.

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Nicole Bromley, PsyD

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Nicole is a psychologist and Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at Albany Med Health System. There she provides individual therapy to adults with a range of psychological struggles, as well as support for gender affirming treatments. Nicole works to be an ally to the LGBTQQIP2SA+ community, as well as other marginalized groups, especially within a healthcare system

 

 In addition to her clinical role, Nicole provides education and supervision to the next generation of health professionals around cultural humility and culturally competent treatment. She strives to provide a safe, affirming, and inclusive environment for her patients, colleagues, and trainees so that they may evolve into the best version of themselves.

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Dr. Michael Murphy, PhD

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Michael is a biomedical ethicist with specialties in both clinical ethics consultation and health policy development. He has taught biomedical ethics to both medical students and undergraduates and works as a standardized patient educator at Albany Medical College.


Michael has completed his second doctorate at the Alden March Bioethics Institute and AMC with a thesis that there is a moral duty for educational programs in bioethics to collaborate with vulnerable communities. His focus is on developing trusted messengers and allyships in collaborative organizations as well as educational programs based on collaborative community
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Michael is an openly gay man (he/him) in a nearly 50-year relationship with his spouse, Peter, and is a trauma-informed consultant and educator. 

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Lauren LaCorazza

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Lauren attended St. John’s University in Queens, NY where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Communication Studies. After a brief venture in Public Relations, she pivoted to pursue a more qualitative path in Marketing. Throughout her career, Lauren has held integrated roles covering strategic planning and investment across various channels including digital, TV, OOH, and print.

 

Her experience spans diverse sectors, from pharmaceutical brands across many specialties, tourism, QSRs, and durable goods. She has advised on UX, creative formats, CRM efforts, and audience verification in some capacity.

 

Beyond her professional pursuits, Lauren is passionate about fostering a more equitable and inclusive world. Lauren is hoping to create ways to empower anyone that needs assistance navigating the healthcare system and wants to build resources that allow people to become advocates for their specific needs.

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April Marcopolos, CIT, LAH, MAGIC facilitator

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Bio coming soon!

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Dr. Michael Murphy, PhD

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bio coming soon!

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Vicky Cassis

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Vicky Cassis is a nonprofit financials specialist with a passion for helping liberation-oriented nonprofits build sustainable systems for the long haul. They bring a trauma-informed approach to finance and operations, understanding that state compliance and wealth-building are mechanisms that continue to alienate marginalized communities. 

 

Vicky is currently the Finance Manager at Intersection for the Arts, a Bay Area nonprofit resource center for artists that specializes in fiscal sponsorship. In this role, they work to empower members to learn the financial skills they need to manage their money and/or transition to their own 501c3 status. In their previous role as Finance Manager at Trans Lifeline, a national crisis support line by and for trans people, Vicky led budget creation and budget management with an emphasis on transparency and empowered decision-making.

 

While Vicky has been on the West Coast for the past decade, she is originally from the Boston area. Since high school, they have been involved in local queer organizing, mental health and harm reduction advocacy, environmental justice, and more. In their down time, Vicky is a multipassionate creative goofball who loves being outside with her dogs and friends.

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