MIRECC / CoE

Gregory Hughes, LICSW

Gregory Hughes, LICSW is Director of Field Operations for the Veterans Crisis Line. He has been in the position since October, 2018. In this role he coordinates operational and clinical activities between the Veterans Crisis Line and all VHA facilities and staff. In addition, he is responsible for development of both internal and external partnerships that will improve care, coordination and outcomes for VCL callers. Prior to taking this position Mr. Hughes was the Director of Field Operations for Suicide Prevention Programs within the Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention. In that role he oversaw the functioning of over 400 Suicide Prevention staff at every VA Medical Center and large Community Based Outpatient Clinic. Mr. Hughes was responsible for development of policy and procedure for management of Veterans at high risk for suicide. He also served as Co-Chair for the Suicide Prevention Training Council and change in policy to mandate annual suicide prevention training for all VA employees. Mr. Hughes also oversaw the development of the initial Mayor’s Challenge for Suicide Prevention which drew together a diverse community of stakeholders, from seven cities across the US, with the goal of enacting policy and interventions aimed at reducing Veteran suicide. Mr. Hughes also served as Director of the Veterans Crisis Line for a period from 2015 through 2016. He came to the VA in 2008 as Chief of Social Work for the Durham VA Medical Center and served in that role through 2015. Prior to coming to the VA Mr. Hughes served as Executive Director of the Governor’s Interagency Council on Substance Abuse from 2005 through 2008 and as the Director of Mental Health and Substance Abuse for the Massachusetts Department of Correction from 1997 through 2005.

Officer Eric Wood

Officer Eric Wood has been with the Grand Junction Police Department for sixteen and a half years. He started his law enforcement career in 1992 with the Mesa County Sheriff’s Department detention facility after serving in the United States Navy. His duties at the police department have focused on patrol, and three years ago he began working with our Co-Responder Team as an alternate or fill in. In July of 2020 he took over as a full time Co-Responder officer. He is CIT certified, and is a CIT coach and a crisis/hostage negotiator, among his other duties.

Carleigh Sailon

Carleigh Sailon is a licensed clinical social worker and licensed addiction counselor with 7 years of experience in community mental health and program development. Carleigh has held several different positions throughout her career working as a case manager, behavioral health navigator in the Denver Downtown Detention Center and Program Manager of Criminal Justice Services. Carleigh spent several years creating and managing alternative response models and programs throughout the criminal justice system. Carleigh developed and staffed the STAR van during its initial pilot year and recently transitioned to a new position with Denver 9-1-1 as the STAR Operations Manager to oversee the expansion. Carleigh teaches as an adjunct professor for the University of Denver’s Graduate School of Social Work. She is originally from Long Island, New York and received her MSW from Stony Brook University.

Crystal Tabor

Crystal Tabor, a U.S. Army Veteran who served as a Combat Medic, now serves as Lead Peer Support Specialist for the Eastern Colorado Veterans Health Care System provides direct care to Veterans being served by the Suicide Prevention Program at ECVHCS. Like all Peers, Crystal has lived experience in the area of personal mental health recovery and serves our Veterans with similar challenges. Crystal uses her recovery story involving her own personal challenges with suicidal ideation as well as experiences with suicide losses of close friends & family to fuel her passion for recovery & suicide prevention.

Jennifer Daniels

Jennifer Daniels is the Coordinator of the Mesa County Suicide Prevention Coalition and the Colorado-National Collaborative (CNC) for Mesa County. Her undergraduate education is in Human Biology and she's currently pursuing her graduate degree in Social Work. Jennifer has volunteered with the Grand Junction Police Department as a Victim Advocate since 2012 with a special heart for suicide loss response. She is a master trainer in ASIST, a certified trainer in Adult and Youth Mental Health First Aid and QPR, program coordinator for NAMI Ending the Silence.

Nathan Souder

Growing up, Nathan was fortunate to have a family that visited many national parks.  It was on one of those visits that he decided to apply for a job at Glacier National Park where he worked for an unforgettable summer.  Following that summer at Glacier, Nathan worked at Rocky Mountain National Park for several summers as a backcountry ranger before going out to Washington, D.C. and interning with the National Park Service through a leadership program at Indiana University during his senior year of college.  Following graduation, Nathan spent several more years in D.C. before heading back out west for a decade of work in the Denver-based Intermountain Regional Office in a variety of capacities.  Ready to be in the “field again”, Nathan was selected as 1 of 10 Urban Fellows in the agency and worked in a position that was based out of both Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve and City Hall in Jacksonville, FL.  At the end of the two-year fellowship Nathan landed his first superintendency at De Soto National Memorial on Florida’s Gulf Coast, before finally landing his dream job in October 2019 at Colorado National Monument in western Colorado.   Nathan, his wife Sarah, and two young boys, Elias and Ethan, love the Grand Valley and serving the people that visit and call it home. 

Melissa Armstrong,  

Melissa Armstrong is a Veteran Services Regional Manager at Volunteers of America Colorado Branch Melissa has 8 years of experience administering the VA grant-funded program: Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF). Her team supports over 160 at-risk Veteran households annually throughout 16 Western Colorado counties and Northwestern New Mexico, to obtain or retain permanent, affordable housing.

Melissa has an MBA in-progress at the University of Phoenix and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Colorado Mesa University. She lives in Grand Junction, CO and enjoys long walks and talks with her 3 amazing teenagers and 1 grumpy Australian cattle dog.

Marie Hargrove, LCSW 

Marie Hargrove graduated from McPherson College, in McPherson, KS in 1999.  She then completed her MSW at Colorado State University in 2004 and Licensed Clinical Social Work licensure from the State of Colorado in 2007.  Marie has worked in various human services fields since 2001 to include private probation, child welfare – Expedited Permanency Planning unit, and at the Colorado Mental Health Institute – Pueblo with the Circle Program.  Marie has been working with the Veteran’s Health Administration since 2010, where she has served in different programs such as Outpatient Mental Health, MHICM, BHIP, Suicide Prevention, and as a VA Healthcare Liaison.  She now is the Program Manager for the M2VA Program in which she is excited to ensure that our Nations Service Members receive a smooth transition from the military.  In her free time, she loves spending time with her family, to include her two dogs.  They enjoy hiking, but mostly spending time on the beach.

Diane Ricci

Dr. Diane Ricci is an Army Lieutenant Colonel with over 16 years of Active Duty and Reserve time including an 18-month tour of Iraq and year-long tour of Fort Carson, CO earning a Bronze Star, three Meritorious Service Awards and others.  She is currently a Veterans Service Officer for Jefferson County with over nine years’ experience assisting Veterans and eligible family members apply for Federal and State benefits. She holds four college degrees including a Doctorate from Western Seminary and a MBA from the University of Denver.

Emily Humphrey

My name is Emily Humphrey and I have been in the criminal justice field just shy of 25 years. The first 22 years as a District Attorney and currently I am the Director of  the Larimer County Criminal Justice Services Division which are programs dedicated to alternatives to traditional incarceration.  I am the founder and member of the Larimer County Juvenile Gun Safety Coalition that focuses on responsible gun ownership, safe gun storage, education of teens on gun violence and the effects on the community and teen mental health and suicide prevention.   

Nathan Rudolph

Nathan C. Rudolph is a Peer Support Specialist and Firearm Advocate at the VA Western Colorado Health Care System. He served in the US Army from 1995 to 2000, serving in the IFOR/SFOR/KFOR in Bosnia and Herzogovina.

Dr. Joseph Simonetti

Dr. Simonetti is a hospital medicine physician at the Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center and investigator with the Rocky Mountain MIRECC for Suicide Prevention. His research focuses on developing patient-centered firearm safety interventions for individuals at risk of suicide. As an educator, he works locally and nationally to support VA and community-based clinicians in delivering evidence-based and culturally competent lethal means safety counseling to at-risk Veterans.