Organizing Where Policy Gets Made to Ensure Treatment Before Tragedy.

Holly Strayer is a dedicated advocate for Severe Mental Illness (SMI) reform, specializing in helping families navigate the complex and often fractured systems of care for psychotic disorders and serious brain illnesses. Her dedication to systemic change is fueled by her family’s personal journey—a mission defined by the pursuit of meaningful recovery for her son and the belief that medical treatment is a fundamental human right.

Holly’s advocacy is built on a strong professional foundation. She holds a B.S. in Special Education from the University of Mississippi and served as a teacher and department head in Birmingham, AL, where she focused on supporting students struggling with various brain disorders. This early professional insight into systemic gaps provides her with a unique advantage in her current role as Alabama’s Policy Director.

Her perspective is further shaped by her tenure as a foster parent. Working closely with the Alabama Department of Human Resources, Holly provided a stable environment for children in crisis. This frontline experience, combined with certifications in Trauma-Informed Parenting and NAMI’s Family-to-Family curriculum, allows her to guide others with authority and deep empathy.

In addition to her leadership within the NSSC, Holly is an active force in the national advocacy community, collaborating with organizations such as CureSZ, the Treatment Advocacy Center (TAC), and Team Daniel. When she isn’t advocating for legislative reform or working in her family’s business, Holly enjoys traveling, gardening, and teaching children at her church.

Contact: hstrayer@nsscoalition.org

Tammy Ballentine serves as the North Alabama Coordinator for the Shattering Silence Coalition Alabama, advocating for individuals and families affected by serious mental illness and bringing awareness to the urgent need for meaningful system reform.

Driven by firsthand experience navigating systemic gaps, Tammy is dedicated to ending delays that leave families struggling to access timely, coordinated care. She advocates for a medical system that recognizes psychosis as an immediate emergency—where waiting 24 hours for care is recognized as unacceptable.

Tammy emphasizes thorough, individualized discharge planning, continuity of care, and multi-agency collaboration between providers, social workers, families, and courts. Her mission is to transform lived experience into meaningful advocacy, ensuring families receive understanding, treatment, dignity, and hope instead of administrative barriers.

Brittany Williams serves as the South Alabama Coordinator for SSCAL, driven by the core conviction that every person deserves hope, dignity, and access to quality care without fear of judgment.

Through connecting individuals and families to treatment, Brittany has witnessed firsthand how the right support at the right time can change—and save—lives. She is deeply passionate about breaking the stigma surrounding mental health and substance use disorders while building strong community networks that streamline access to care.

Her primary goal is to serve as a voice for those who feel voiceless, pushing to overhaul overworked, outdated procedures so no more lives are lost to administrative neglect.

Leigh Oliver, LMSW, is a social worker, advocate, and mother whose career spans child mental health, crisis intervention, substance recovery, correctional mental health, and reentry services. Having overcome trauma and addiction herself, and as the parent of an adult child with SMI, Leigh possesses a deeply personal understanding of both recovery and systemic criminalization of brain illness.

These experiences transformed Leigh into a relentless advocate determined to ensure parents never have to choose between calling for help and fearing their child will end up in a jail cell. Through the National Shattering Silence Coalition, Leigh facilitates two monthly virtual support groups: The Hidden Sentence (for families with incarcerated loved ones) and The Anchor (for caregivers navigating SMI).

Her mission is to build systems grounded in compassion, accountability, and hope, ensuring no individual living with severe mental illness and no loved one walking beside them ever feels unseen or alone.

Laura Twilley serves as the Finance Manager of the Shattering Silence Coalition of Alabama and is a dedicated advocate for individuals living with severe mental illness and their family caregivers. As the mother of two children diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, Laura has spent over 12 years navigating a fractured mental health system as both caregiver and advocate.

Having witnessed the heartbreaking impact of delayed treatment and crisis-driven policies, Laura is a staunch supporter of The River Act. She is committed to ensuring severe mental illness is treated with immediate medical priority, raising awareness, and providing financial and advocacy tools so that no family has to navigate the system alone.

Marianne serves as the Recording Secretary for Shattering Silence Coalition Alabama.

Marianne is a passionate advocate for Severe Mental Illness (SMI) reform, driven by her 15-year journey as a caregiver for a seriously mentally ill family member. Her advocacy is rooted in a profound understanding of the systemic failures that leave families waiting for dangerous behaviors to occur before intervention. Marianne fights for a community where anosognosia, medication non-compliance, and psychosis are recognized as medical emergencies requiring immediate treatment, ensuring that police provide medical care instead of making arrests.

Marianne's advocacy is grounded in a strong clinical and administrative foundation. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Alabama in Huntsville, specializing in Oncology and Women's Health. Her professional experience includes organizing the opening and management of a medical practice, as well as serving as a high school substitute teacher. This blend of clinical expertise and operational leadership provides her with a unique perspective on healthcare delivery and the critical need for accessible, stigma-free mental health services.

Her perspective is further enriched by a diverse range of leadership and service roles. As a Court-Appointed Juvenile Advocate and Board Member for the American Red Cross in Yokota, Japan, Marianne has demonstrated a lifelong commitment to service and community support. Raised in Huntsville and returning in 2019 after her husband's military retirement, she brings a global outlook shaped by traveling the world with her husband and four sons. Her deep familiarity with mental health systems across two states and four counties, combined with expertise in commitment processes, guardianship, special needs trusts, and disability applications, allows her to navigate complex legal and medical landscapes with authority.

Marianne is an active force who champions patient rights and the pursuit of stigma-free living for those with mental illness. She collaborates with organizations to advance healthcare and kindness, ensuring that the voices of caregivers and patients are heard in legislative and community forums. When she is not advocating for systemic change, Marianne enjoys tennis, oil painting, pottery, and spending quality time with her family.