What is Healing-Centered Mentoring™?
Healing-Centered Mentoring™ (HCM) is a framework that will build the capacity of mentoring organizations to increase the number of youth receiving evidence-based mental health services through mentoring, simultaneously reducing the burden on existing systems of care, and reducing the barriers to mental health services, particularly for BIPOC youth.
Healing-Centered Mentoring™ Fellowship
Healing-Centered Mentoring™ fellows will receive training, technical assistance, and capacity-building services. Throughout the course of the Fellowship, which runs from April to October, participants will receive coaching to apply HCM skills within their organization or program; a $2,500 stipend to compensate practitioners for their commitment to the HCM cohort; access and training on utilizing ROSA to support youth mental health outcomes; and peer learning opportunities with supportive and accountable professionals.
Learn more about the HCM Fellows below.
2024 Healing-Centered Mentoring™ Fellows
Niki Alston
High School Advocate
Student U
Niki Alston is a native of the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan area and currently resides in Vance County. She is a 2009 graduate of Southeastern University (DC), and a 2019 graduate of the Rural Economic Development Institute with the NC Rural Center. She currently serves as a Board Member for Stand Up Speak Out in Durham, NC, and she facilitates Youth/teen Mental Health First Aid Courses. Niki is a mother of three, two daughters and one son, respectively, and she thrives off being a lifelong learner who gives and shares almost everything she acquires with her children and her community with the hope to enhance the lives of everyone she encounters.
She strongly lives her life with the goal of creating and being the change she wants to see in the world.
Jennifer Castillo
Co-Executive Director
The Resiliency Collaborative
Jennifer currently serves as Co-Executive Director of The Resiliency Collaborative (TRC). TRC partners with BIPOC youth and their ecosystems to strengthen their sense of identity, belonging, and purpose so they can create a healthier, more equitable Wake County.
Jennifer is passionate about youth wellbeing and leadership, diversity and equity, and utilizing education as a transformative tool for social change. She has significant experience working in public universities (student services, equity offices and teaching) and youth-serving nonprofit organizations. As a former AmeriCorps ACCESS member, she enjoys learning with and serving her community. She also enjoys traveling, kayaking, reading, time with her daughter (SRMHS, Class of 2023) and family, walking her dogs on the greenways, and smores/bonfires.
She currently serves on the boards of Corral Riding Academy and Write, Speak, Inspire LLC. Jennifer is a first-generation college graduate and has her Bachelor’s in Social Work, Master’s in Social Work and Administrative Leadership, MS.
Kyler Daniels
Be Well Coordinator
Boys & Girls Clubs of the Tar River Region
Kyler Daniels currently serves as the Be Well Coordinator at the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Tar River Region. She focuses on mental health and social emotional development throughout the club units. Kyler graduated from East Carolina University in 2019 with a Bachelors of Science in Family and Community Services with a concentration of Family Science.
Following graduation, she began working in early childhood systems building work at Down East Partnership for Children as the Ready Schools Specialist and later Ready Schools Coordinator. She is a 2nd year Master's student enrolled at East Carolina University pursing a degree in Social Work with an expected graduation of May 2025. She is a member of the Beta Zeta Sigma Chapter of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. and is the mother of a brilliant, beautiful, and kind 5-year-old girl who is the light of her life.
Kyler is passionate about others' well-being, especially those who are most vulnerable. She loves doing community-based work giving back to the community that molded her and is most passionate when working with youth and advocating for a better life for them.
Caíla Holley
STEM Mentoring Specialist
NC School of Science and Mathematics
Caíla Holley, also known as Holley, currently serves as the STEM Mentoring Specialist at the NC School of Science and Mathematics (NCSSM). In this role, she oversees the Explore STEM Virtual Mentoring Program, a project for high school students that supports participants in NCSSM outreach programming and/or students in rural or underserved communities.
Caíla graduated from NCSSM in 2013 and returned in July 2022 as a Community Coordinator on the Durham campus. She went to NC State University where she began her studies in civil engineering and after some soul searching graduated with a bachelor’s degree in geology in 2019. Caíla has worked in many different fields including geotechnical engineering and construction, teaching English in South Korea, and as a college advisor at West Bladen High School through the NC State College Advising Corps. Her interests include Latin dancing, hiking, indoor rock climbing, Latin American and Black History, learning new languages, and Star Wars.
Leon Jackson
Executive Director
Project Point Five
Leon was born in Independence, LA, raised on a plantation in Blairstown, LA by his great aunt. He entered the U.S. Army in 1981 and served until July 2003, he retired to North Carolina. Leon worked for NC Works Career Center for fourteen years. Leon worked as Workforce Investment Act Case Manager, Veterans Employment Representative, Ex Offender Specialist, Employer Relations Specialist, and served on the Central Carolina Community College Continuing Education Skill Development team.
Leon decided to return to school and earn his second bachelor’s degree, this time in Counseling with an emphasis on Addiction, Chemical Dependency and Substance Abuse. Leon worked as an Alcohol and Drug Counselor in Sanford, NC for five years. He currently devotes himself full-time to Project Point Five, Inc., a mentoring organization located in Sanford, NC.
Leon has served on the Project Safe Neighborhood Committee, Disabled American Veterans Adjutant, Harnett County Veterans Treatment Court Mentor, Lee County National Night Out Committee, and the Western Harnett Lions Club. Leon now serves on the Johnston Lee Harnett Community Action PAC Committee, Alliance of Black Leaders & Educators, Ingram Family YMCA Advisory Board, Partnership for Children and Families Teen Advisory Council, and Bragg Street Academy Mentor.
Granvel Johnson
Senior Administrator
Wake County Public Schools System Helping Hands Mentoring Program
A Los Angeles native, Mr. Granvel Johnson moved to Durham in 2007 to attend the Divinity School at Duke University, after having spent 18 years in information technology. Originally intending to return to Los Angeles as a hospital chaplain, Mr. Johnson realized his life’s purpose while working for the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Cities Schools Blue Ribbon Mentor-Advocate Program (BRMA). He says, “Other than supporting and encouraging students as they grow into the best version of themselves, I can’t think of any other way I’d like to spend the remainder of my life.” After seven years with BRMA, Mr. Johnson transferred to the Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) where he works as a Senior Administrator, managing Helping Hands—the district’s flagship mentoring program.
A graduate of Compton Community College, Vanguard University, and Duke University, Mr. Johnson’s current area of interest is in identity development theory. He has written four books, including the three-volume series Notes to Our Sons: for the Journey from Childhood to Manhood, he is currently editing his fifth book which is based on the late Mr. John Singleton’s film Baby Boy.
Tyme Nunn
School Social Worker
Durham Nativity School
Ms. Tyme R. Nunn currently serves as the school social worker at Durham Nativity School of Durham, NC, where she applies her expertise to support students and families and promote their holistic development. Born and raised in North Carolina, Ms. Nunn recently relocated to Durham, where she embraces the vibrant culture and opportunities of Bull City. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work from Meredith College and a Master’s degree in Social Work from the University of Kentucky, reflecting her commitment to fostering educational advancement and community cohesion.
Ms. Nunn's professional endeavors have predominantly focused on child welfare and education policy, collaborative efforts with youth-centered organizations within Wake County school systems and neighboring communities, and interventionist efforts in the Substance Use Prevention and Education and Research (SUPER) program through the INSPIRED Lab at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her efforts are directed toward mitigating educational barriers and inequities through advocacy, tailored support, and community engagement. Beyond her professional pursuits, Ms. Nunn treasures moments with loved ones, explores culinary delights at local restaurants, and indulges in her pastimes of dance and soccer.
Laura Toptine
Clinical Instructor, Department of Psychiatry
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Laura Toptine is a licensed clinical mental health counselor with a Master's degree in Mental Health Counseling from North Carolina Central University. She also holds a Bachelor's degree in Secondary English Education from North Carolina State University. Her career history includes roles in state agencies, non-profits, and co-located mental health services.
In her most recent role, Laura supported youth involved in Juvenile Justice with an emphasis on case management, clinical assessments, and trauma-informed care. Laura collaborated with Juvenile Justice staff to facilitate the transition of youth from detention to the community, implementing person-centered planning and coordinating activities with youth, families, and service providers.
Currently, Laura provides patient education about mental health disorders and available treatment options specific to IDD population and young child, early adolescent, and adolescent mental health conditions requiring psychiatric hospitalization. This includes providing brief interventions using evidence-based techniques, engaging with social work principles and their application to complex problems required for case management and interdisciplinary collaborations and interdisciplinary team meetings, and teaching and supervising social work externs, psychology, or master's level interns.
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Learn more about our new Healing-Centered Mentoring™ framework.
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Why Mentoring?
Mentoring connects a young person to personal growth and development, and social and economic opportunity