Family-run organizations perform an important role in supporting children’s systems of care. In this one-hour webinar, Malisa Pearson of the Family Run Executive Director Leadership Association (FREDLA) will give an overview of the specific roles that family-run organizations play in workforce development, advocacy, and education. 

Presenter: Malisa Pearson, FREDLA

Malisa is the parent of two boys who both have specialized behavioral health care needs. She brings more than two decades of direct experience navigating systems, advocating for services, and partnering with professionals on behalf of her own child and family’s needs. Ms. Pearson’s years of experience, leadership skills, public speaking abilities, partnership and collaboration efforts, and training skills, have made her a highly respected individual in the family-run organization and family- driven care movement. Malisa brings her first-hand involvement working with systems of care, collaborating across service systems, developing peer-to-peer, parent-to-parent support service programs and developing diversified budgets that include the blending of state and local contracts, foundation funds, state and federal grants, and Medicaid. During her numerous roles over the past decade, she has worked as a Lead Family Contact for a federally-funded system of care community, served as the Statewide Parent Support Partner Coordinator to implement Michigan’s certified parent-to-parent support services program, and served as the Executive Director of Michigan’s statewide family network.