For Jessica Westmiller, MSW, mental health advocacy has never been confined to a boardroom. For years, her work has placed her alongside firefighters, police officers, healthcare providers, and families during moments when life has suddenly changed, after a death, during a behavioral health emergency, or amid grief, addiction, homelessness, or another traumatic event.

Now, that experience will help guide one of Arizona’s longest-standing voices for mental health.

Mental Health America of Arizona has elected Westmiller president of its statewide Board of Directors, marking a new chapter for an organization that has served Arizona since 1954.

The transition represents more than a change in board leadership. It places a professional whose career has been deeply rooted in crisis response and community behavioral health at the helm of an organization focused on prevention, education, advocacy, early intervention, and access to care.

Westmiller serves as senior crisis intervention program manager within the Chandler Fire Department Operations Division. Her career has centered on a deceptively simple question: What does a person need after something has gone terribly wrong?

Chandler’s Crisis Response Unit, known as CR288, provides one answer

The 9-1-1-dispatched mobile crisis team operates around the clock, responding alongside fire and police personnel after traumatic events and behavioral health emergencies. While traditional first responders address medical emergencies and public safety, crisis responders help individuals and families begin navigating what comes next—providing emotional support, crisis intervention, resources, and connections to community services.

That work has given Westmiller a perspective on mental health that cannot be developed solely through policy discussions.

“She has seen crisis at the human level.”

In describing her work publicly, Westmiller has spoken about strengthening family systems and building resilience for people affected by trauma, poverty, systemic health challenges, and disconnection. Her philosophy also reflects an important evolution occurring throughout behavioral health: Communities cannot simply wait until someone reaches a breaking point before offering help.

That philosophy closely aligns with Mental Health America of Arizona’s emphasis on prevention and early intervention.

Westmiller’s leadership has also earned recognition beyond Chandler. Arizona State University’s School of Social Work honored her with a Public Safety and Behavioral Health Advocacy Award for demonstrating leadership and dedication capable of positively influencing change within the public safety community. Her professional development has included crisis intervention, suicide intervention, Mental Health First Aid, and veteran navigation, while her work has helped build partnerships across public safety and behavioral health. Those relationships matter.

Arizona’s mental health challenges do not belong to one profession or one system. A person experiencing a crisis may encounter firefighters, law enforcement officers, emergency departments, behavioral health providers, schools, nonprofit organizations, veteran services, and family members, sometimes within the same journey.

2026 SEEDS conference: From left, Dee Williams, VP, CEO Pierluigi Mancini, PhD and newly elected President, Jessica Westmiller

Effective mental health leadership, therefore, requires collaboration across the spaces where people actually live and seek help. Westmiller brings that perspective to the MHA-AZ presidency.

As president, she will help guide strategic direction, strengthen stakeholder engagement, and expand efforts to improve mental health awareness and equitable access to behavioral health services throughout Arizona.

Mental Health America National Interim President and CEO Pierluigi Mancini, PhD, congratulated MHA-AZ’s new board leadership and expressed his commitment to continuing the national organization’s partnership with Arizona in advancing the shared mission of mental health for all.

For MHA-AZ, that mission carries more than seven decades of history

Founded in 1954, Mental Health America of Arizona is the state’s oldest nonprofit organization dedicated to mental health promotion, prevention, education, advocacy, and early intervention. Its continued relevance depends on leaders capable of connecting that history to the realities facing Arizona communities today.

Westmiller’s election provides exactly that opportunity.

There is something fitting about a crisis professional stepping into this role.

Crisis intervention teaches that we cannot always change what has already happened to someone. But we can change what happens next.

That same principle can guide mental health advocacy.

We can strengthen prevention before crisis occurs. We can make resources easier to find. We can reduce the stigma around asking for help. We can build stronger partnerships among public safety, behavioral health, and community organizations. And we can continue creating systems that recognize mental health as an essential part of community health.

Jessica Westmiller has spent much of her career helping people determine what happens next. As president of Mental Health America of Arizona, she now has an opportunity to help Arizona answer that question on a much larger scale.

Learn more about MHA-AZ by visiting https://www.mhaarizona.org

Email: mhaofarizona@gmail.com, Phone: 480-994-4407. For emergencies, call 988 or 911.