Melissa has both professional and life expertise in coordinating care and advocacy for children and families with disabilities. In her current position, Melissa is a registered lobbyist and provides government affairs representation to organizations that advocate on behalf of patients and families.Melissa’s life experience has brought her to her current position. Melissa has two sons with Autism, and one with co-occurring bi-polar disorder. Given the disjointed system of care she encountered (in three different states), Melissa had no choice, but to advocate for them personally--often challenging our educational and regulatory systems. From that personal life challenge, she became a professional disability advocate, first as a credentialed First Steps Coordinator and then as a graduate of the Governor’s Planning Council’s Partners in Policy Making. Melissa is also a current member of the Choices, Board of Directors, former member of the Board of Directors of both Mental Health America of Hancock County and Families Searching for Rainbows.Before her work with The Third House, LLC, Melissa has also worked with The Arc of Indiana as a Family Advocate and on behalf Pfizer to develop relationships and collaborations with a broad array of disability organizations in an effort to develop coalitions for policy change. Melissa has written for disability newsletters, served as the featured speaker at workshops and conferences. She currently provides training on legislative and administrative advocacy.