About
The Association of People Supporting Employment First (APSE) is the only national membership organization focused exclusively on Employment First to facilitate the full inclusion of people with disabilities in the workplace and community.
Arizona APSE is the Arizona Chapter of the National organization. The chapter was created in 2017 by a group of visionary leaders who desired a diverse & inclusive workforce throughout Arizona.
Vision
Competitive integrated employment is the preferred daily activity for all working age Arizonans who have disabilities
Guiding Principles
Mission
To expand inclusive employment opportunities for all people with disabilities through education, advocacy, & legislative action
APSE Credentials & Membership
Arizona APSE needs your voice and action in our Employment First movement.
Become a CESP™
The Certified Employment Support Professional (CESP™) credential recognizes individuals who have demonstrated a sufficient level of knowledge and skill to provide integrated employment services to a variety of populations.
Who Should Join APSE?
Self Advocates
Families & Guardians
Employers
State Agencies
Employment Providers
Join Us
Make connections, access resources and participate in professional development opportunities!
APSE offers a range of memberships for individuals and organizations. Through membership, you gain timely information, tools and support that help make you the strongest advocate possible.
Are you ready to become a member?
Be sure to use our introductory membership code: AZAPSE
Current Arizona APSE Board Members
Lorie Sandaine, CESP™
President
Lorie is a champion for competitive integrate employment & Employment First. She is a Certified Work Incentives Counselor (CWIC), Certified Employment Support Professional (CESP), & Person Centered Plan Facilitator. She is an employment consultant helping to set the expectation for Employment First for all Arizonans.
Lorie is a Systems Change Liaison with the Sonoran Center for Excellence in Disabilities in Tucson, AZ where she is the leading the Customized Employment Pilot Project. Lorie trains on Employment First, Competitive Integrated Employment, Supported Employment, Customized Employment, and Provider Transformation.
Jules Hyde
Vice-President
Jules started working as an employment job coach with a local nonprofit in 2013, and decided he found his calling. Jules utilized his people, leadership, and networking skills to grow that program from three locations serving eight families to over twenty locations serving over fifty families. As a director of employment services, Jules committed to dissolving traditional employment programs to adopt programs driven by the Employment First philosophy. He brings high energy and positivity to any table he sits at. Along with APSEAZ initiatives, Jules continues to work as an employment coach, and
advocates daily for equality in employment for people living with diverse abilities.
Sam Klein
Secretary
Sam Klein is the Director of Special Projects for the Arizona Department of Education, Exceptional Student Services. She has worked in the field of secondary transition and disability services since 2013 in both North Dakota and Arizona. She has served in a variety of roles such as Direct Care Worker, Job Coach, Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor, Transition Specialist, and Lead Special Projects Specialist. She obtained her graduate degree in Interdisciplinary Transition Services from George Washington University in 2018. Sam is passionate about bringing innovative and evidence-based practices to professional development on transition planning and assistive technology.
Jason Snead
Treasurer
Self Advocate
Jason is the Research & Communications Specialist with the Arizona Developmental Disabilities Planning Council. Jason graduated in 2016 from Arizona Summit Law School. He currently serves on the Phoenix Mayor’s Commission for Disability Issues and the Arizona ABLE Oversight Committee.
Lindsey Eaton
Self Advocate
With her passion for advocating for people with disabilities to live independent lives and work in competitive integrated employment, Lindsey Eaton joined the Arizona APSE Board a year ago as a self-advocate. Lindsey’s passion towards helping people with disabilities succeed in everyday lives comes from the lens of the growth she’s experienced through living independently and working two jobs.
Lindsey works at Christ Lutheran School two days a week as an Aide in the Connections Adult Work Program which is for adults with autism and other neuro diversities succeed in the workplace. She helps with tasks like filing graded work for various grades, compiling pictures for a weekly update for parents of students who are in the Connections classrooms and sending out the update, passing out preschool lunches and assisting with other tasks in the office like shredding, cleaning the office kitchen and cleaning all three of the school’s copy rooms with a flexible, positive and happy attitude and detail oriented mindset in tow and a smile on her face. She also works at GCU as the L.O.P.E.S Academy Alumni Relations Specialist, a role which she has held for a year. Within this role, she helps with tasks like planning, organizing and executing events for L.O.P.E.S. Academy Alumni that are fun and engaging, engaging and informing all L.O.P.E.S Academy Alumni about events within GCU’s campus and resources like Vocational Rehabilitation and Ticket to Work through the Social Security Administration. Seeing former graduates of the program working in the community is one of Lindsey’s highlights.
Hannah Woelke
Hannah has worked in disability services in Tucson for over ten years and supported marginalized people her entire life. She has held a number of positions related to employment services, including being an APSE Certified Employment Support Professional in the past. Her work has also familiarized her with the Independent Living network and the Protection and Advocacy system. She believes strongly that disability rights are human rights and all people deserve freedom of choice.
Tona Tree Top
Tona TreeTop is a Hunkpapa Lakota citizen of the Standing Rock Nation from Ft. Yates, North Dakota, and has lived in Arizona for 22 years. She has worked for the Gila River Indian Community for the last 7 years and provide Special Education advocacy services for students with IEP's or 504 Plans at school (or who need them) and their families. Tona is the parent of a child (who is now an adult) with a disability. She has worked in numerous tribal communities in the northwest and here in Arizona in various positions including higher education, youth and adult workforce development and behavioral health services. She is passionate about assisting and supporting people to achieve their education, employment and independent living goals in life.
Natasha Grant Holmberg, MNLM, CESP™
Natasha is currently the Director of Workplace and Community Inclusion at First Place AZ. She works with
First Place residents on finding gainful employment in their community, according to their personal interests! Natasha also works with organizations/businesses
on how they can best support neurodiverse hires. She has been working in the disability sector for 10 years and believes in empowering individuals with disabilities to be independent and competitively employed, in a job they actually want!
Carrie Gibbons, MA
Carrie has been in the education field since 1998, carrying out her belief that education should be multifaceted. As a teacher, she built a partnership with parents to ensure her students unique needs were met. In her classroom fair did not mean everyone got the same thing, fair meant everyone got what they needed to be successful. She has a drive to advocate for students, parents, and teachers in the special education world.
Her desire is to help implement meaningful strategies that can be put into place in the classroom that will benefit all students, including those who have unique learning styles. Carrie is a champion for employment for all and training first responders about best practices when treating a patient on the autism spectrum.
Additionally, Carrie, along with her son, is the owner of 5 Center Focus, a business specifically designed with first responders in mind. Carrie is an Arizona native that loves her hardworking husband, exceptional son, dachshund Ruby, photography, crafts, mountain bike riding & working out at the gym.
Caryn Paye
Caryn, a Tucson native and devoted advocate, has been championing the rights of individuals and families affected by disabilities for over 20 years. Her advocacy journey began through her involvement with the State Spina Bifida Chapter, where she spearheaded efforts like raising funds, spreading awareness, and building an adaptive park in Tucson. Her advocacy extended into legislative successes, including bills that enhanced dignity for those needing adult changing tables and secured ongoing state insurance for individuals with Spina Bifida beyond age 6.
Caryn recently founded a nonprofit focusing on advocacy, resources, and networking. She has completed leadership programs with Partner’s in Policymaking and Greater Tucson Leadership-CPLA, served on numerous boards and committees related to disability advocacy, and actively participates in community and professional organizations. Her extensive involvement illustrates a deep commitment to improving lives through legislative change and community support.
Fiona Donohoe
Fiona Donohoe discovered her passion for working with people with disabilities (PWDs) through a culmination of personal experiences and through working with PWDs during internships while obtaining her Master of Science degree in College and Career Counseling. As a result she also completed masters level requirements for a Rehabilitation Specialization after obtaining her MS in 2010. Fiona has now been working in state vocational rehabilitation for 15 years. She began that experience with the California Department of Rehabilitation in 2009 as an intern and developed one of the first in-house job clubs for DOR. She was hired as a Vocational Counselor in 2010 where she worked with a wide range of individuals with disabilities, eventually specializing in working with people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD). In 2019, Fiona moved to Arizona and became a behavioral health VR counselor. However, because of her experience working with the I/DD population she was quickly recruited to become the new Developmental Disability Specialist, and now the Statewide Developmental Disability Coordinator through VR. She now supports VR staff in working with the I/DD clients and collaborates with the Division of Developmental Disabilities (DDD) to improve employment services for individuals with I/DD and strengthen the VR/DDD partnership. She is also a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor.
Monica Amaya
Monica bio coming soon
Sedona Levy
With her combined experience in working with people with disabilities and with people in behavioral health treatment settings, Sedona strives to make information as accessible as possible to everyone and practice intersectionality in all of her work. In her current position as a Direct Support Specialist with H.O.P.E. Group, she primarily works as a job coach and job developer, and is constantly coming up with creative solutions to problems that she believes could be easily avoided in the workplace with more time, understanding, and education. Competitive Integrated Employment has been a philosophy Sedona has implemented into her job coaching over the past 3 years and She tries to embody the principles in my interactions with clients, families, and employers alike.
Sedona has a hopeful outlook for the future of inclusivity and equity in the workplace, and has actively seen progress and change in the recent years regarding general attitudes and outlooks on Neurodiversity in the workplace. While these changes are a step in the right direction, there is much more work to be done to achieve full equal opportunity and respect for all job seekers in Arizona.
Kelly Thomas
Born and raised in Southern California, Kelly attended college in North Carolina where she graduated from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro with a Bachelors Degree in Human Development and Family Studies. After graduation, she worked for Guilford County in North Carolina as a Case Manager in Child Welfare. Upon moving back to the West, she landed in Lake Havasu City, Arizona to be closer to family. Kelly worked for AZ Child Protective Services for 12 years and spent 2 years as a Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor. She then turned to the private sector and was the Employment Services Director for a DDD/VR provider (5 years) and a Chief Operating Officer for a subsequent DDD Qualified Vendor (3 years). In 2020, she returned to State service with the Division of Developmental Disabilities where I have been a Support Coordinator, Employment Specialist, and now the Statewide Employment Services Manager. She and her husband were foster parents for over 10 years and have a beautiful extended family along with two children of their own. And we can't forget about the grandchildren. The lines are blurred between extended and immediate, but last count was 10.
Arizona APSE strives to have full representation of Board members including persons with lived experience, family members, state agencies, providers, professionals, community partners, employers, and schools representing the diverse culture of Arizona.
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