Meet The Staff
Susan Keys, Ph.D., Special Advisor on Mental Health, Director of Research
Over the course of her career, Susan Keys has led, developed, monitored and evaluated school-based mental health and youth violence prevention programs and policies in collaboration with national centers, federal and state agencies, local school systems, and advocacy and consumer groups.
Most recently, Dr. Keys served as Chief of the Prevention Initiatives and Priority Programs Development Branch of the Center for Mental Health Services at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) – a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. There she oversaw SAMHSA’s youth violence prevention and suicide prevention initiatives, including the Safe Schools/Healthy Students and the Garrett Lee Smith Suicide Prevention grant programs. Dr. Keys also provided leadership for Project Launch, an interagency national initiative focused on young child wellness.
Before joining SAMHSA in 2004, Dr. Keys was an Associate Professor and former Chair of the Counseling and Human Services Department at Johns Hopkins University, and also held a joint appointment in the Department of Mental Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She also served as the Associate Director of Education for the John Hopkins Center for the Prevention of Youth Violence.
Anastasia Goodstein, Director of Digital Programs
Anastasia was the founder of Ypulse, an award-winning blogger and often-quoted expert on American tweens, teens and early twentysomethings. She has worked in media for the past 15+ years and helped launch youth oriented web and television properties for brands like Oxygen, AOL and Current TV. She will never forget her roots having begun her career in the non-profit youth media space at Teen Voices magazine. Anastasia was one of the first graduates of the Medill School of Journalism’s new media program at Northwestern University, where she earned an MSJ in 1999. Her first book about teens and technology called Totally Wired: What Teens & Tweens Are Really Doing Online was published by St. Martin’s Press. She lives in San Francisco with her husband, daughter and 7-year-old Boxer.
Emily O’Brien, Youth Programs Manager
Emily O’Brien is the youth programs manager at Inspire USA Foundation. One of her primary roles is to develop and implement Inspire USA’s youth engagement strategy. Over the course of her career, Emily has worked as a social worker for the Australian federal government and as an emergency disaster case manager for the Department of Human Services. During Emily’s academic life she did a social work placement in the Neurology Ward at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney, as well as social work placements in multiple non-profit youth and human rights organizations in South India. In Emily’s last position at Centrelink Australia, one of her roles was to conduct clinical social work assessments and provide case management with youth under 18 who had left home under troubled circumstances. From this experience Emily realized she wanted to specialize and focus on working with youth to help them cope with tough times and mental illness. Emily has a bachelors in social work and sociology from the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. Emily currently lives in San Francisco with her husband.
Michelle Walker, Office Manager
Michelle Walker has always found happiness in helping people in her professional life as well as her personal life, so working as the office manager for Inspire USA is a perfect fit. After attending Washington University in St. Louis, where she was a peer counselor and trainer, Michelle earned a BA in Psychology, as well as one in History just for fun. She has a background in operations and human resources from her previous careers in staffing and bookstore management. Though Michelle was shocked at San Francisco’s cold weather, she has since settled down there with her partner and reads entirely too much.
Meredith Sires, ReachOut.com Web Editor
Meredith Sires is the online editor of ReachOut.com and the real stories submitted by teens and young adults. Previously, as managing editor of the youth media and marketing industry newsletter, Ypulse.com, she consulted youth oriented brands and nonprofits, including Best Buy, Target and DoSomething.org. Now, she splits her time between Inspire USA, the storytelling project SMITH Magazine, and San Jose State University, where she is pursuing her Master’s in Library and Information Science. A commitment to young people, powerful narratives and community building runs through all of her work. After graduating from UC Berkeley with a BA in English in 2007, Meredith pledged to return to the Bay Area someday. She recently made good on that promise and currently lives in San Francisco.
