Board of Directors

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Debbie Fagnant, President

Debbie came to Alaska in 1973 to begin her elementary teaching career in St. Mary's, an Eskimo community off the Yukon. She has three wonderful children with husband Dick Fagnant and delightful grandchildren. Debbie retired from the Juneau School District in 2011 and now has more time for ceramics, hiking with friends, visiting family, and reading good books. Debbie wears many hats for NAMI Juneau and is committed to supporting others through NAMI's various family education and support programs.

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Crystal Jackson

Crystal is part Inupiaq and grew up as the oldest of four children in an Air Force family, relocating to exotic places like Panama, Germany, and Nebraska. She graduated from the University of Alaska in Anchorage with a BA in Marketing and minor in Psychology. Crystal is familiar with mental health issues that face many Alaskans and Alaska Natives alike. She considers herself an advocate for squashing stigmas around mental health issues, and she has a passion for relationship-building and empathy-skill training. She has had personal experiences with managing depression, sleep disorders, panic attacks, and antidepressant medications.

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Amelia Hanrahan

Amelia is a mental health clinician. Her work is focused in childhood trauma, suicide prevention, and 2SLGBTQIA+ mental health. She previously worked at Juneau Youth Services as a clinician and at Kodiak Area Native Association providing primary care mental health services. She previously worked as a teacher in South Korea. A native of Toronto, Canada she moved to Alaska in 2016. She is passionate about the mission and programs offered by NAMI and is excited to bring her skills, connections, and experience to benefit NAMI in helping our community.

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Darrin Kelly

Darrin was born at a very young age and spent a childhood in New York struggling with depression. Decades later he learned the context for his early struggles when he learned the extent of mental illness in his family. This instilled a passion in overcoming stigma and advocacy for mental health services at the earliest ages so that his two amazing sons and their peers can have different experiences around mental illness than he experienced. He spent most of his adult life in Downeast Maine and Maritime Canada as a naturalist, sea kayak guide, ecotourism owner/guide, and working for conservation non-profits. He moved to Sitka over a decade ago to work for the Forest Service as a wilderness sea kayak ranger and has held a number of positions in his eight years in Juneau and plans on retiring from the Forest Service in Juneau in a decade or two. Darrin will take this approach to his work with NAMI Juneau as a recipient of the full suite of mental health services in Juneau and listening and learning as a NAMI Connections participant and facilitator. Most importantly he stays regulated thanks to frequent outdoor adventures in the wilds around Juneau, iderally with his two sons.

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Betsy Brenneman

Betsy Brenneman has lived in Juneau since late 1977 and in Bethel, Fairbanks and Anchorage before that. She currently does contract work as the owner of Brenneman Communications and Consulting. Formerly a reporter, editor, producer and manager for various Alaska radio and television stations and newspapers, she also worked for Sealaska Corporation and Big Brothers Big Sisters of SE Alaska, created the B.A.M. afterschool program at Juneau’s two middle schools, and most recently coordinated a needs assessment and strategic plan for the state’s early childhood system for the Association of Alaska School Boards. . Family members’ mental health challenges, as well as her own, opened a whole new area of learning for her, a fascination with brain science and hope for new norms and paradigms for discussing, managing and treating mental health. As a board member, she would focus on advancing those new paradigms by increasing public awareness and confidence in NAMI’s work while moving board priorities forward. Betsy is married, has a grown son and likes spending time with friends and family, hiking, yoga, travel, skiing, creating, and almost anything outdoors. 

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Michelle Martin bio coming soon!

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Sarah Niecko 

Sarah is an assistant professor of Behavioral Health Sciences at the University of Alaska Southeast. Prior to her career in academia, she spent 18 years practicing behavioral medicine in Michigan, rural Alaska, and Southeast Alaska. 

She has a Bachelor of Psychology, a Master of Medicine, a Doctorate of Health Science, and is both a certified Health and Well-Being Coach and a member of MINT (Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers).  In 2022, she started the first Alaskan chapter of Active Minds, a nationwide nonprofit organization, at UAS to help support mental health awareness and the promotion of positive mental health among college students. 

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Marian Eiben

Without mental health services, Marian Eiben, also known as Mim, believes that her life would have gone in a very different direction. With help and support of counselors, mentors, and peers, Mim graduated from high school, college, and is soon to receive her master’s in international relations. Despite growing up in an unstable environment, she is proud of herself for being able to maintain healthy relationships, brush her teeth every day, and pay bills on time. She is grateful for organizations like NAMI that help people find their inner strength, and is honored to serve on the board.

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Alyson Currey bio coming soon!

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