About Our Team
Executive Team
Our Executive Team is made up of minority-identified, volunteer, community members. We are clients and/or therapists. We have members on our team who are single parents, have chronic illnesses, and are in recovery. We are diverse in race, ethnicity, language, neurotype, gender, ability/disability, sexuality, mental health, socioeconomic status, spirituality, and hold many other minority-intersections .
Kenya Miles, Process Observer (she/her/hers)
Kaitlin Martinez-Gonzalez, Director of Administrative Operations
Michelle Kater, Process Observer
(She/her/hers)
Carolyn Ogburn, Secretary
(She/her/hers)
nole lafferty, Interim Executive Director/CEO
(They/them/theirs)
Catie Beaulieu, Founder, Director of Learning & Organizational Development
(She/her/hers, They/Them/theirs)
Kenya Miles, Process Observer: I am a proud Board Member for A Therapist Like Me. I also serve on The Executive Committee of the National Association of Social Workers Board of Directors for North Carolina as the Second Vice President and I am a member of The East Tennessee State University Advisory Board for the Asheville, North Carolina Master of Social Work Cohort. I am so excited and honored to be a part of connecting minority-identifying clients and therapists, which enhance the advancement of therapists of color, advocate for marginalized populations and bring awareness to the stigma of mental illness within our mountain community.
My identity is a complicated tapestry of my life experience and some of my experiences have seemed invisible because they did not cause me any hardship, so I grew up thinking they were the “norm”. Some parts of my identity are integral to who I am and have added zest to my life in a distinct way. I have learned that there is no universal human experience and no such thing as a “norm”. We each have our own “norm” and A Therapist Like Me provides access to clients and therapists alike to explore their truth, be heard and feel valued through their norm.
Kaitlin Martinez-Gonzalez, Director of Administrative Operations: Hello everyone! My name is Kaitlin Martinez-Gonzalez. I am so excited to be a part of an organization like A Therapist Like Me! I was born and raised in Asheville, NC. In 2018, I decided to go seek my B.S. in Marine Biology at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington (UNCW). During my time at UNCW, I became very involved in the BIPOC community within campus and the greater Wilmington area. I helped students get more acquainted with the higher education process and helped college students advocate for their needs within the university. I graduated UNCW in 2022, and immediately came back to my hometown. Since graduation I have been trying to find a place that positively contributed to the BIPOC community in Asheville and that’s when I joined A Therapist Like Me.
Some of my hobbies include going to the gym,latin dancing, and watching shows. I also have two lovely elderly dogs: Koa who is a husky and Onyx who is a german shepard.
Michelle Kater, Process Observer: I am truly excited to be a Board Member of a Therapist Like Me and even more excited to see the impact such an organization will have and has already begun to have on our local community! Originally I am from New Hampshire but have lived all over, including Massachusetts, California, Washington State, and North Carolina. I have lived in Asheville since 2008 and consider this amazing place my home along with my husband and 2 children.
I have been working in mental health for 18 years where I started working in a residential treatment setting with folks dually diagnosed. I received my BA degree in Psychology with an emphasis in Peace Psychology (the study of Genocide and the Processes of Healing and Reconciliation) from UMASS Amherst. As an undergraduate I studied abroad in Huehuecoyotl, Mexico at an ecovillage where I studied social justice and facilitation. Before I graduated I spent a year working in Greenfield, MA at the Correctional facility with folks who were preparing to be released.
After graduating from Umass I moved to California where I became a case manager for Social Vocational Services, one of the largest day treatment and vocational organizations in the state. After that, I had the privilege of serving as the Executive Director of Berkeley Youth Living with Disabilities where I worked with children. In 2008 I moved to Asheville where I joined the original launching team of NC START as a clinical consultant, working with adults in crisis who were dually diagnosed.
In 2016 I returned to school at Amridge University where I obtained my MA in Professional Counseling. During my internship I had the privilege of working with Helpmate where I served survivors of domestic violence. Currently I work with Access Family Services doing School Based Therapy where I serve primary and elementary aged children. Additionally, I run a private practice where I work with trauma and relationships, couples, and children.
I’m passionate about people and I celebrate the path of healing and reconciliation many of us are on.
Carolyn Ogburn, Secretary: I am thrilled to be on the board of A Therapist Like Me because I have seen the power of what happens when one person tells the truth to another, and is met with a sense of mutual experience. My own professional career and personal obsession is based in dismantling traditional power dynamics, broadening our personal definitions of "normal," and reconsidering why we see what we see in ourselves, in each other, and in the world around us. In particular, my personal and professional career has led me to spend a lot of time thinking about disability, stigma, and communication as a mutual act.
Nole Lafferty, Interim Executive Director/CEO: I am excited and honored to serve as interim executive director for ATLM. I served on the board for ATLM since 2020 and have loved seeing the positive impact of this organization in the community.
The values of ATLM are the same values I carry with my in my personal life and my professional life as a therapist. My education background reflects my developing values and ethics with a BA in sustainable development, some graduate coursework with an emphasis on community led development, and finally an MA in clinical mental health counseling which I received from Asheville’s campus of Lenoir-Rhyne in 2023. I am proud and privileged to have been a therapy client over the years and to now contribute to my community as a therapist. As a white person who has some marginalized identities, it is important that I know when to speak up and when to sit and listen; I find this to be true in all settings.
Catie Beaulieu, Founder, Director of Learning & Organizational Development: I am a somatic abolitionist with a fur baby that hikes and bikes (my dog doesn’t bike). I enjoy photography, DIY projects that don’t require multiple trips to the store because I got the wrong part…again, being in community, wine, and food. I am proud and privileged to be both a client and a therapist.