A sense of belonging ties diversity, equity, and inclusion together. Together we create a safe place where every parent is welcomed, respected, valued and cherished as part of our A Common Voice community.
Who We Are
A Common Voice Community
The People Behind
Our Team
Our lived experience speaks truth into the complexities of parenting a child/youth with complex behavioral health care needs.
Executive Director
Sherry Lyons
Integrity in her work with Parents, family peers, providers, and system partners is a high priority for Sherry.
Starting in 1999 as a Parent having difficulty, Sherry knows firsthand what kind of stress a Parent can experience while parenting a young person experiencing emotional distress. Her career started off with
helping other parents as a Parent Partner. From Parent Partner to Executive Director, Sherry has maintained both the Parent and Family Peer perspective and has been essential to all other helping roles to better understand, guide, and supervise the role of Family Peers.
In her role as Executive Director of A Common Voice (a statewide Family Support Organization) Sherry has hired, employed, trained, and mentored Parents in the role of Certified Parent Peer Supports for over 25 years. Certified by WA State DBHR/HCA in Youth & Family Certified Peer Counselor Training and Supervision of Peers Training and has completed the Train the Trainer Certifications for both. For over a decade and 1000’s of hours Sherry has been a leader in training the WA State Parent Peer workforce. As a Family Peer herself, Sherry utilizes relevant parts of her lived and working experience to equip the WA State Peer workforce.
Sherry demonstrates her leadership style in an open, straightforward, sincere, positive, and encouraging manner. Sherry considers humor as a necessary pathway to learning and enjoys laughter.
Deputy Director
Lauren Woodbeck
Lauren serves as the Deputy Director of A Common Voice COPE Project. Over time, she has grown alongside the organization, taking on increasing leadership and advocacy roles grounded in lived experience.
A proud mother of four children, three of whom are on the autism spectrum with unique behavioral health care needs, Lauren brings both professional expertise and deep personal understanding to her work. After participating in the WISe program for several years, she connected with other parents, navigating similar challenges and discovered a passion for supporting families within complex systems of care.
Following her certification as a Washington State Certified Peer Counselor, Lauren launched her career as a Parent Partner within the same WISe program that once supported her own family. She also holds a Supervisor of Peers credential, further strengthening her leadership within the peer support community.
Lauren currently serves as a Family Partner Tri-Lead for her county’s local FYSPRT (Family Youth System Partner Round Table), where she continues to advocate for family voice, equity, and empowerment within behavioral health systems. She recently earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology and is pursuing a master’s in social work. Dedicated, compassionate, and deeply empathetic, Lauren is committed to ensuring families are heard, supported, and empowered. Her passion for helping others is evident within moments of meeting her.
A proud mother of four children, three of whom are on the autism spectrum with unique behavioral health care needs, Lauren brings both professional expertise and deep personal understanding to her work. After participating in the WISe program for several years, she connected with other parents, navigating similar challenges and discovered a passion for supporting families within complex systems of care.
Following her certification as a Washington State Certified Peer Counselor, Lauren launched her career as a Parent Partner within the same WISe program that once supported her own family. She also holds a Supervisor of Peers credential, further strengthening her leadership within the peer support community.
Lauren currently serves as a Family Partner Tri-Lead for her county’s local FYSPRT (Family Youth System Partner Round Table), where she continues to advocate for family voice, equity, and empowerment within behavioral health systems. She recently earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology and is pursuing a master’s in social work. Dedicated, compassionate, and deeply empathetic, Lauren is committed to ensuring families are heard, supported, and empowered. Her passion for helping others is evident within moments of meeting her.
Our Lead Parent Support Specialists (LPSS)
Jennifer Colley
As a parent, navigating the foster care system while raising children with complex needs
strengthened my determination to advocate, persevere, and create stability for my
family. Through persistence and advocacy, our family was able to reunite and begin our
healing journey together.
My lived experience has become the foundation of my work supporting parents,
caregivers, and families. I am passionate about walking alongside others with empathy, encouragement, and hope, helping families recognize their strengths and empowering them as they navigate their own journeys.
Amy Steed
Amy Steed has served as a Lead Family Partner in WISe for more than seven years, supporting families through some of their most challenging moments. Drawing from both professional expertise and lived family experience, Amy Steed is dedicated to walking alongside parents and caregivers as they navigate the behavioral health system.
She combines professional knowledge with lived experience to offer families understanding, guidance, and hope during times of uncertainty.
In her leadership role, Amy supervised and supported peer partners, helping them grow in their own practice while ensuring families receive consistent, family-centered care. Her background includes extensive work in inpatient and intensive treatment settings, where she has advocated for meaningful family involvement and collaboration between caregivers and clinical teams.
Amy is passionate about helping parents recognize their own strengths and believes that when families are empowered and supported, children thrive.
Rossana “Ro” Linn
Rossana “Ro” Linn (she/her) is the Lead Parent Support Specialist at A Common Voice and an immigrant from Uruguay. As a parent of three, Ro has firsthand experience navigating complex systems—from behavioral health and juvenile justice to supporting a young person in the LGBTQ+ community. These lived experiences have fostered deep empathy and commitment to helping families find understanding, empowerment, and hope.
Ro began her peer support journey in 2016, transforming her family’s challenges into advocacy and healing. That same year, she earned two certifications as a Youth & Family Peer Counselor (CPC) and began working within the WISe program, walking alongside families on their paths toward recovery and connection.
Before entering the behavioral health field, Ro earned an Associate degree in Human Resources and worked as a fitness instructor in local gyms and churches, where she promoted exercise as a powerful tool for mental wellness and community connection.
Ro is passionate about helping others and finds inspiration in witnessing the progress that emerges from shared experiences. In her words:
“Recovery is a shared journey. Recovery happens when you start sharing.”
Jasmine Martinez, a former Behavioral Management Specialist and BMS Program Director, has firsthand experience in behavioral health. As a devoted wife and mother of four, including two children with chronic illness and special needs, she became a Certified Peer Counselor after advocating for her own family for over a decade. Currently, she serves as the Program Manager for A Common Voice | C.O.P.E. Project, offering crucial support to parents statewide. Jasmine's unwavering dedication is evident through her involvement in various committees and fellowships, where she amplifies the family voice and provides hope to overwhelmed families navigating the behavioral health system.
Jasmine MartinezProgram Manager 
Sherry Lyons is the Executive Director of A Common Voice with over a decade of direct experience shaping the workforce of Family Peers in WA State. Sherry herself has the lived experience of parenting a youth accessing the WA State Children’s Behavioral Healthcare System. Sherry specializes in training, coaching, and supporting Parents in the role of Family/Parent Peers. Since 2008, Sherry has prioritized hundreds of hours training the workforce of Family/Parent Peers within the WA “WISe” model of care. A strong believer in the power of positive thinking both personally and professionally, Sherry inspires others to look at “what is and can be” in all situations. Sherry welcomes positive energy from people as equally as she loves the solitude of a walk along the ocean beach. She also recommends aerobic exercise through the practice of a good belly laugh! Nationally certified in 2012 as a Certified Parent Support Provider, Sherry has been a WA State Certified Peer Counselor since 2010. And a Parent Partner since 1999.
Sherry LyonsExecutive Director 
Our Lead Parent Support Specialists (LPSS)
Nicole Murphy is a Certified Peer Counselor located in Spokane Washington, currently working at..
Nicole MurphyRead More 
Lead Parent Support Specialist with A Common Voice COPE Project in the Salish, Great Rivers, and Southwest...
Lauren WoodbeckRead More 
Planting seeds of Hope
Our History
A Common Voice exists to support parents in WA State because of the heart and passion of this woman Marge Critchlow. 1995 Marge created a grass root family support organization offering support, encouragement, and hope to parents and caregivers parenting a child or youth with complex emotional and/or behavioral health care needs. Marge never wanted another parent to feel alone as they tried to access help for their child.
Before there were Certified Parent Peers, before there were Family Partners in WISe, before there were Family Support Organizations there was A Common Voice for Pierce County Parents.
Marge believed in non-adversarial advocacy, solution driven support, and in building collaborative partnerships.
Marge often utilized a common sense approach to seemingly complex situations and would help parents, providers, and system leaders alike shift their perspective to trying something different.
Marge believed in family. Families need help sometimes. She would say: ”Help families, because when parents do better, kids do better.”
Marge was active in A Common Voice services and supports. Marge attended the weekly parent support group and provided lived experience wisdom in her sharing. Marge’s joyful, calm, and grandmotherly assurance made her effective in connecting with people from all walks of life without judgment.
Marge worked as the Executive Director from 1995 and retired in 2011.
Who We Are
- Trained parent leaders who have extensive experience in navigating the WA Behavioral Health System
- Consultants and trainers representing parent voice for various state initiatives
- Certified Parent Advocates with lived experience
We Are Not
- We are not a crisis-line! All LPSSs will refer all crises to mental health providers, WISe teams, 988 and / or 911
- Regardless of expertise, experience, or credentials our support is not designed or intended to replace the need or services of mental health providers
- We do not follow a “do-for” approach, but rather a “do-with” approach. LPSS support is always meant to empower parents / caregivers; to advocate WITH rather than advocate FOR.
Holding the Hope
Thousands of Families And Growing
Lead Parent Support Specialists fill the role of “tour guide rather than travel agent” as they go alongside
another parent/caregiver navigating the Washington State Children’s Behavioral Healthcare system.
Thousands of parent/caregivers across Washington State have been connected, supported, and
empowered through the parent to parent support services of A Common Voice and the C.O.P.E. Project.
