Meet the Mitchell’s House Team
Jamie Hayes, CFRE, MA, MPA
Development Director
Jamie Hayes has over 25 years of fundraising experience in various nonprofit subsectors, with a strong focus in healthcare philanthropy. In the course of her career, Jamie has raised over $150MM for nonprofits. While her primary focus has been major and legacy giving, she has worked in all areas of development, from prospect research to board development.
Jamie completed her undergraduate degrees at Wake Forest University and her master’s degrees at Indiana University and the Lilly School of Philanthropy. She owns Joyful Giving, LLC, and has been CFRE accredited for almost 20 years.
Mary Johnson, LCMHCA
Program Counselor and Outreach Director
Mary Johnson is a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor Associate with a CACREP-accredited Master of Arts in Counseling, specializing in Clinical Mental Health Counseling, from Wake Forest University. From January 2024 to April 2025, Mary worked as a graduate student intern at Levine Children’s Hospital, where she supported the team of psychologists and counselors in the Pediatric Psychology Department. She has experience providing outpatient psychotherapy services to children with long-term and/or terminal illnesses, utilizing an integrative care approach informed by the following therapeutic modalities: cognitive behavioral therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, child-centered therapy, solution-focused therapy, and pain management.
Mary has completed training in EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) Theory, Trauma-Informed Care, Child-Centered Play Therapy, and Cognitive Behavioral Play Therapy.
Before pursuing a career in mental health counseling, Mary earned a Bachelor of Science in Journalism from the University of Florida and a Master of Science in Journalism from Columbia University. She founded Brave New Word, a content marketing agency, in 2017 and served as Assistant Vice President of Communications for E4E Relief from 2022 to 2024. She now works full time as a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor.
Kiley Thiel, MA, LCMHCs, CCTP
Special Counsel to the CEO
Kiley Thiel is a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor and a Certified Clinical Trauma Professional. She maintains a private practice and is an adjunct professor of psychology at Queens University of Charlotte. Past experience includes working as director of children teen services at Kindermourn (2014-2020) and providing inpatient and outpatient psychotherapy school-based service for CMC Atrium Behavioral Health (2003-2006)
B.S. in Psychology, May 2000, M.A. in Health Psychology, May 2002, Appalachian State University
- Licensed Professional Counselor 2004 – 2018
- Licensed Professional Counselor Supervisor 2018 – present
- Certified Clinical Trauma Professional 2017 – present
- Member, National Alliance of Grieving Children 2014 – 2021
Melinda Willison, MS-CMHC, NC-LCMHC, NCC
Counseling Program Director
Melinda is a Nationally Certified Counselor licensed in NC as a Clinical Mental Health Counselor and obtained a Master of Science in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Capella University. Her experience includes a background as an educator, school-based support services and counseling, as well as, working with both children and adults in private practice.
Melinda holds certificates in Trauma Focused-CBT, along with training in Managing Grief and Complicated Grief. Melinda is a member of the American Counseling Association and actively engages in continuing education programs through the Association for Spiritual, Ethical, and Religious Values in Counseling (ASERVIC) and The Association for Multicultural Counseling & Development (AMCD).