On January 2, 2019, Jenny Farrell became the Executive Director of Mental Health Advocacy Services. As Executive Director, Jenny is responsible for overseeing the administration, programs, and strategic plan of the organization. She also manages development and fundraising, marketing, and community outreach for the organization. She has several years of senior nonprofit management experience and a strong, personal commitment to protecting the rights of people with mental health disabilities.
Jenny previously served as Director of External Relations of the Los Angeles Center for Law and Justice, a nonprofit legal aid agency that provides free legal services to survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. At LACLJ, Jenny served in a hybrid role as the organization’s Director of Development, Director of Communications, and Director of Pro Bono & Volunteers. Jenny directed the fund development and marketing strategy for LACLJ, including Annual Fund, Major Gifts, Special Events, and Law Firm and Corporate Sponsorships. Finally, Jenny connected private law firms and practitioners to LACLJ by supervising the placement of family law and immigration pro bono cases with both attorneys and law students.
Prior to joining LACLJ, Jenny was an attorney at Panish Shea & Boyle LLP, where she focused her practice on litigating complex personal injury, wrongful death, product defect and police brutality cases.
Jenny received her Bachelor’s degree in Government from Smith College, where she graduated cum laude in 2003. Jenny spent five years working at non-profit organizations for environmental, consumer and public health issues before heading to law school. She received her J.D. from the University of Southern California Gould School of Law in 2011. While in law school, Jenny was named the 2011 Public Interest Student of the Year and awarded the Mason C. Brown Award for her commitment to public interest issues and talent for trial work.
When she's not at work, Jenny and her partner John enjoy wrangling their two very-adorable-but-very-stubborn boys, Robby and Micah.
Jo Bloomfield is the Managing Attorney of Mental Health Advocacy Services (MHAS), where she oversees the Legal Services Team comprising more than 15 attorneys and advocates who practice in numerous areas of law, including public benefits, housing, re-entry, special education, and mental health.
Jo began her legal aid career at Bet Tzedek Legal Services and then at MHAS as a Staff Attorney specializing in disability benefits. In that role, she represented dozens of clients with severe mental illness to ensure they received the benefits to which they were entitled. Moving into a Senior Attorney role at MHAS, Jo helped launch the Los Angeles County Medical-Legal-Community Partnership, a collaborative between the county’s Department of Health Services, Department of Mental Health, and several public interest organizations that provides legal support to low-income patients. Throughout her 15-plus years as a legal aid attorney, Jo has helped hundreds of clients resolve legal issues critical to their overall well-being. She now focuses on supervising and mentoring new and mid-level public interest attorneys. She has a special interest in ensuring the longevity of legal aid careers and, to that end, is a go-to trainer in California and beyond on working with clients with challenging behaviors, and on preventing and managing compassion fatigue.
Jo received her B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis in 2001, where she was elected Phi Beta Kappa. She graduated magna cum laude from Duke Law School in 2005, where she was Senior Note Editor of the Duke Law Journal and received faculty awards in legal writing and family law. After law school, she clerked for the Honorable Susan H. Black on the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals and worked as a litigation associate in private practice. Jo currently serves as an appointee on the Judicial Council of California’s Probate and Mental Health Advisory Committee.
Outside of work, Jo loves spending time with her husband and two kids, reading, and doing crossword puzzles.
Kyra is a Supervising Attorney at MHAS. She supervises the organization's Medical Legal Community Partnership and provides consultation and support on special education matters. Before joining MHAS, Kyra practiced special education law for many years at Learning Rights Law Center, a nonprofit legal services organization dedicated to education advocacy for children with disabilities. At Learning Rights, she served as both the Director of the Autism Program and more recently, the Director of Systemic Advocacy. She represented low-income parents at IEP meetings and in all aspects of due process cases to obtain more appropriate educational supports for their children.
Kyra earned her law degree and Certificate in Dispute Resolution from Pepperdine University School of Law in 2011. At Pepperdine, she was an advocate in the Special Education Advocacy Clinic and Lead Articles Editor of the Dispute Resolution Law Journal. She earned her B.A. in English from USC in 2008.
In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her family, honing her meditation practice, and watching stand-up comedy.
As Director of Administration & Finance, Renee Cook has a variety of administrative and financial duties, including accounting, administration of grants and contracts, fiscal and programmatic reporting, human resources management, technology management and supervision of administrative staff. She also serves as the program manager for MHAS’ federally funded fair housing project.
Renee joined MHAS in 1988 as a part-time Administrative Assistant. In 1991, she became a full-time employee with a range of programmatic, administrative and fundraising duties. She worked for two years as an advocate helping homeless individuals obtain SSI disability benefits in a pilot project that led to the creation of MHAS’ Homeless SSI Outreach Project, which went on to assist thousands of clients over the next 20 years. Since 1993, Renee has been in charge of MHAS’ administration and accounting, and she has administered grants from federal, state and local government agencies. She also participates in grant writing and other fundraising duties.
Pavithra is a Supervising Attorney at Mental Health Advocacy Services and leads its reentry law practice. She supervises Project New Start cases as well as the organization's mental health-legal partnership projects. She also provides support for any and all reentry law matters in the organization.
Before joining MHAS, Pavithra was a Staff Attorney at A New Way of Life Reentry Project, a community-based nonprofit in south Los Angeles that assists individuals in obtaining clean slate services and other forms of post-conviction relief. In that role, she became well-versed in various aspects of reentry law, including expungements and felony reductions, post-conviction relief law and motion practice, and representation of clients with conviction histories in occupational licensing hearings.
Pavithra graduated from UCLA School of Law in 2013, where she obtained a Critical Race Studies specialization. She earned undergraduate degrees in Liberal Arts Honors and Finance from the University of Texas at Austin in 2008. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with friends, doing yoga, and vegging out on the couch to watch TV or Internet videos.
Naomi Sultan is a Supervising Attorney at Mental Health Advocacy Services, Inc. (MHAS), where she leads the housing law program, including the Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP), and representsMedical-Legal Community Partnership (MLCP) clients in housing discrimination matters. Naomi worked as a teacher for children with learning disabilities before embarking on a legal career.
Upon graduating law school in 2015, Naomi was awarded a Skadden Fellowship to launch a medical-legal partnership representing homeless and unstably housed veterans and their families. In addition to her work at MHAS, Naomi also serves as an elected Commissioner of the Santa Monica Rent Control Board.
Brittney Cannon is a Staff Attorney at Mental Health Advocacy Services on Project New Start in partnership with the Painted Brain. She works to help clients with reentry issues that could prevent them from achieving their goals. This ranges from filing expungements to assisting with issues surrounding disability benefits and more.
Brittney graduated from Pepperdine School of Law in 2020, where she worked in both the Legal Aid Clinic serving clients in LA’s Skid Row, as well as in the Restoration and Justice Clinic providing legal aid to victims of domestic violence and human trafficking. In her free time, Brittney likes to relax with a book and her two dogs: Butch and Sundance.
Angie joined Mental Health Advocacy Services in 2019. She is responsible for managing MHAS' fundraising and communications, coordinating outreach events, and providing support on other projects as needed. Before joining MHAS, Angie was an Administrative Assistant at the Los Angeles Center for Law and Justice.
Angie received her B.A. in Sociology and Spanish with a concentration in Latin American Studies at Grinnell College.
Courtney Mendoza is an Equal Justice Works Fellow at MHAS. For her fellowship project, she designed a maternal medical-legal partnership with the Nurse-Family Partnership, an LA County medical home visitation program for low-income pregnant and postpartum women. In partnership with physical and mental health care providers, she offers legal services to address the health-harming legal issues facing low-income families, such as unstable housing, food and income insecurity, family violence, and more.
Courtney worked at MHAS during her time as a law student at USC Gould School of Law (Class of 2020). Before law school, she studied psychology and political science at Chapman University (Class of 2016).
In her free time, she enjoys crocheting sweaters, perfecting her tiramisu recipe, and keeping up with the latest internet memes.
Erik Nickels is a Skadden Fellow at Mental Health Advocacy Services, where his project establishes a medical legal partnership between MHAS and Step up on Second. He works with transition age youth who have mental health disabilities, providing direct legal services in a number of areas including housing, public benefits, expungements, and outstanding tickets. He also helps clients create psychiatric advance directives to document their treatment preferences and promote their autonomy in case of psychiatric hospitalization.
Erik is a 2021 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania law school. While at Penn, Erik served as a summer law clerk for MHAS and the Bazelon Center and volunteered with Philadelphia’s Legal Clinic for the Disabled to serve people facing eviction. He was the co-president of the Penn Law chapter of Native American Law Students Association. Erik also attended the University of Oklahoma, graduating in 2018.
In his free time, he enjoys competing in chess tournaments and following his favorite sports teams, especially his beloved Oklahoma Sooners.
Native Angeleno Jesse Norgaard joined MHAS in 2009 as a volunteer. Later that year, he was hired as a part-time Administrative Assistant. Within a year, he was working full-time in that position, and he now serves as our Intake Coordinator. He is a second-generation employee at MHAS, following in his mother’s footsteps. Aside from his normal duties and the many hats he wears around the office, he proudly serves on our Safety and Security Committee.
When we asked Jesse what he loved most about working here, he stated “I find myself very fortunate to work alongside like-minded professionals who work tirelessly to provide vital services to the community. This is more than just a job to me.This is where I’m supposed to be.”
When he’s not working, Jesse enjoys time with his family. Whether they are playing sports, hiking, or going to a Dodger game, they are always active and creating a lifetime of memories.
Michelle Solis is a Legal Lervices Advocate at Mental Health Advocacy Services. She is part of the Medical-Legal Community Partnership (MLCP) team and is responsible for conducting client intakes, case management, and other administrative tasks. Michelle is a Spanish-speaker.
Prior to joining MHAS, Michelle worked at the Harriett Buhai Center for Family Law as a Client Assistant. Her commitment to ensuring language access to the Spanish speaking community also led her to volunteer with Esperanza Immigrants Rights Project and the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs.
Michelle graduated from Cal State University Long Beach in 2015 with a B.A. in Sociology and a minor in Finance. In her free time, Michelle will either pick up a book or watch a documentary while her dogs demand for attention.
