A leader and advisor for nonprofits with a focus on mental health, trauma, education, and equity initiatives, Kasida has overseen the rapid growth of Doc Wayne’s external training program, the Champion’s Network™
BOSTON (February 2, 2023) – Doc Wayne Youth Services (“Doc Wayne”), a nonprofit innovator and provider of sport-based mental health therapy for youth, today announced that Shalini Kasida has been selected to serve as the organization’s Chair of the Board of Directors. Kasida, who served as a Doc Wayne board member since 2018, has also been guiding the Champions Network™ team in cultivating partners, advancing the strategic growth of the external training program team, and supporting the formalization of the professional credentialing program.
Doc Wayne thanks outgoing Chair Christopher Ernest, CPA, MSM for his leadership and service on the board from the inception of the organization. On his time with Doc Wayne he said, “Witnessing the growth of Doc Wayne’s team and programs and participating in the development of our Board of Directors under the careful direction of our incredible CEO David Cohen has been one of the greatest honors of my professional career. I am thrilled to be transitioning the role of Board Chair to Shalini Kasida and am confident the organization will continue to flourish under her leadership. I look forward to continuing to serve on Doc Wayne’s Board of Directors and aiding in ways I can to help fuel its continued growth and success.”
Previously, Kasida was the Operations Director at Parents for Peace, a nonprofit organization that focuses on prevention, intervention, and rehabilitation of individuals moving toward a path of violent extremism. She is an established board member and advisor to several executive directors, including the National Policing Institute’s Center of Mass Violence and Expedition Ayiti. Prior to Kasida’s work in the nonprofit sector, she spent 25 years in leadership and management roles, managing consulting practices, pre-sales, and product marketing groups at enterprise software companies. She has a BSc (Hon) Computing Science from the University of Greenwich, London, UK.
“Access to quality healthcare is a human right and so is the opportunity for everyone to live up to their full potential,” Kasida said. “That is why I was immediately drawn to Doc Wayne and its mission of providing access to brighter futures for youth around the world through mental healthcare. Mental health is key to living a healthy life and using sport as a lens to provide therapy breaks down barriers. Doc Wayne does this by providing a fun, safe space for youth to address their physical and mental wellbeing through clinical initiatives.”
Kasida was born and lived in a rural Kenyan village for the first few years of her life. During those formative years, she experienced firsthand how access to good education and healthcare can transform the trajectory of someone’s life to create a positive future for generations of a family. Mental healthcare is usually not prioritized in most healthcare systems, even though mental health affects nearly one billion people globally.
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About Doc Wayne Youth Services
Doc Wayne is an innovator and provider of sport-based mental health therapy for youth. We provide services, tools and training that address emotional, behavioral, traumatic, racial, gender, and cultural-based barriers by providing equitable access to better mental health for all. Our clinician-led curricula puts sport into practice; programs are held in a gym or on a field at schools, community centers and in clinical settings. The approach fosters openness and trust that enables healing, the development of life skills and learning teamwork, with the benefits of physical activity. Strengthening the social-emotional skills in young learners helps to build healthier, more resilient global communities. Doc Wayne, headquartered in Boston with an office in Allston, MA, also has a growing team worldwide.
Contact:
Heidi Boie