Our Leadership

Meet our dedicated professionals – the volunteers who serve on our Board of Directors, as our Executive Committee, as Chairpersons of our Committees, and our Committee Members. Their leadership and generosity make our work in Missouri possible.

Contact the Missouri Chapter at [email protected].

My name is Lauren Ross and I am the Missouri Chapter Board Chair and Advocacy Chair. I lost my dad in Sept of 2002 and did not know AFSP even existed. I was 12 years old and it changed my life forever. I attended my first community walk in 2016. I found the event on Facebook and immediately connected with the chair of the walk. I have only ever walked at one walk since I found AFSP – the rest I have volunteered at. My healing from the loss of my dad truly started when I found AFSP in 2016. I attended my frist state capitol day for advocacy in February 2018 and knew I found my passion.
I began volunteering with the board and joined the board in November 2018. I am incredibly passionate about educating our state and national legislators about the importance of supporting mental health. I am also incredibly passionate about the community outreach side of AFSP. I enjoy being out in our communities educating and helping break down the stigma against suicide.

My name is Tim Rowden. I attended my first Out of the Darkness Walk in 2021, two weeks after losing my 22-year-old son, Ian, to suicide. I was still in shock during that first walk but remember the sense of community I felt being around people who understood my loss. I grabbed every handout that was available and, as soon as I was able, began volunteering to table events and took training to present Talk Saves Lives. Today, I continue to table, present trainings and advocate for legislation.
In my work as editor-in-chief of the St. Louis and Southern Illinois Labor Tribune, I come into daily contact with union members and construction workers, who have one of the highest suicide rates of any profession. Today, I’m chair of our chapter’s Construction Initiatives and all of the programming included in AFSP’s Hard Hat Courage initiative, including Talk Saves Lives: Construction and Construction Hike for Hope.
I also present Caring Communities to groups and organizations that have recently experienced a suicide.
My goal was and remains to do this important work in Ian’s honor, to save others and to help prevent other families from going through what we’ve been through. My wife, Kim, and I have three other adult children, Charlotte, Emma and Quinn.

My name is Angelia Brown. I work in the Life Insurance industry as a Claims Correspondent. Following the death of my 16-year-old son, Adonte, I came across the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention while doing an online search about suicide and mental health. My first interaction with the foundation was participation in an Out of the Darkness Walk in St. Louis in 2011. I became more intentional in my participation and began my volunteer with the Walk committee in 2014. I knew deep in my spirit that this was a good fit for me; that they are a purposeful group determined to change the dynamics and how others see mental health. My passion is reaching out to communities that are underserved and less receptive to communicating about mental health. I want to be a catalyst for change in how mental health is discussed in minority communities. I want people to know that help is available and suicide is preventable.