PROJECT LEADERSHIP

Ms. Crump is the State Coordinator for Communication Access and Training with the Alabama Department of Mental Health. In this capacity, she has developed the Mental Health Interpreter Training Project including a supervised mental health practicum program, and established certification standards codified into state law - Alabama is the only state in the nation to certify interpreters as qualified to work in mental health. Her work has received national recognition by the National Alliance of Mentally Ill. She has received multiple awards for her work in the field. Charlene is a contributor to the RID Standard Practice Paper on Mental Health Interpreting and has served on several expert focus groups regarding mental health interpreting. Previously she assisted in the passage of state law that recognizes ASL as
a foreign language and served two terms as Chair of the Alabama Licensure Board.
She is a nationally certified interpreter and has a master’s degree in Rehabilitation
Counseling and postgraduate certifications in both Clinical Mental Health Counseling
and Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services programming. She is a frequent presenter on
regional and national levels and has published several book chapters and articles
related to work in mental health interpreting and communication assessment.

Mr. Hamerdinger has been involved with the deaf rights since the early 1980’s and has been a leader in the field of mental health and deafness since the early 90’s. He was the Director of the Office of Deaf Services from its inception in January 2003 until his retirement in 2024. Before coming to Alabama, he was Director of the Office of Deaf and Linguistic Support Services at the Missouri Department of Mental Health. His more than 40 years of work in the field has led to his being awarded the Alice Cogswell Award for service to deaf people by the Gallaudet Alumni Association as well as both the Boyce R. Williams Award and the Fredrick Schreiber Award by ADARA.

After receiving his Master's Degree in Counseling at Gallaudet University in 1989, Steve moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico to work as a mental health counselor at the New Mexico School for the Deaf. His practice there focused on deaf children and their families. While living in New Mexico, he was instrumental in helping to establish the New Mexico Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing and was elected as the first Chair of the Commission. He is a Past President of the New Mexico Association of the Deaf. 

Allyssa Cote, NIC, QMHI QMHI.

MHIT Alumni Coordinator

Ms. Cote is the Region I Interpreter Coordinator for the Alabama Department of Mental Health - Office of Deaf Services. She is a 2019 graduate of Troy University’s Interpreter Training Program and completed her internship with the Office of Deaf Services. She began her career with the Office of Deaf Services as a staff interpreter at Bryce Hospital, serving in that position for three years before transferring to her current role. She received her National Interpreter Certification in 2022 and her Qualified Mental Health Interpreter Certification in 2024. She currently serves as the MHIT Alumni Sessions Coordinator. Allyssa currently resides in Huntsville, Alabama, and enjoys exploring local coffee shops, attending Trash Panda games, and spending time with her friends and her four cats.

Ms. Reese is the Deaf Services Coordinator for the state with the Alabama Department of Mental Health. She previously worked as a Regional Coordinator for the Deaf in Region II/Birmingham area. Before that she worked as a resource trainer for the CAPE-D/HH (Center for Abuse Prevention and Education for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing children) and has provided trainings to various schools/programs serving deaf and hard of hearing children. She has also worked on a curriculum designed to help school teachers/administrators teach sexual abuse prevention to children from K-12. Previously, she was an assistant director for the Gallaudet University Regional Center in Massachusetts where she developed workshops, conferences relating to the area of deafness.

She has had a multitude of experiences working with deaf and hard of hearing clients in the mental health setting. She currently holds a certification as a National Certified Counselor.  She  The Office of Deaf Services' SLPI Coordinator and coordinates Mental Health and Deafness Online Training semi-monthly where experts in the field of mental health and deafness discuss trends and how to work with consumers. . Shannon received her B.A. in psychology from the University of Georgia and her M.A. in Mental Health Counseling from Gallaudet University.

Charlene Crump, MA., NCC,CRC,CI/CT,
ASLTA-Q, QMHI.

Mental Health Interpreter Coordinator, Project Director

Shannon Reese, M.A., NCC 
Volunteer and CEU Coordinator

Steve Hamerdinger, MA.

Founder of MHIT, Retired Director of the Office of Deaf Services