President
Ashley Ochs, MA, CCLS, GC-C
Ashley Ochs is the Child Life Manager for the Child Life Department at INTEGRIS Children's at Baptist Medical Center. She holds a Master of Art in Psychology and Bachelor of Science in Child Development with a Minor in Spanish from the University of Central Oklahoma. Ashley is also a Certified Grief Counselor. Ashley began her career in 2008 at John Hopkin's All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida, and after working as a Certified Child Life Specialist on a Medical Subspecialty Unit for 3 years, she decided to move back home to Oklahoma. Ashley then worked at Oklahoma Children's Hospital in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma for 5 years. She was a Child Life Lead and the Kohl's Cares Special Event Coordinator, while also caring for children on the dialysis and nephrology units. Ashley was then offered the opportunity to start a brand-new child life program at INTEGRIS Children's at Baptist Medical Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. After establishing the groundwork for the new program and hiring a team of Certified Child Life Specialists, Ashley became the Child Life manager for the INTEGRIS Children's Child Life Program.
Ashley has consistently strived to support and advocate for the professional growth within the child life field at her own hospital, as well as within the national and regional community of child life professionals. She has played an active role as a mentor in the ACLP Mentor Program and as a member of the ACLP Membership Advisory Group. Ashley is currently a reviewer in the ACLP Internship Accreditation Oversight Committee. She has also sat on the SACLP conference planning committee and was the 2019-2021 SACLP Conference Committee Chair. Ashley is dedicated to growth and development within the child life profession and is excited use this passion as the SACLP President.
President-Elect
Magellan Taylor-Brickey, MA, CCLS, GCCA-C
Magellan obtained her Bachelor's degree in Psychology from The University of Memphis in 2011. She went on to receive a Master's degree in Human Development and Family Studies, with an emphasis in child life, from The University of Missouri in 2013. She completed her child life internship at Seattle Children's Hospital, then moved to South Carolina where she began her child life career working in pediatric hospice for Hands of Hope. After a year and a half, Magellan moved to Texas and spent the next five years working as a Palliative Care Child Life Specialist for Baylor Scott & White Health. Magellan is now a Certified Child Life Specialist for The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, where she is building their child life program for children of adult patients.
Magellan also holds a Child and Adolescent Grief Counseling Certification, which lends well to her focus on child life services for children and families facing serious, life-threatening or life-limiting illness. Magellan has published multiple professional articles, co-led an ACLP webinar on anticipatory grief, and co-presented on traumatic loss at the 2020 annual ACLP conference. Magellan believes in continued professional growth not only within herself, but empowering others to do so as well.She has played an active role as a mentor in the ACLP Mentor Program, and was previously on the ACLP Mentor Program Committee. She is excited to serve SACLP for another term. Outside of work, Magellan is actively involved with her sorority, the Junior League of Fort Worth, Leadership Fort Worth, and is the Director of Fundraising for Love and Paws Rescue. Magellan is married to Chase and they have four fur babies- Sophie, Bumblebee, Windy, and Elsa.
Treasurer
Christy Lange, MS, CCLS
Christy graduated from Illinois State University in 2008 with an undergraduate degree in Human Development and Family Resources and continued at Illinois State to obtain a Master’s degree in Family and Consumer Sciences in 2010. Following an internship at Advocate Children’s Hospital Park Ridge in the Chicago suburbs, Christy worked at Starlight Children’s Foundation Midwest as a hospital programs coordinator for a year. She ventured to Texas in 2012 joining the child life team with Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston. She has worked on the inpatient surgical trauma unit and established the Facility Dog Program in 2019, with her first facility dog, Dexter. Together, they provide services throughout the Children’s Hospital. She serves in the department’s Student Committee where she has overseen the practicum program and is currently co-leading the internship program. Christy served as treasurer for the TACLP from 2017-2019 and looks forward to utilizing her passion for accounting and budget management as well as collaborating with regional peers to this new opportunity.
Webmaster
Laura Linville, BS, CCLS
Laura Linville is a Child Life Specialist II and Practicum Coordinator for the Child Life Department at INTEGRIS Children's at Baptist Medical Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. She holds a Bachelors in Health and Exercise Science from the University of Oklahoma and has a native fluency in Spanish. Laura has also been a Certified Brain Injury Specialist. Laura began her career in 2013 at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, Texas, and after working as a Certified Child Life Specialist on the Liver Transplant and Inpatient Rehabilitation units for 2 years, she moved to Oklahoma. Laura then worked at The Children's Hospital at OU Medical Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma for 2 years. She was the Practicum Student Coordinator and also assisted in creating special events, such as Fairytale Ball, while also caring for children on the adolescent medicine, PEMU, Hematology/Oncology and Stem Cell Transplant Units. Laura was then offered the opportunity to assist in the building of a brand-new child life program at INTEGRIS Children's at Baptist Medical Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Laura continues to help with the building of student programming as well as special events for patients and families.
Laura is has been a member of both the TACLP and ACLP for years and consistently strives for opportunities to grow personally and professionally. Laura continues to participate in ACLP summits and discussions dedicated to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion within the child life profession and has been an active participant in the SACLP Student Think Tank.
Conference Planning Chair
Catie Reed, MS, CCLS, CFLE
Catie Reed is a Certified Child Life Specialist in the Dell Children’s Blood and Cancer Center and a co-founder of the emBark Medical Facility Dog program. She works to reduce stress and increase coping in the outpatient pediatric oncology population alongside service dog Savannah.
Catie has a Bachelor’s degree in Family Studies and Master’s in Developmental Psychology. She completed a Child Life Practicum at Texas Children’s Hospital, and a clinical internship at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital before becoming certified. Catie worked in both the outpatient and inpatient Hematology/Oncology units at Golisano Children’s Hospital in Fort Myers, Florida for 4 years before returning to Texas, and has now been at Dell for over 2 years.
Catie is passionate about the field of child life, and the importance of building resilience in her patients and their families during some of the hardest times of their lives. She is active in the regional and national child life networks, volunteering on the regional child life conference planning committee and editing for the national child life quarterly publication, The Bulletin.
Raised right here in Austin, Catie made her way back after building her career in Tennessee and Florida. She now lives in East Austin with her husband, Austin, Golden Retriever Shark, and service dog Savannah.
Outreach Committee Chair
Michelle Fritsche, MS, CLS
Michelle was born and raised in Houston, TX where they currently work at Texas Children’s Hospital in the Radiology department. Before completing their master’s at Texas Woman’s in 2020, Michelle trained as an educator at the University of Houston and worked in private and public schools for 3 years. Michelle also has experience in virtual programming as they help manage an online play platform for kids, Get Your Play On-line, which was created in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to provide accessible play activities for kids and serves as a virtual volunteer experience for child life students. Prior to being elected to the SACLP board, Michelle served on the Professional Development committee and presented at the SACLP’s 2021 virtual conference. Michelle is excited to bring a recent student’s perspective to the Outreach position and aid in the expansion of the SACLP.
Professional Development Chair
Kayla Rueter, BS, CCLS
Kayla is a Certified Child Life Specialist at Dell Children's Medical Center in Austin, Texas. Kayla holds a bachelor’s degree from Baylor University in Child and Family Studies with an emphasis in child life. Kayla completed her child life practicum at McLane Children's Hospital in Temple, Texas and her internship at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta in Atlanta, Georgia. Kayla's career started at the Children's Hospital of San Antonio in San Antonio, Texas in the emergency department. After a year there, Kayla accepted a role in the level one trauma pediatric emergency department at Dell Children's Medical Center. Kayla spent 4.5 years in the emergency department on night shift, and has now transitioned to a day time role on the acute inpatient rehabilitation unit. Kayla participates on many teams at Dell Children's, as well as serves on committees for both the ACLP and TACLP. Kayla has previously presented at the TACLP conference. As the new professional development committee chair, Kayla is looking forward to creating more network and education opportunities for the members of the TACLP.
Students Committee Chair
Meghan Sealy Kamau, CCLS
I graduated from Sam Houston State University with a Bachelors of Music in Music Therapy in 1994. After moving to Pensacola, FL, I was encouraged to go to the children's hospital and it was there that I learned about CL. I soon morphed into being the child life specialist but it wasn't until 2011 that I was finally able to sit for the exam. I moved to El Paso in 2014 to regrow the child life program. I have had student programming both in Pensacola and here in El Paso. The student program is currently on hold as we are on-boarding new child life staff and growing the program.