Our Team
Owner/Co-Founder Nancy Mercer, LCSW
"We always try to make everybody feel like they are part of the solution. When everyone feels included, everyone contributes to the solution."
Her Focus: Connecting families and caregivers with her team of consultants and publicly available resources.
Her Inspiration: As Nancy was growing up, her parents modeled the importance of living the Golden Rule, “Treat others the way you would like to be treated.” This belief system is the foundation of the work she does, and as a result—the time she puts in never feels like work, but more like a journey. She co-founded Inclusion Consultants in 2017 with Brooke Varma, LCSW.
"We see the landscape in a way that none other of the individual players do. We come in to build a relationship, then identify the services you need. We can’t do anything until we earn your trust."
Her Approach: Over decades of work with people with disabilities, Nancy saw that the system has become complex. There are numerous disconnected managers of the many parts and no one overseeing all of it. Her vision for Inclusion Consultants is to connect, coach and empower families and caregivers to benefit from publicly available resources.
"Trust is important because you are asking people to make changes, typically in times of crisis. You can build trust in a relationship, if you can prove that you will always be there."
Kathy Crump
Adriana Fuhrer
Adriana Fuhrer
“One of my priorities in life is helping people.”
Her Focus: Discovering what a client needs from her and giving it to them in a dignified way.
Her Inspiration: Kathy has an encompassing compassion for people. She wants to help others achieve a better quality of life and reach their personal best. Her character has been shaped by being
“One of my priorities in life is helping people.”
Her Focus: Discovering what a client needs from her and giving it to them in a dignified way.
Her Inspiration: Kathy has an encompassing compassion for people. She wants to help others achieve a better quality of life and reach their personal best. Her character has been shaped by being in a military family and always learning to make the best of each situation. She shares those skills to help others become more resilient in daily life.
“When you invite people in, make sure you make them understand they are welcome with you."
Her Approach: Kathy's priority as an inclusion specialist is to establish trust and to make a connection with her clients. She has broad experience and interests and connects on a personal level while maintaining a professional relationship. She calls her approach "tough love," which to her means getting her clients to recognize that there are some things that need to be done in order to grow and learn, "even if you don't want to do them or if doing them makes you feel uncomfortable.''
“It doesn’t matter to me who you are or what you can or cannot do, I treat people the way that I want to be treated, with dignity, understanding, and respect.”
Adriana Fuhrer
Adriana Fuhrer
Adriana Fuhrer
Her Focus: Making new and exciting memories and forming close and trusting relationships and lifelong bonds.
Her Inspiration: Adriana has a younger sister who has ADHD/ASD. Watching her grow up and struggle with forming social connections, Adriana saw how much she was excluded by her peers and those around her. She just wanted to be und
Her Focus: Making new and exciting memories and forming close and trusting relationships and lifelong bonds.
Her Inspiration: Adriana has a younger sister who has ADHD/ASD. Watching her grow up and struggle with forming social connections, Adriana saw how much she was excluded by her peers and those around her. She just wanted to be understood and included and when she wasn’t, it was heartbreaking.
Her Approach: Adriana’s goal is to provide a supportive, mentoring relationship which fosters free thinking and a creative spirit to build confidence and better sense of self. We do this through exploring activities which promote life-long learning and independence.
Adriana has a younger sister who has ADHD/ASD. Watching her grow up and struggle with forming social connections, A saw how much she was excluded by her peers and those around her. She just wanted to be understood and included and when she wasn’t, it was heartbreaking.
Miriam Goldin
Mikelle Murray-Jarosz
Mikelle Murray-Jarosz
"The challenge for parents and caregivers is to feel responsibility and still be willing to hand some things over to someone else, and say, 'Help me.'”
Her Focus: Building language skills in social and work situations, and skills that affect understandability of speech.
Her Inspiration: Miriam's adult daughter has developmental disabilities
"The challenge for parents and caregivers is to feel responsibility and still be willing to hand some things over to someone else, and say, 'Help me.'”
Her Focus: Building language skills in social and work situations, and skills that affect understandability of speech.
Her Inspiration: Miriam's adult daughter has developmental disabilities. Miriam and her husband struggled to sustain their careers, to manage their daughter's disability and to plan for the future. When they realized they couldn't do it all, they turned to Inclusion Consultants for help. And now Miriam is giving the same kind of help to other families like hers.
"I surrendered a lot of what I do to Nancy and Inclusion Consultants because I knew what was in my toolbox. But I didn’t know what all the possibilities were for her."
Her Approach: Miriam says she wants parents to plan for "DD+1," which is the day after both parents have died. It's a blunt way of looking at it, but it frames the discussion in a clear way. Her goal is to help caregivers make sure that on DD+1, their child's life is as similar to the days before as possible.
"My daughter is taking on roles we never thought she would ever take on because we built in a structure to support her."
Mikelle Murray-Jarosz
Mikelle Murray-Jarosz
Mikelle Murray-Jarosz
"Everyone is kind of afraid, parents included. You approach it by nurturing, but also with tough love."
Her Focus: Case management; connecting families to community resources; supporting clients and families with transition planning.
Her Inspiration: Mikelle is inspired by witnessing others living each day to their fullest potential. Ov
"Everyone is kind of afraid, parents included. You approach it by nurturing, but also with tough love."
Her Focus: Case management; connecting families to community resources; supporting clients and families with transition planning.
Her Inspiration: Mikelle is inspired by witnessing others living each day to their fullest potential. Over the past 16 years, Mikelle has been dedicated to helping persons with IDD and mental illness gain the life skills necessary to be successful in their homes and in their community. She is dedicated to helping people gain independence, confidence, and personal success in all areas of life.
"I have the ability to connect with adults with disabilities because I am able to gain trust. And I don’t give up."
Her Approach: She starts by building rapport and establishing a trusting relationship. Mikelle empowers her clients and caregivers by actively listening to them about what they want their life to be. With that in mind, she creates and helps maintain a system of supports that can get them through challenges. At times, she will step in to defuse a stressful situation, but always with the goal of giving the caregiver resources and contacts that can empower them to handle things themselves.
"Making decisions for your adult child encourages them to be dependent on you. It’s okay to let go. If you let go, you will see your child can do things you didn’t expect.”
Shelby Stevenson
Jennifer King, MA
Jennifer King, MA
"Everyone needs someone to talk to. I will always be the person you can come to in the good and the bad times."
Her Focus: Being a trustworthy, supportive, and motivational presence in relationships with clients and family members.
Her Inspiration: Going back as far as elementary school, Shelby was the one asked to help classmates with disa
"Everyone needs someone to talk to. I will always be the person you can come to in the good and the bad times."
Her Focus: Being a trustworthy, supportive, and motivational presence in relationships with clients and family members.
Her Inspiration: Going back as far as elementary school, Shelby was the one asked to help classmates with disabilities. She realized that most of the time they just needed help from a friend, as many of us do. Someone to confide in and talk about the negative AND positive things with. Her inspiration comes from seeing those classmates come out of their shell and open up more and more as their relationship formed.
Her Approach: Building trust and creating a fun and open environment is the beginning of Shelby’s approach. Once that’s completed, she tries to work towards the goals of the client and build confidence.
Jennifer King, MA
Jennifer King, MA
Jennifer King, MA
“Each individual and their family are the experts. They know their interests, preferences, effective strategies and goals. I look forward to becoming part of each individual’s team and helping them to identify and achieve their goals.”
Her Focus: To help connect individuals with resources and services, monitor and coordinate those service
“Each individual and their family are the experts. They know their interests, preferences, effective strategies and goals. I look forward to becoming part of each individual’s team and helping them to identify and achieve their goals.”
Her Focus: To help connect individuals with resources and services, monitor and coordinate those services, develop life plans so the individual and family can feel comfortable knowing their loved one is and will continue to be cared for, even in their absence. I am also able to serve as an educational advocate for parents who are attempting to access services for their child or need support in monitoring those services in special education.
Her Inspiration: I have 35+ years of experience working in private and public educational settings with students of all ages and their families, navigating the systems for special education and preparing students for the transition into the adulthood. It was extremely rewarding to connect with each student and their family. Having an opportunity to support individuals requiring adult services and their families allows me to continue making connections with people, giving me a feeling of fulfillment. I have met some amazing people and feel privileged to be a part of their lives. My experience was also helpful in supporting my own child through the special education system and the transition into adulthood, which continues to be an ongoing process. Every step counts.
Her Approach: As I connect and support people, I want them to feel accepted, productive and as independent as possible. We are all unique and have different ways of learning and viewing ourselves and the world. It is important to listen to each other and to be open to others points of view.
Merle Toobin
"I work with people to help them navigate the world around them. That’s different for everyone, with different living situations, work environments and social lives."
Her Focus: Helping clients develop social skills, plan social interactions and make community connections.
Her Inspiration: Merle's son, Adam, is an adult with cerebral pals
"I work with people to help them navigate the world around them. That’s different for everyone, with different living situations, work environments and social lives."
Her Focus: Helping clients develop social skills, plan social interactions and make community connections.
Her Inspiration: Merle's son, Adam, is an adult with cerebral palsy who she says is "tired of listening to his parents." She knows from experience that adults with disabilities need someone they can turn to for advice that a parent might give but who is NOT their own parent.
"I'm not your mother, but I can do what I think your mother might have done."
Her Approach: Merle takes her clients with disabilities under her wing and helps them decide what their needs are. When she's talking with caregivers and clients about goals, she reminds the caregiver of the client’s strengths and weaknesses. Recognizing a client’s needs helps set realistic expectations for the caregiver, but recognizing their strengths helps them both aim higher.
"It’s really valuable to see a situation through fresh eyes. Inclusion Consultants has a different perspective, and we understand the context of the system."