TAYLRD (Transition Age Youth Launching Realized Dreams) is a new way to REACH OUT to youth and young adults ages 16-25 who are struggling with mental health and/or substance use issues. Peer Specialists who are young people with lived behavioral health experience and are specially trained to support young people with behavioral health issues are the key to engaging these young people in much needed services and supports.
The hope is that by providing these services and supports in an environment that is engaging to youth and young adults, this will CAPTIVATE their attention, and they will feel a sense of belonging and have a strong voice in their own recovery. The focus is on empowering young people by providing SUPPORT that interests them, such as peer support services, employment and education supports and career planning, life skills supports, medication supports, support in health care navigation, and age specific and developmentally appropriate behavioral health services.
Meet Our Center for Youth in Transition Team
Cassidy Herndon
Youth Coordinator, The Zone
My name is Cassidy Herndon, and I am the Local Level Youth Coordinator for The Zone. I’m 24 years old, and I am in recovery with substance use disorder. My hobbies include reading, playing video games, and eating at new places. I’m also an art and music lover, and I like to spend most of my time with my family and the people I love.
Jared Hughes
Local Level Project Director, The Zone
My name is Jared Hughes and I am the Local Level Project Director for the Zone. I have been working in the mental health field for 7 years. I started as a Clinical Associate at the Four rivers Behavioral Health’s William H. Fuller Memorial Center Residential Drug Treatment Program. I taught classes and monitored individuals with Substance Use Disorders. I then worked as a Case Manager in the Developmental and Intellectual Disabilities Program at Four Rivers for 6 years before moving to the position I am in now. I like working with and helping youth. I enjoy playing video and board games as well as sports. Of course, I am always available to talk if needed.
Cassidy Herndon
Youth Coordinator, The Zone
My name is Cassidy Herndon, and I am the Local Level Youth Coordinator for The Zone. I’m 24 years old, and I am in recovery with substance use disorder. My hobbies include reading, playing video games, and eating at new places. I’m also an art and music lover, and I like to spend most of my time with my family and the people I love.
Lauryn Parr
Peer Support Specialist, The Zone
My name is Lauryn Parr I am an adult peer support specialist at The Zone. I am 22 years old, I’m in recovery from substance abuse I also have experience with mental health. I like arts and crafts, I really enjoy painting and creating things. I’m a very laid back person, and I’ll happily talk with you.
Christian Waggoner
Peer Support Specialists, iHOPE
My name is Christian Waggoner I am Peer Support with, I hope. I have worked with Four Rivers Behavioral Health for three years. I started as a youth peer support for the zone. I felt like I need to do more for myself in my work. I then got my adult peer support certificate and I started to looking in to jobs available through the company and found, I hope. I Decide I want to work with people that had psychosis and to find out more about psychosis. I love that every day I get to be there for young adults when they are having problems and feel like they have no one to talk and I can be there for them. In I hope I am learning everyday more and more about psychosis and get to client about it. I also love to work with young adults with their short-term goals they have set for their life I get to see them strive in success they can make.
Zaneta Moss
Youth Coordinator, The Zone
Hey! My name is Zaneta, I am 26 and I am a Youth Peer Support Specialist at the Zone. I love anime, music, games of all kind and trying new foods. I have lived experience with psychosis, BPD (borderline personality disorder), anxiety and depression. Mario party is my jam and I’d love to share my story over some mini games.
Amanda Lee Ann McIntosh
Program Manager, iHOPE
I have been working in the mental health field for nine years. I have a Bachelors in Social Work, Maters of Education, and a Specialization in Mental Health Counseling. I am certified to do the Skid and Sips. I started working in I Hope January 12, 2020 as the program manager/therapist. We work with the age group of 15-30 that are experiencing first episode psychosis. The I Hope team strives to make a difference. We strive to help other have a better quality of life. I guide people through personal challenges, help with burdens, and empower people to take control of their life. I work in mental health because I believe people can recover from a mental illness, and that can change a life.
Erin Northington, LCSW
ACT Program Manager
Hi! I am Erin and I am the Program Coordinator/Clinician for the Assertive Community Treatment Program for Youth. I graduated from Murray State University with my Bachelor’s in Social Work in 2009. I worked in a variety of settings until I found my passion in the community mental health field at Four Rivers Behavioral Health in 2013. I then went back to school for my Masters of Social Work through Our Lady of the Lake University and graduated in 2015. I have been working as a clinician with Four Rivers Behavioral Health since then. In 2018, I was given the opportunity to start the Assertive Community Treatment Program for Youth and cannot imagine doing anything else! I enjoy working with this age group witnessing them work through barriers, find themselves, find success and feel empowered to be who they are. I also love silly jokes, spending time with my family and friends, music and taking spontaneous trips!
Hailey Ziegler, MSW, CSW
Transition Age Youth Therapist
Hello, my name is Hailey Ziegler and I have worked in the mental health field for 6 years.
I can’t tell if I am a glass half-empty or a glass half-full person because I keep drinking the water. I enjoy working with individuals between the ages of 15 and 25. There are a lot of awesome and nerve-wracking situations happening during this time of your life and sometimes things get dicey. Together, we will navigate adulting, independence, and learning to make the most of your choices while building the relationship you have with yourself.
What are young people saying about TAYLRD?
*Names have been changed to protect privacy.
I have been coming to the Zone for a couple of months now, and the staff have been nothing but nice and welcoming. They have helped me with many things like jobs, searching for apartments, and just being someone and somewhere to get help and talk to.
The Zone has helped me by being therapeutic and giving me a place that I feel accepted. A lot of the people are really nice and there is no judgement about any of my issues.
The Zone is a safe place; where youth can feel safe and can interact with, have fun with, socialize with other youth. Also, the peer supports feel like friends and not like therapists. They have helped with some things.
Corporate Office
425 Broadway Paducah, KY 42001
(270) 442-7121
(270) 442-1452
Fax 270-443-9692
The Zone
Four Rivers Behavioral Health
Four Rivers Behavioral Health offers a variety of programs designed specifically for children and teens. In addition to the Adolescent Intensive Outpatient Program, Four Rivers Behavioral Health offers a Partial Hospitalization Program for adolescents, a complete Testing & Assessment Center to help determine the best course of action for children with mental health concerns as well as an entire clinical staff dedicated to children who need behavioral health treatment.
Four Rivers Behavioral Health is a private, not-for-profit agency providing comprehensive, integrated mental health, substance abuse and developmental disability services to promote the health and quality of life for consumers in Ballard, Calloway, Carlisle, Fulton, Graves, Hickman, Livingston, Marshall, and McCracken counties. Any individual in need is eligible to receive services without regard to race, religion, disability, national origin, or gender.