We are Lotus
Our Strategic Framework
VISION
FREEDOM FROM OPPRESSION & VIOLENCE FOR ALL
VALUES
RESILIENCE, EMPOWERMENT, DIVERSITY, EQUITY, INCLUSION
MISSION
SUPPORT SURVIVORS. STRENGTHEN FAMILIES. EMPOWER COMMUNITIES.
- Facilitate an effective community response through multidisciplinary collaboration
- Provide specialized CAC & SVRC intervention, therapeutic & restorative services
- Expand meaningful access through an accessible, culturally relevant & trauma-informed approach
- Empower survivors as engaged participants & leaders
- Cultivate a collaborative network of strength based support
- Promote safe, stable, nurturing relationships & environments for children & families
- Increase protective factors & reduce risk factors
- Reduce likelihood of child abuse & neglect
- Enhance child development
- Build a visible network of support for survivors, families & allies especially for those underserved and exploited in our society
- Inform, educate & engage people to take action
- Recognize, reveal & address inequity & disparity
- Celebrate the resilience of people surviving & thriving creatively in spite of oppression
- Invoke shared values, deepen understanding, & amplify our collective impact
Lotus is Kentucky’s designated Children’s Advocacy and Sexual Violence Resource Center for the Purchase Area Region. Our mission is to support survivors, strengthen families, and empower communities. At Lotus, we see the goal of recovery as not only surviving trauma but also opening up to the possibilities of hope, healing, and growth.
Lotus is committed to ending child abuse and sexual violence. We are working to cultivate a collective, unified community that meets survivors with compassion and a culture that simply does not tolerate interpersonal violence.

Our History
Our efforts began in 1984 when Western Baptist emergency room nurses recognized a need. Western Baptist then installed a 24-hour helpline and volunteers were trained to assist and support victims. This was just the beginning. Educational programs began throughout the community and survivors of sexual offenses were offered counseling, medical assistance, and legal guidance.
The Western Baptist Hospital and the Paducah Cooperative Ministry Rape Victim Service, Inc. was established.
During the 90’s, we expanded our services and established our Paducah campus sexual assault center on a beautiful new campus and expanded services in the Murray-Calloway County area.
We assumed the designation from the Cabinet for Health and Family Services as the regional children’s advocacy program and established Kentucky’s first Expressive Arts Therapies Center dedicated to working with victims of violence.
We changed our name to Lotus, reflecting the exceptional courage, strength, and resilience of survivors and symbolizing enlightenment and reawakening to embody our community initiatives.
We also established our Holistic Healing Center which provides a safe, nurturing environment that supports a holistic approach to healing and wellness.
We underwent our GROW Lotus renovation and addition of our main campus in Paducah. The purposeful design of the structures and grounds of our campus supports highly specialized intervention and restorative services as well as our community outreach and education initiatives. Our Sanctuary Project promotes health outcomes by fostering enhanced tranquility and therapeutic experience through green spaces specifically designed throughout our Paducah campus to meet the physical, psychological, social, and spiritual needs of survivors and families.
In 2022, Lotus launched our Hope Heal Grow Mobile, the first mobile children’s advocacy center in Kentucky. This mobile unit, or “Winnie” as our team calls her, is innovating our outreach and expanding access to critical, life-saving services for children and families across the Purchase Area Region.
Lotus’s new Mayfield location is currently under renovation with plans to launch services in September!
Meet Our Team

Lori Wells Brown, MS
Chief Executive Officer
270-534-4422 ext. 019

Karen Durbin, CPA
Chief Financial Officer
270-534-4422 ext. 012

Amberly Haverstock
Chief Program Officer
270-534-4422 ext. 032
CHILDREN’S ADVOCACY CENTER TEAM

Nichole Wadley, MS, LPA
Forensic Specialist & Team Lead
270-534-4422 ext. 015

Amelia Flores, MSW
Forensic Interviewer
270-534-4422 ext 014

Sarah Grimsley
MDT Coordinator
270-534-4422 ext. 023

Megan Meade
Family Advocate
270-534-4422 ext. 018

Bethany Vaughn
Family Advocate
270-534-4422 ext. 034
ADVOCACY TEAM

Ivette Cope
Director of Advocacy
270-534-4422 ext. 039

Megan Bell
Survivor Advocate
270-534-4422 ext. 022

Forrest Hamilton
Advocacy Support Specialist
270-534-4422 ext. 021
THERAPY TEAM

Emily McGee, M.Ed
Director of Therapeutic & Restorative Services
270-534-4422 ext. 026

Taylor Daugherty, CSW
Therapist
270-534-4422 ext. 024

Charis L. Gurrola, LPCC
Therapist
270-534-4422 ext. 016

Olivia Lanier, CSW
Therapist
270-534-4422 ext. 013

Rebecca Fountain
Therapist
270-534-4422 ext. 028
SUPPORT STAFF

Kasey James
Service Coordinator
270-534-4422 ext. 010

Kaitlyn Reagan
Service Coordinator
270-534-4422 ext. 027
COMMUNITY TEAM

Paris Jones
Outreach & Education Specialist
270-534-4422 ext. 037

Hadley Purcell
Outreach & Education Specialist
270-534-4422 ext. 029
Join Our Team
Grow your career at Lotus! We offer competitive benefits including:
- Health, dental, and vision coverage
- Generous paid time off and 11 paid holidays
- Life and AD&D insurance
- Retirement plan
- Abundant training opportunities
- Wellbeing resources, including access to Expressive Arts and Therapies Center, Holistic Healing Center, and a tranquil outdoor sanctuary
View current job openings at Lotus below.
We're Hiring!
Job Title: Therapist
Lotus is Kentucky’s designated Children’s Advocacy and Sexual Violence Resource Center for the Purchase Region. Lotus’s mission is to support victims-survivors, strengthen families, and empower communities. Committed to ending child abuse and sexual violence, Lotus works to cultivate safe, equitable, just communities where all persons thrive.
Position Purpose: Therapist serves to facilitate healing and recovery from interpersonal violence for all-age victim-survivors as well as their supportive family members through the provision of specialized, trauma-informed, and culturally competent mental health services.
Responsibilities:
- Provide specialized mental health services and support to in person and via telehealth.
- Create mental health focused resources for victims-survivors to promote resilience and strengthen protective factors.
- Collaborate with advocacy staff to provide comprehensive case management.
- Ensure documentation of services.
- Engage in feasible professional development opportunities to ensure the highest quality of care to clients is being provided.
Prior Education & Training Requirements:
- Master’s Degree
- Licensure in the state of Kentucky to practice in a mental health discipline.
- Knowledge in the administration, scoring, and interpretation of clinical assessment measures.
Prior Qualifications & Special Skills Required:
- Therapist should possess the knowledge and experience to provide assessment-based and empirically-supported specialized outpatient treatment to all-age victim-survivors of sexual violence and their family members.
- Good understanding of trauma-informed treatment, neurological effects of trauma and integrated treatment for interpersonal violence is recommended.
- Evidence of good interpersonal skills and ability to work collaboratively with all types of people.
- Ability to work with people in crisis situations and ability to work effectively under stress.
- No prior history of criminal behaviors is a requirement.
Work Location: Primarily from Mayfield office. Paducah office and community settings as needed.
Work Schedule:
- Monday-Thursday (8:30am-5:00pm)
- Friday (9:00am-3:00pm)
Travel Requirements: Travel to training and outreach events.
Skills/Keywords: Licensure, clinical assessment, trauma-informed, interpersonal skills, collaboration, crisis management
Job Type: Full-time
Pay: $55,000.00 – $60,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Dental insurance
- Flexible schedule
- Flexible spending account
- Health insurance
- Life insurance
- Paid time off
- Professional development assistance
- Retirement plan
- Vision insurance
Schedule:
- 8 hour shift
- Monday to Friday
COVID-19 considerations:
All visitors are asked to wear a mask. Therapists are providing both in-person and virtual therapy services.
Application Question(s):
- Do you have an active mental health license to practice in Kentucky?
Education:
- Master’s (Required)
The Lotus Children’s Advocacy & Sexual Violence Resource Center has an opening for a Full-Time Outreach & Education Specialist.
Who We Are:
Lotus is Kentucky’s designated Children’s Advocacy and Sexual Violence Resource Center for the Purchase Region. Lotus’s mission is to support survivors, strengthen families, and empower communities. Committed to ending child abuse and sexual violence, Lotus works to cultivate safe, equitable, just communities where all persons thrive.
Lotus so perfectly symbolizes the exceptional courage, strength, and resilience of survivors. We see the goal of recovery as not only surviving trauma but also opening up to the possibilities of hope, healing, and growth. And like the lotus flower, under the right conditions, the possibilities for growth are limitless. We seek to create a safe, nurturing sanctuary where each survivor and family is met with a clear path to the specialized care and holistic resources they need in order to truly heal and reclaim their lives. At Lotus, our shared values of resilience, empowerment, diversity, equity, and inclusion drive all that we do.
Position Purpose:
The Outreach and Education Specialist utilizes Social Behavior Change framework to guide work in developing and implementing prevention and outreach programs aimed at preventing child sexual abuse through enabling changes at individual, community, and societal levels to prevent child abuse and improve health and overall wellbeing of children, families, and the community.
Primary Responsibilities:
- Coordinate and deliver MBF Child Safety Matters program to K-5th grade.
- Implement D2L Stewards of Children Program to inspire adults to increase awareness of the scope of the issue, take actionable steps towards both preventing and responding to abuse, and create safer environments for children in their life.
- Delivers additional CAN prevention programming: planning, designing, and implementing necessary prevention education programming as requested.
- Provide support at partner-hosted community Parent Cafes to increase protective factors in families.
- Collaborate to ensure effective child abuse prevention messaging and community outreach/engagement campaigns.
- Facilitate and/or participate in community outreach and engagement events.
- Represent Lotus on assigned community partner coalitions and groups.
- Collect and report program service data statistics and conduct process and outcomes evaluation for all programming delivered.
Position Requirements & Preferred Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college/university OR high school diploma and four (4) years of relevant experience required.
- Preferred qualifications include (2) years of experience in community outreach/engagement, program development/implementation, and outcome/impact measurement and evaluation.
- Applicants must possess strong communication and collaboration skills.
Work Schedule:
- 40-hour work week with supervisor-approved schedule to meet position responsibilities, including occasional weekend and evening hours.
All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability or genetics.
Job Type: Full Time
Benefits:
- Dental insurance
- Flexible schedule
- Health insurance
- Life insurance
- Paid time off
- Professional development assistance
- Retirement plan
- Vision insurance
Ability to commute/relocate:
- Paducah, KY 42001: Reliably commute or planning to relocate before starting work (Preferred)
Education:
- High school or equivalent (Preferred)
Work Location: In person
Board of Directors
Lotus is currently seeking dynamic and diverse leaders to serve on our Board of Directors. Do you share our collective values? Do you have skill sets and perspectives that align with our strategies, goals, and needs necessary to successfully advance our Lotus mission?
Ashley Parrott
Chair
Baptist Health
Director of Operations
Jamie Walker
Chair-elect
Independence Bank
Trust Assistant
Shannon Pace
Treasurer
Paducah Bank
Assistant Vice President/Associate Credit Analyst
Anna Turner-Abernathy
Secretary
Ballard County
Ambulance Service
Assistant Director
Misty Cates
Past Chair
Harrah’s Casino
Director of Finance
Tiffany Benberry
Self-Employed
Mental Health Counselor
Angela Copeland
Paducah Independent Schools
Director of Finance
Reis Driver
Baptist Health
Director, Business Development
Dr. Stephanie Ford
Murray State University
Assistant Professor,
Middle School Education
Rae Hall
Paducah Bank
Teammate Experience Manager/HR Generalist
Steven Luther
Baptist Health
Associate Vice President, Operations
Tennille Rushing
Mercy Health
Vice President of Medical Group Operations
Dawn Mason
BFW
Accounting Manager
Tiffany Scott
Baptist Health
Director of Operations
Mark Thompson
BFW Engineering
Business Development
Lori Wells Brown
Ex-Officio Member
Lotus
Chief Executive Officer