SPRC Executive Director Jenna Heise

Jenna Heise brings three decades of experience in behavioral health and prevention to her role as SPRC executive director. A nationally recognized suicide prevention expert, she has served as a counselor, trainer, policy analyst, and administrator. Her leadership is grounded in her suicide-centered lived experience, which informs her commitment to improving systems of care.

Heise has partnered with local, state, Tribal, federal, and national organizations to strengthen programs, shape policy, and develop tools and frameworks that advance the field of suicide prevention. She has played a key role in designing and implementing innovative, evidence-based approaches across health care systems; comprehensive school-based youth suicide prevention programs; and initiatives that enhance wellness and upstream mental health for first responders, construction industry workers, and corrections officers. Heise has received numerous leadership awards and outstanding achievement awards over the course of her career.

Heise holds an MA from Drexel University. She is a National Board Certified Counselor as well as a Board Certified Dance/Movement Therapist, and has served for many years on the American Dance Therapy Association national board of directors. She has been a SAMHSA peer reviewer and project director, and she previously collaborated with the Zero Suicide Institute. She currently serves on the 988 National Steering Committee.

An artist at heart, Heise lives in Texas with her family.