Backline: Our mission, history, board and community allies

About Us | Leadership
Community Ally Program

Leadership: Board, Staff & Advisory Board

Board Members

J. Parker Dockray, MSW is the Board President of Backline and a longtime advocate for reproductive health and justice, with a special passion for options counseling around pregnancy, contraceptives and childbirth. Parker has been the Executive Director of the California Coalition for Reproductive Freedom (CCRF) since 2007 and spent the previous decade working in various roles, including Executive Director, at ACCESS/Women's Health Rights Coalition, a grassroots organization working to challenge barriers to reproductive health care for women in California. Parker also has experience as an abortion clinic counselor, advocate for teen moms, sexual health educator, policy advocate, coalition builder, postpartum doula, and mother.

Melissa Busch became involved in reproductive health and pregnancy options education after she was touched by an unplanned pregnancy as a teenager. Melissa served as a peer educator, mentor and public speaker for a teen pregnancy prevention and sex education program in Kansas, where she shared her experiences with pregnancy and her choice to plan an Open Adoption. After moving to Oregon, Melissa became involved with Open Adoption & Family Services, speaking as a Birthmother and advocate for Choice for all women. She has been on the Board of Directors of Open Adoption & Family Services since 2004 and is very excited to pursue new opportunities with Backline and further her knowledge in the fields of Reproductive Choice, Health and Justice.

Heather C. Dorsey, MS, CGC graduated from Indiana University in 1998 with a Master Degree in Genetic Counseling and has been a practicing genetic counselor for 12 years, with most of her experience in the arena prenatal diagnosis. Through the course of her career, she has provided resources and support for many families facing the reality of an abnormal pregnancy and making choices about continuation, adoption, or termination. She has always felt strongly that women and their families should be cared for and supported in whatever decision that they make. Heather joined the Backline Board of Directors in October 2009 because she knew that there was something special and unique about the services that Backline provided, and is committed to strengthening the organization's work. Heather is proud that Backline's mission transcends the political sphere and provides a safe space for women and their families to discuss pregnancy, its outcomes, and its implications in real and meaningful ways.

Jennifer Linnman, LCSW is a faculty member of Portland State University's School of Social Work, where she teaches generalist and advanced Social Work practice and Social Justice in Social Work. She also maintains a private practice where she focuses on children and family issues as well as perinatal mood disorders in women. Her approach is holistic, recognizing the unique situations and circumstances of each woman around reproductive issues and mental health and also working to illuminate and challenge social institutions and structures that continue to stigmatize women and their reproductive choices. Her work includes family and individual therapy, with the knowledge that perinatal mood disorders and reproductive choices affect entire family systems that also need support. Jennifer joined the Backline Board of Directors in October 2009.

Rebekah Schiefer, MSW comes to the Backline Board with several years experience in the field of reproductive health education and activism. She started volunteering with Planned Parenthood in 1996 as a peer educator conducting HIV and AIDS prevention with middle and high schoolers. She attended The Evergreen State College, where she focused her studies in political science and constitutional law. In 2005 she moved to Portland, where she started working with the local Planned Parenthood affiliate in the health clinic and then as a health educator. Rebekah also had the opportunity to work in a boys group home and as a case manager for foster youth transitioning to independent living. Rebekah completed her MSW at Portland State University in June 2009.

Staff

Shelly Dodson, Talk Line Program Manager

Shelly Dodson became our Program Manager in June 2010 after serving on the Talk Line as a volunteer Advocate since 2007. Originally from the Midwest, Shelly has managed group homes for folks with physical, mental, and developmental disabilities and provided community resources for uninsured and underserved populations struggling to access quality alternative health care. For the past several years, Shelly has served as an anti-violence advocate at shelters both in Southern Oregon and Portland, and worked with women and their families as a doula and midwife. During her midwifery training Shelly volunteered as a midwife in Senegal, West Africa at a birth clinic which greatly expanded her view on how culture affects our understanding of the basic concepts of health and illness, passages of birth and death, causation of disease and care during pregnancy and postpartum. She is currently completing her B.S. in Community Health Education at Portland State University. Shelly believes all persons should have as much control as possible in determining their care, and is committed to maintaining a feminist empowerment and anti-oppression lens in our work to fulfill Backline's vision of a world that honors women's experiences and embraces the complexity of pregnancy, parenting, abortion and adoption.

Michelle LeClair, Administrative Coordinator

Michelle LeClair serves Backline as the Administrative Coordinator as well as a Talk Line Advocate. She brings with her many years of office coordination as well as a background working with nonprofits around the country. Originally from Maine, Michelle served in AmeriCorps*NCCC in 2004 and 2005 where she worked on a team performing projects including taxes for low income families in Detroit, renovations at a school on a Navajo Reservation in New Mexico, Habitat for Humanity In Jackson, WY, as well as disaster relief from the hurricanes in Florida. She also works at Transition Projects, Inc. which is dedicated to help the homeless transition into housing. Michelle is very energetic and so excited to be supporting women and their loved ones through Backline!