Biography

Meet Susan Mikolic, R.N.,
Mental Health Educational Consultant,
and Owner of Stepping Stones

Susan Mikolic is a nurse and a mother of two children diagnosed with mental illnesses. She has spent a good part of her life learning about mental illness, advocating for her children, and working with schools and government agencies to help her children succeed in spite of their illnesses.

In 2002, Mikolic invested her passion for helping children and her knowledge of mental illness into a business called Stepping Stones. Her business provides services to educators in support of federal regulations such as the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001 and the 2004 Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA). One of the provisions of the NCLB Act calls for ALL academic scores to be counted in school scores that are submitted to the state, including emotionally disturbed and special education children.

She currently serves on the Ohio Department of Education's State Advisory Panel for Exceptional Children (SAPEC), a federally mandated advisory body to the Ohio Department of Education. She also served on the Ohio Department of Education's Positive Behavior Support Advisory Committee.

Mikolic's impressive background includes Co-chair, Ohio Department of Mental Health Strategic School Success task force; Member, Steering Committee of “Mental Health, Schools, and Families Working Toward a Shared Agenda”, and President of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, Lake County. She continues to be active in many organizations and has spoken to groups such as the Ohio Department of Health, American School Health Association, John Carroll University, and many more.