Our Team

Our talented team represents a cross-section of cultures and nationalities with solid foundations in customer service and a wide array of professional and volunteer experience working with children.

Ophelia Nowells – Founder & Executive Director
Ophelia has over twelve years of professional experience managing child welfare agencies, and she has been a contracted partner with the Washington State Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) for nearly a decade. Ophelia established Joining Hands Visitation (JHV) in 2016 as a non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation with the vision of an organization that delivers exemplary service with well-trained staff dedicated to serving the local community, extending a helping hand to all in a non-judgmental, discretionary manner. Before JHV, Ophelia spent over three and a half years managing operations for private agencies offering supervised visitation. She was instrumental in developing and instituting policy and procedures, conducting compliance audits, filing and renewing all applicable licenses and certifications, hiring and training staff, processing monthly DSHS billing and payroll, and ensuring compliance with reporting and performance protocols. As a 20-year veteran of the retail industry, Ophelia also has a passion for customer service, a solid commitment to excellence, and an exemplary track record regarding team leadership and management. Her favorite part of her job is meeting the children and successfully shepherding the families through reunification.

Nikita Nowells – PCV Team Lead & Office Manager
With respect to child welfare, Nikita has over ten years of combined experience working for an in-home daycare, providing childcare as a nanny, and supervised visitation. She is also a certified Nurturing Parent instructor. She is practiced in providing behavior management, guidance and discipline, education-based play, and routine child transport. Her professional background includes over ten years of customer service in the retail industry with progressive team management and leadership responsibilities. Having served in a wide variety of roles, some of her responsibilities included providing customer support, project management, enforcing security policies and procedures, and hiring, training, and managing new employees. Nikita’s unique combination of skills, visitation experience, and history of working with children make her an invaluable resource for leading and managing JHV employees and an asset to the agency.

Tara Bethea – Former Operations Manager & Board Member
Tara Bethea has an extensive background in customer service, working with leading companies in the software-as-a-service (SaaS) industry. As a client service professional, Tara supported Fortune 500 clients in executing marketing strategies that drove brand recognition, increased customer loyalty, and maximized marketing return on investment (ROI). Tara managed cross-functional teams of account managers, client engineers, web developers, and quality assurance leads and was responsible for all client escalations, revenue forecasting, billing, and project management. Tara has also cultivated advanced skills in communication, cross-functional team leadership, project management, conflict resolution, design execution, and content development. She thrives in fast-paced, dynamic environments requiring creativity, transparency, attention to detail, and results. She continues to help JHV stay current with best practices, new technologies, and continuous improvement opportunities. Tara recently completed an MBA in Operations Management with the Jack Welch Management Institute at Strayer University.

Diane Shepard – Clinical Supervisor & Therapist
Founder of Shepard and Associates Counseling, she has been operating in Lakewood, Washington as a private practice agency since 1998.  A diversity of services are offered to include counseling, clinical supervision, preschool mental health, assessments and evaluations, and domestic violence services.

Lois Parks – Parenting Coach & PCV Specialist
Lois Parks is a retired teacher and school administrator, who joined the JHV team in 2017 as a Parent/Child Visitation (PCV) Specialist. She is currently a certified counselor and parenting coach/instructor with JHV. Ms. Parks began her undergraduate studies in education and child development at CWSU (Central Washington State University) in 1969 and later received a BS and teacher certification from SUNY (State University of New York) at Oswego.  After completing evangelical church planting missions which included establishing private schools and facilitating home-school cooperatives, Ms. Parks received the MS in Special Education from SUNY at Albany before returning to her NW roots with her husband and five children in 1988.  While teaching in public education, she received her educational administrative certification as part of her Doctoral studies and research in educational leadership at SPU (Seattle Pacific University) in 1997. Ms. Parks served for several years as the school district special programs director and as an adjunct City University professor teaching Curriculum and Instruction and School Law to prospective educators. She finished the last ten years of her career in public education by teaching and supervising instruction of students from birth to 21 identified with autism and other severe disabilities.

Jeremy Wallace – Adaptive Dad’s Facilitator & PCV Specialist
Jeremy’s passion to help stemmed from his childhood, sharing what he had with those who had not. He has been a foster father for over 5 years and participated in countless hours of training. He has fostered 7 children; 4 of which were long-term care of more than 2 years. He has seen firsthand what happened to children when they didn’t have a father-figure or had a “bad dad.” It has become Jeremy’s quest to help those he can to do what is right for their children by providing guidance and a positive change in fatherhood for those that are wanting to make that change.