Leadership Team
Our Board of Directors:
Dr. Ramona Probasco
Dr. Ramona Probasco is a Marriage and Family Therapist, a Certified Domestic Violence Counselor, a Nationally Certified Counselor, and an overcomer of domestic violence. She is the author of Healing Well and Living Free from an Abusive Relationship: From Victim to Survivor to Overcomer in which she shares the proven steps one can take to authentically heal from the trauma of abuse.
Having endured 20 years of ongoing abuse from her former husband, Dr. Ramona knows first-hand how destructive an abusive relationship can be and the ripple effect it can leave in one’s life. She intimately understands how difficult it can be to leave (and leave for good) due to pressure to stay and “work it out”, lack of finances to be able to care for your children, fear of what may happen if you leave, confusion surrounding faith-based questions which leave you feeling trapped, alone, and perhaps sensing judgement from those who do not understand your situation. After struggling for many years with whether or not to “stick it out” or to let go, she has also learned the necessary and intentional steps one needs to take in order to facilitate authentic healing and permanent freedom. She teaches others who are walking or have walked this same painful path that while abuse will change us, it does not have to destroy us.
After 25 years of running her own private counseling practice, Dr. Ramona partnered with her husband, Tim Probasco, to build a company producing products they personally invented and patented with distribution domestically as well as globally. Her passion to come alongside other domestic survivors as she continues to reach all four corners of the globe through her book led them to co-found the Healing Well & Living Free Foundation as a way to give back through their company.
Dr. Ramona serves as the President of the Foundation
Tim Probasco
Tim Probasco worked for a number of years with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association before transitioning into the business world, working in sales and sales management. After earning his MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University, Tim served as a Vice President of Development in the nonprofit sector, raising over $30 million for causes he believed in. Tim now works alongside his wife, Dr. Ramona Probasco, in the company they founded together.
Tim and Ramona launched the Healing Well & Living Free Foundation with the mission to serve those affected by the trauma of domestic violence, a cause close to their hearts. Through this work, they support and empower survivors of domestic violence, empowering them to heal well so they can live free.
Dr. Ann Kania
Dr. Ann Mineo Kania is a native Californian. She graduated with honors from UC Santa Barbara with a Bachelor of Science in Biopsychology. After graduation, she received her dental degree from the University of California, San Francisco, and was selected as a Regents Scholarship Fellow. Dr. Kania completed her Residency in Periodontology at Harvard School of Dental Medicine. While at Harvard, she also earned her Doctorate of Medical Science in microbiology. While at Harvard she was awarded the National Research Service award.
Dr. Kania has been a solo practicing specialist in the field of Periodontics and dental implants in San Diego’s North County since 1997. She is a leader in numerous professional study clubs and an active servant leader in her local church and community. She has a heart for those in recovery from divorce and has been a DivorceCare facilitator since 2018. She is hopefully optimistic for the future of individuals healing well and living free. She is an entrepreneur, a loyal friend, and the proud mother of two strong and compassionate women.
Ami McConnell
Ami McConnell is a Nashville-based writer, editor, and publishing consultant. She formerly served as Editor-in-Chief and VP of Howard Books/Simon & Schuster. Before that she acquired and edited for HarperCollins where she helped launch a successful fiction imprint. Her editing credits include numerous New York Times bestsellers and award-winning titles. A prolific writer, McConnell collaborates with celebrities and artists of all stripes to create bestselling books. She also serves as founder and director of WriterFest, a gathering for writers of book, song, and film. She lives with her family in Franklin, Tennessee.
Jill Michelle
Jill Montes is a bio, bonus and fost-adoptive mother of nine, a wife to her best friend, a domestic violence survivor and an advocate for those escaping DV and navigating the family court system. She is a protective parent actively working with legislators to reform the family court system, to educate judges, and provide greater protections for adult and child survivors of abuse.
Jill has a BA in The Psychological & Brain Sciences, has worked as a child behavior therapist as well as an actress with the Screen Actors Guild, and for the past 15 years as a foster and adoptive parent in Los Angeles and San Diego Counties.
She is an active member of her church & community with a passion for encouraging and empowering women in crisis. Jill credits her own healing journey to her faith in God, her devotion to her children, and the years of counsel she received from Dr. Ramona Probasco.
Kristin Carver Smith
Kristin has spent the last decade helping clients across a variety of industries–including sports, entertainment & lifestyle, music, publishing, logistics and supply chain, nonprofits and for-profits–develop business strategies, communications plans and publicity campaigns that produce winning results.
Her clients have teamed up with some of the world’s most recognizable brands and organizations, taken the stage at renowned conferences and been featured on ABC’s Good Morning America, The View, NBC’s TODAY, CNN, CBS News and in the Associated Press, ESSENCE, Good Housekeeping, Sports Illustrated, USA Today, Entrepreneur, Fast Company, US News and World Report, Parade Magazine, TIME and The Washington Post, among others.
When she’s not helping her clients casually make the news or turn their passion into paychecks, you can find her with her nose in a book or dancing in her kitchen like nobody’s watching. She resides in Nashville, Tennessee with her husband, Nick, and fur child, Greyson.
