Mrs. Heise began her 26-year career in public behavioral health as a clinical therapist, trainer, and clinical coordinator serving inpatient and outpatient clinics. She advanced to management and policy work in her 11 years as the statewide suicide prevention lead in Texas where she excelled in systems coordination, policy development, training, technical assistance, legislative/grant implementation, and cross-systems coordination work. Developing the infrastructure for suicide prevention across the state, she built a comprehensive framework with bundled best practices and the evidence-based programs Suicide Safer Care State, Safer Care Communities, Safer Care Schools, etc. She worked with diverse stakeholder groups to form a broad-based public health approach that was outlined and evaluated through the Texas State Plan for Suicide Prevention. As faculty for the Zero Suicide Institute, she traveled the country teaching the zero suicide system. The recipient of many awards for her innovations and visionary work, Mrs. Heise is passionate about extending every opportunity possible for equitable services to all vulnerable populations. She has worked with the Mayor’s Challenge to End Suicide Among Veterans, The Governor’s task force for suicide prevention as well as visited the White House under two administrations working for national solutions and transformational change for our country for mental wellness and the prevention of suicide. 
 
Currently, she is the Director of the Division of Suicide Prevention Implementation where she leads a team of suicide prevention experts for the Suicide Prevention Center of New York.