When Ashley Pruitt looks back on her academic journey as a Doctor of Public Policy (DPP) student, one thing is clear: it helped her learn how to speak to legislators — and more importantly, how to speak up for children’s mental health issues.  

“What stood out most to me through the program was having an idea to make things better, building momentum around that idea, and watching it grow into a policy that may one day be implemented,” Pruitt said. “Knowing that I was able to plant seeds to spark thought around improving children's mental health services in Nevada is the win. In public policy, the seeds may bloom in future legislative sessions, but the growth begins during everyday community advocacy.”

The DPP degree is designed for individuals who want to influence policy outcomes and need the credentials to advance their careers to the executive level.

Pruitt graduated from the DPP program in 2025 and the Urban Leadership master’s program in 2020. Both degree programs are housed in the School of Public Policy and Leadership. She's now associate director of technical assistance and policy at Be Here Nevada, a workforce development initiative looking to increase the number of behavioral healthcare providers in the state. Housed within the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV, Pruitt secured her job with the program while pursuing her doctorate.

An Advocate for Addressing Children’s Mental Health

Pruitt has been passionate about increasing a workforce pipeline for more mental health providers especially for children and young adults throughout her career. One of her first jobs was working for the state as a psychiatric caseworker. One case that stuck with her over the years involved a 9-year-old who got sent to Tennessee in order to receive behavioral health services.

“All these years later, when I learned about the Doctorate of Public Policy, I thought to myself, this may be an opportunity to go back and help that situation get better, so that we're not continuing to have processes that cause more mental health issues for our youth,” Pruitt said.

She added that Nevada is underresourced for mental health care, especially for children, which results in the justice system being utilized to treat mental health.

“We're not at a place yet where we have all of the staffing to adequately treat behavioral health, even in those settings. So, we need to ensure that when we put a person into a longer-term care situation, that they are getting the help that they need,” Pruitt said.

Pruitt was able to further her advocacy through a connection with the Children’s Advocacy Alliance. UNLV professors in the doctoral program introduced her to the organization. She co-led a group to design a bill at the 2025 Nevada Legislative session and turned her passion into her capstone project. 

A capstone project requires students to identify state, local, or national issues to create new solutions in the hopes they can bring those ideas to fruition through the advocacy and connections they’ve made in the degree program. While the bill Pruitt advocated for didn’t make it into state law, Gov. Joe Lombardo incorporated elements of the bill into an initiative to improve mental health services. 

Pruitt considers this development as a step forward. “Even though the bill didn't make it, the conversations still happen and improvements are coming,” she said.  

The program also taught her how to help constituents contact their elected representatives at the local and national levels.

“The program taught me how to tell a story and how to do so in a way that can help get to the impact that you're looking for,” Pruitt said. “This is a time where our legislators want to hear from their constituents. The program teaches us how to actively engage ourselves in our lawmaking processes.”