NNews-Spring-2022

8 NJAMHAA is pleased to highlight members’ success in their behavioral healthcare careers. The roles these individuals have taken on and the impact they are achieving serve as positive models for future behavioral healthcare leaders. Below are interviews with three agency executives who have assumed their roles within the past few years or more recently. NJAMHAA looks forward to featuring more leaders in future issues of NJAMHAANews . Michelle Borden, LCSW, CSWM, DRCC, Chief Executive Officer, NewBridge Services, Inc. Michelle Borden joined NewBridge Services in 1997 as Assistant Director for Clinical Services and was promoted to CEO in April 2020. She previously served as Administrative Director, Behavioral Health and Continuing Care at East Orange General Hospital. Michelle earned her MSW with a specialization in Case Management from the University of Connecticut School of Social Work and her Bachelor of Arts degree in Cultural Studies fromBates College. NJAMHAANews: How have your relationships with other long-term staff changed since you became CEO? Michelle Borden: There’s a lot to be said for the succession planning we had in place as the organization has grown. Everyone knew [former CEO Robert] Parker and me, so there was not a great deal of transitional angst. Since I worked with Parker for more than 20 years, people were not surprised when I stepped in as CEO. We built upon what Parker and I put together over the years. More than 50% of our staff have been here five years or longer. Some of the direct service staff have been here for 10 or 15 years. We get their perspectives from years of providing direct service to people in the community and we run new ideas through them. It’s always helpful. With the perspective of longevity, we learn what has worked well or not. It’s a nice team effort to service clients in the best way possible. Most people were comfortable with my hands-on work and leadership style, which made it easier to problem solve, make decisions and act as quickly as we needed to when disaster—the pandemic—struck. NJAMHAANews: What changes and developments have you seen and achieved in your time at NewBridge Services? Michelle Borden: Many changes happened at one time due to COVID. We had to ensure that we continued to become viable and responsive to the community we serve. It’s hard to tease out these changes fromwhat I did individually. COVID brought together different generations—by age and by longevity of service—of our workforce. Younger people are better IT [information technology] equipped. They helped pull together a team-like atmosphere that works well. We are working to keep that culture alive, no matter what happens. Some of our energy came from the need to focus so much on COVID and having to make changes more quickly than we would otherwise. We learned telehealth quickly after dragging our feet. We also learned how to use Zoom quickly. The younger staff taught the older staff, which created camaraderie. We want programs to be client-centric and the workforce to be employee-centric. People are more comfortable when they have a stake in decision-making. I reorganized our leadership by coalescing similar services. I created the Executive Director for Counseling Services position, so all those services have one unique leader to pull everybody together and respond to issues. I did the same thing with outreach and residential services, which are now under the Executive Director of Community Outreach and Support. ElizabethMeenan, MS, M.Phil, Executive Director at Cumberland County Guidance Center Elizabeth Meenan started at Cumberland County Guidance Center in April 2021 as Performance and Compliance Director. Just a fewmonths later, she was promoted to Chief Operating Officer and three months after that, she applied for the position of Executive Director, as the previous leader was retiring, and she has held this position since November 2021. Liz previously served as Senior ProgramDirector at Acenda Integrated Health and Director of Adult Transitional Services at Cape NJAMHAA Members Grow in their Careers and Impact Spring 2022