a non-profit, comprehensive,
community mental health service

MONADNOCK FAMILY SERVICES

STAFF NEWSLETTER

THIS IS YOUR NEWSLETTER

We want this newsletter to be yours. To that end, we want you to help us pick a name for it. Something short, fitting for this agency and, maybe, memorable.

Send your ideas to Frank Dobisky at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . We’ll run a list of entries in the next issue of the newsletter and ask you to vote. The person submitting the winning entry will get a dinner for two at a restaurant of your choice in the Monadnock region. Deadline for submitting entries will be Friday, July 9.

And, if there are things you are doing in your area that you want fellow employees to know about, send information, even photos, to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Or if you’ve been on vacation and managed to snap a spectacular picture you’d like to share, send that along.

The newsletter will include brief items about new staffers who have joined us, events that everyone should be aware of and changes and developments at the agency.

We’ll plan to come out monthly. We hope you’ll contribute to this effort and we look forward to hearing from you.

UNDERSTANDING MILITARY CULTURE    

Monadnock Family Services co-sponsored a day-long forum June 15 for mental health professionals to help them understand military culture, as New Hampshire prepares to dispatch its largest deployment since World War II of troops to a combat zone.

William Reddel, New Hampshire’s adjutant general in charge of the National Guard, spoke to the 80 professionals who came from throughout New Hampshire and also from Vermont and Massachusetts.

Jayme Collins, MFS CEO, welcomed the professionals and told them about the role MFS has played in the last 25 years in helping veterans and their families with mental health issues. She told them about MFS’ unique Veterans Drop-In Center at 93rd Street.
She noted that the men and women who served in the military “gave their best for us and now, it is our turn to serve them and we must be prepared to give them our best.” 

The audience also heard from Major Mary Hennessey, who coordinates the assistance available to Guardsmen, reservists and their families before, during and after deployment. She is a veteran of combat deployment, where she commanded a company of infantrymen.

Randy Gillispie, director of MFS emergency services, and Chris Selmer, director of the agency’s Adult Day Care Center in Jaffrey, helped organize the training seminar. Gillispie serves on Governor John Lynch’s subcommittee studying the mental health crisis response for veterans and veterans’ suicides. Selmer’s program received a Veterans Affairs Administration contract to accept and serve veterans in her Adult Day Care program.

Two MFS volunteers – Victoria Cotton-Cowly and Verne Greene – greeted conference attendees and provided them with background material for the day’s session.

The Keene Sentinel sent a reporter and photographer to the program and reported on the event Wednesday, June 16. MFS also posted information about the program on its website. The Sentinel coverage was also seen by Nicholas Toumpas, the state’s commissioner of health and human services.

TO:  THE MFS STAFF
FROM: JAYME COLLINS

We have been through a lot at this agency in recent months so it’s nice to hear someone looking in from the outside commend you on the work you are doing in behalf of people coping with severe mental illness.

Erik Reira, director of mental health for the state’s Department of Health and Human Services, during a recent meeting with me, complimented the MFS staff for serving a significantly higher number of severely mentally ill individuals. He noted that we are clearly providing high quality service to these people and that these people are choosing to be served by us.

While we have encountered drastic cuts in state aid to our budget, Erik indicated that mental health is not as vulnerable for budget cuts now as it was last year. And that’s good news for us.

Each and every one of you shares in the praise from Erik and in the success we have achieved. My thanks to all of you for a great job well done.

This good news comes on the heels of our 2011 budget preparation and reinforces the confidence of managers and the Board of Directors as we shape that budget.

As we reviewed budget numbers, we were informed that our health insurance premium for the staff would increase more than a quarter-million dollars -- a potentially devastating blow to our budget. But Peter Skalaban, our CFO, responded swiftly, securing bids and changing health care providers in time to save us money and continue to protect our staff.

A new confidence is emerging as our successes become known. And we have a chance to celebrate our achievements at a Staff Appreciation Day Friday, June 25, sponsored by our generous hosts, John and Jean Hoffman, at their home on Seward Mountain in Sullivan. The Hoffmans have long been generous and ardent supporters of Monadnock Family Services and hosting this special day for you is a way for them to say “Thank you” for all your good work. I hope you’ll join in the fun and celebration June 25. This day is for you.

These have been challenging times for Monadnock Family Services and I am proud of the work you continue to do providing mental health treatment and prevention to people in this region. A bright future lies ahead.

DEVELOPMENT OFFICE

The senior management team and the Board of Directors are carefully reviewing our development needs and how best to meet them. In the interim, Randy Gillispie, director of emergency services, will work with MFS staff members who had been assisting Lucy Shonk.

Questions about development -- especially inquiries about fundraising – should be directed to Randy, who can be reached at 357-5270, extension 623, or by dropping by his office in Emergency Services at 93rd Street. 

      
NEW ASSIGNMENT

Frank Dobisky, a media relations professional who has served as chair and member of the board of Monadnock Family Services, has joined the senior management team at MFS to provide assistance on communication issues.

Dobisky will work with the agency on a part time basis and has an office in Room 204 at 64 Main Street, Keene.

He is president of Dobisky Associates, a national media relations firm that works with colleges and universities across the country. In the 31 years he has done this work -- 25 with his own firm – he has been on more than 700 campuses nationwide, working with presidents, deans, faculty and students to get stories about higher education in such media outlets as The New York Times, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, U.S. News & World Report, Newsweek and Time magazines.

Dobisky can be reached at extension 549 or by e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .