NNews October 2024

18 October 2024 Erika Kerber, Esq., member of both boards and President and Executive Director, Community Health LawProject, elaborated on how NJAMHAA and NJMHI complement each other, saying, “Both organizations are very visionary and innovative, foster partnerships and encourage everyone towork together. And they are on the forefront, always proactive on issues.” “We can’t work in a vacuum because we all provide different services and everyone needs comprehensive care,” Erika stressed and identified NJAMHAA’s biggest impact as “addressing the holistic health care that is necessary to treat patients fully, including moving forward issues of social determinants of health.” Another example of the entities reinforcing each other’s goals is NJMHI’s development of a model for a Center of Excellence on Social Determinants of Health, for which funding is being pursued. In addition, bothNJAMHAA andNJMHI are focused onworkforce development. NJMHI developed the Leadership Academy, andNJAMHAA is persevering in its advocacy for significant and sustained increased funding to improve staff recruitment and retention. NJMHI NJAMHAA and NJMHI Bolster Each Other’s Mission and Achieve Impact with Shared Leaders (continued from page 17) is also exploringways to educate high school students about careers in the behavioral healthcare field. Health equity is another major focus for both NJAMHAA and NJMHI. Through its Diverse Faces campaigns, “NJAMHAA shed a spotlight on who our clients are—for example, people of different ages, cultural backgrounds, withmental illnesses, in recovery from substance use—and highlighted staff who are also from various racial and ethnic groups. These campaigns resulted in legislation being passed and increased funding that our agencies need to support our clients and increase wages to attract licensed professionals,” said Brigitte Johnson, Esq., member of both boards and President and CEO, CarePlus NJ, Inc. “NJMHI has a really strong, amazing Board with people who have diverse backgrounds and various areas of expertise — not just mental health and substance use treatment, but beyond that, in leadership, workforce development, and diversity and equity. They come together to really help address our field when it comes to training and workforce, and serving racially diverse and reentry populations,” emphasized Bob Budsock, (continued on page 19) MS, LCADC, NJMHI Board Secretary, NJAMHAA Board member and President and CEO, Integrity, Inc. The NJMHI Board is developing new strategies to increase access to services for the African-American and Latinx communities and other vulnerable populations. To garner more expert insights and inform these initiatives, NJMHI recently elected several additional board members who add to the diversity of leadership, both by their racial, ethnic and cultural backgrounds, and their professional experience. These newboardmembers are featured in the “Get to Know the NJAMHAA andNJMHI BoardMembers More” article that begins on page 3 1. “Both the NJMHI and NJAMHAA Boards hold vital discussions, though unfortunately, the issues aren’t new to our industry. I’m eager to be a part of initiatives to achieve significant, positive changes,” said Barrett Young, MS, Chief Executive Officer, Rescue Mission of Trenton, who is a newmember of both boards. He was elected to the NJMHI Board in June 2023 and on July 1, 2024, he began serving as Vice Chair of the NJMHI Board and as an At-largemember of the NJAMHAA Board. Serving on both boards aligns with Barrett’s passion for increasing diversity, equity and inclusion in the behavioral healthcare workforce. In addition, being amember of the NJMHI Board presents an additional opportunity for him “ Both organizations are very visionary and innovative, foster partnerships and encourage everyone to work together. And they are on the forefront, always proactive on issues. ” Erika Kerber, Esq President/Executive Director, Community Health LawProject