In this day and age, there's a lot of division and barriers being built. It's a great time for collaboration and some togetherness, some unity. It goes a long way.
BHN was thrilled to sponsor and participate in the Springfield Puerto Rican Parade to kick of Hispanic Heritage Month! It was a beautiful day to celebrate our staff and the city's vibrant Puerto Rican culture alongside our community! At BHN, we are grateful for our diverse staff, who operate many of our programs with bilingual/ bicultural capability to serve the Latinx community. We are proud to celebrate the valuable contributions they bring to our work family and the wider community!
I'm truly honored to be a part of such a mission-driven organization! I look forward to continuing to grow BHN's patient-centered care management programs that serve our most vulnerable individuals and communities here in Massachusetts.
This will be the first Mobile Methadone Program in this area, helping to reduce barriers to treatment access in Ware and surrounding towns.<br>Methadone is one of the most effective treatments for opioid use disorder, especially in the fentanyl era. We are pleased the patients and families in the Quaboag Hills region will have ready access to this life-saving medication.
New Beginnings
After many years of dedicated service, BHN said goodbye to our Vice President of Social Justice, Chelan Brown, and Social Justice Director of Education and Awareness, Sarah Mixter. Thanks to their leadership, BHN has a very strong foundation to continue to build upon and their respective contributions have truly made a difference to our community. We are excited to welcome Lauren Favorite to the role of Social Justice Director. In this position, she provides social justice leadership in policy review, investigations, consultations, and various committee and initiative support.
Dialogue Sessions
Natasha Mitchell organized monthly Dialogue sessions for BHN staff providing a space to discuss important topics and cultural events, allowing the opportunity to amplify the voices of our BHN community. Thank you to Natasha and others who helped co-facilitate these sessions!
Workgroup Updates
The social justice education and awareness workgroup has joined forces with the Social Justice Learning Institute. This combined group developed and launched a new Microaggressions training program. This training was initially conducted with the Executive Leadership team and all supervisory staff and is being made available to employees throughout the organization moving forward.
The social justice policy and advocacy workgroup has been actively engaged in supporting the consistent creation or review of policies each quarter. Our teams are engaged in thoughtful discussion on the appearance/attire and bereavement policies. Plans are underway to revise these policies with a social justice lens.
Our social justice diversity and inclusion workgroup has joined forces with BHN’s Communications Committee to collectively share observances with the workforce and engage proactively in community events.
Empowerment Project
Empowerment Project, our specialized clinic providing affirming care to the LGBTQIA+ community is thriving, and a cohort of staff completed a four session trainings series on providing trans-competent care. This will further allow clinical and non-clinical staff to adhere to best practices with respect to gender-affirming care. In Fall 2024, Empowerment Project will be shifting leadership under the capable helm of Laurel Switzer - we look forward to seeing where they will lead us next!
Social Justice Trainings
In addition to the Microaggressions training, we have developed and conducted trainings on Fatphobia and Sizeism, LGBTQIA+ Identities, Asexuality/Aromanticism, A Clinical Approach to Working with Neurodiverse Individuals (Autism Spectrum) and Supporting Neurodivergent Individuals. The Center will launch additional training sessions focused on disability education and awareness in the coming year.
Accessibility Committee
BHN launched our accessibility committee, co-chaired by safety director and social justice director. This committee aims to ensure access for all staff and individuals we serve, regardless of disability or spoken language. Our partnership with Growing a New Heart yielded several additional training opportunities for leadership around Dialogues Across Differences and Compassionate Accountable Conversations. Our learning is never done!
Anti-Oppressive Pathways
Congratulations to Natasha Mitchell and Sarah Mixter for leading our Anti-Oppressive Pathways (AOP) pilot cohort, which successfully graduated this summer. We applaud our inaugural class and look forward to AOP members leading our Microaggressions training in the upcoming months.
As we head into the fall of 2024, the next phase of social justice planning Is underway at BHN by way of dialogue sessions with ELT and individual teams - where your voice and feedback will help shape the future of social justice here at BHN!
