![The Western Massachusetts Training Consortium Proudly Congratulates the Salasin Project’s Vickie Hutchinson as the Winner of Stavros’ 2017 Paul Winske Access Award!]()
by LaMara HunterKelly | Oct 31, 2017 | In The News
OCTOBER 31, 2017 – HOLYOKE
Every year Stavros, a local non-profit organization supporting people with disabilities, sends a survey to consumers asking for nominations of local organizations/people that really go the extra mile for the people they serve. A dedicated group of staff and volunteers review the nominations and conduct site visits.
The Western Massachusetts Training Consortium (wmtcinfo.org), is a well-established human service organization in Holyoke MA, which offers a variety of community supports. The Salasin Project (salasincenter.org), a program of The Consortium, is a nonprofit organization in Greenfield that is named after Susan Salasin, a pioneer in the area of women, violence prevention and trauma. Salasin’s commitment and determination has kept trauma on the public mental health agenda. It is through the Salasin Project that we honor Susan Salasin’s work and her courage to persevere toward the vision of trauma-informed systems and support.
Vickie Hutchinson, a current resident of Greenfield, has worked at The Salasin Project for 5 years and just celebrated her 6th year anniversary with the Consortium on Friday, October 27, 2017! Vickie is the Woman’s Art Group leader at the Salasin Project and also currently holds the positon of “Resource and Stabilization Specialist.” She has supported the Art Group in holding fundraisers at numerous public events. Together, the group makes and sells jewelry. In addition, many artists who have attended the art class have ventured out to start their own small “artsy” businesses.
Vickie was instrumental in organizing the Asian Arts series for the Family F.U.N. (Family United Network) center and brought in a cultural council grant. The Salasin Community engaged in Asian Art and Culture education through the funds that were awarded. She is key to keeping the art room stocked with supplies for not only the women who attend the art group but for the children who participate in Art during F.U.N. Center time. She solicits donations from the community and attends an art supply swap event held a few times per year.
Vickie clearly enjoys what she does and makes a difference in her community while doing it. We are privileged to have her as a part of our team!
![The Western Massachusetts Training Consortium Proudly Congratulates the Salasin Project’s Vickie Hutchinson as the Winner of Stavros’ 2017 Paul Winske Access Award!]()
by LaMara HunterKelly | Oct 20, 2017 | In The News
OCTOBER 19, 2017- HOLYOKE, MA
Every year Stavros, a local non-profit organization supporting people with disabilities, sends a survey to consumers asking for nominations of local organizations/people that really go the extra mile for the people they serve. A dedicated group of staff and volunteers review the nominations and conduct site visits.
The Western Massachusetts Training Consortium (wmtcinfo.org), is a well-established human service organization in Holyoke MA that offers a variety of community supports. The Support Network (childrensemotionalhealth.org), a program of the Consortium, offers parents/caregivers the support they need to help children, adolescents, and transition youth, effectively navigate the various systems of care and become strong and successful advocates for their children. The Support Network’s goal is to support families to achieve their individual goals.
Margery Jess has been employed by the Support Network for over 17 years and is currently serving as Senior Family Support Specialist. During her tenure, Margery has done the stellar work of assisting and making positive changes for hundreds of families whose children have mental health challenges. We are so proud to have Margery as a part of the Consortium community!
Margery was honored at an awards presentation, at the Log Cabin in Holyoke, on Thursday, October 19th.
by LaMara HunterKelly | Sep 8, 2017 | In The News
Greenfield, MA – September 8, 2017
Mary Doherty comes to the RECOVER Project Director’s role with a diverse range of work and life experiences, with recovery at the center of it all. For years she has balanced work, family and recovery, and it brings her great joy to share what she has learned with others on the journey. She is a problem solver and approaches life and work with a sense of adventure and wonder. She earned a Ph.D. in organismic and evolutionary biology as a single mom, which included taking road trips for hundreds of miles to collect samples from the coast of Maine with her young daughter often jumping in as a field assistant. As a scientist, she has collaborated on and taken the lead with large-scale research projects in Oceans, Estuaries and Rivers. Through these experiences, she was able to develop her project management skills, all while having the opportunity to work and live in places with the natural world at the center and building community with other recovering people.
Mary has also been a dedicated teacher. She earned her M.Ed. at the University of Massachusetts through the 180 Days in Springfield Project, and has taught in Holyoke and Sharon Public Schools, as well as at the college level and in Adult Basic Education. As an educator, she has been dedicated to creating academic spaces that are welcoming, inclusive, and encouraging of many means of access to achievement. Her own recovery practice has always been central to her work. It has allowed her to relate easily with diverse constituencies, to view her students from a holistic standpoint, and to help them identify and draw on the strengths they possess.
Mary is a community builder, and has been able to relocate and rebuild a supportive recovery community for herself in rural South Georgia, the Eastern Shore of Maryland, and in Memphis Tennessee, but she prefers Western Massachusetts as her home, and it has been so for the majority of her time in recovery. She is extremely excited to serve as the Director of the RECOVER Project, where she can apply her professional strengths and life experience to a cause she wholeheartedly believes in.
Mary can be reached at mdoherty@wmtcinfo.org as of September 5th or feel free to stop by 68 Federal Street to say hello!
To find out more about the RECOVER Project, go to www.recoverproject.org. The RECOVER Project is a program of The Western Massachusetts Training Consortium, funded by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Bureau of Substance Abuse Services.
by LaMara HunterKelly | Aug 8, 2017 | In The News
By JOSHUA SOLOMON
Recorder Staff
Tuesday, August 08, 2017
GREENFIELD — The Recover Project will soon have a new director to lead its peer-run community on Federal Street.
Starting Sept. 5, Mary Doherty, who has a doctorate in biology and has been in recovery since 1990, will step on as director.
Doherty comes in following the departure of Michael Lewis, who “transitioned from the director role in June 2017 for other pursuits,” according to a statement from The Recover Project’s umbrella organization, the Western Massachusetts Training Consortium. The search began around the start of July for a new head to the Greenfield program that helps people who are in recovery maintain their recovery.
The new director received her Ph.D. in biology from the University of Massachusetts, according to a statement from The Recover Project. She completed both her bachelor’s and master’s in biological sciences from Smith College.
“Mary was chosen as the new director primarily for her knowledge of recovery, her compassion for people of all stages in the recovery process and the willingness to embrace multiple paths of recovery,” the consortium said in an emailed statement. “Mary brings with her a confident energy that is bridled with positive enthusiasm and personal experience that will lead the way for a bright future at the RECOVER Project.”
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![The Western Massachusetts Training Consortium Proudly Congratulates the Salasin Project’s Vickie Hutchinson as the Winner of Stavros’ 2017 Paul Winske Access Award!]()
by LaMara HunterKelly | Jun 21, 2017 | In The News
By JOSHUA SOLOMON
Recorder Staff
Friday, June 16, 2017
GREENFIELD — Dragons from across Asia spoke to moms using the voices of a dozen or so kids.
What was going on was, of course, a puppet show.
Who was presenting? The children of the parents, who gathered in downtown Greenfield to watch a presentation three months in the making.
Thursday evening The Salasin Center’s Family United Network F.U.N. Center, put on a dragon puppet show as an effort for the families to learn about a culture they may not have known.
“We looked at what cultures are well represented in this area and what aren’t and the Asian culture isn’t so we wanted to expose that to our kids,” Salasin Center’s Vickie Hutchinson said, who was a co-coordinator of the project that was funded with a Mass Cultural Council grant.
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![The Western Massachusetts Training Consortium Proudly Congratulates the Salasin Project’s Vickie Hutchinson as the Winner of Stavros’ 2017 Paul Winske Access Award!]()
by LaMara HunterKelly | May 11, 2017 | In The News
The state has awarded some $34 million in contracts each year for the next three years under a competitive bidding process to organizations that provide services to survivors of domestic and sexual abuse.
Some 10 Western Massachusetts organizations received total annual contract determined awards of more than $6.4 million…The Western Massachusetts Training Consortium’s Salasin Project received an annual contract of $327,348 for general community-based domestic violence services.
Read the full article HERE
