![Welcome New Salasin Director, Pam Fitzpatrick!]()
by LaMara HunterKelly | Aug 27, 2018 | In The News
We are thrilled to announce that Pam Fitzpatrick has accepted the position as the Consortium’s new Salasin Project Director beginning on Monday August 27, 2018!
Pam Fitzpatrick comes to Salasin Project with many years’ experience working in the social service field. In one of her more recent long-term positions, she worked as the Director in a non-profit agency partnering with families to have a voice and decide on the best services to meet their needs. While there, she managed a large budget and stretched resources to serve many individuals and families in the Franklin and Hampshire Counties.
Pam believes in resilience and the power of community. She has witnessed many people overcome great hardships and challenges. She believes in the ability to change and the realization of potential. She received her Master’s Degree in New York City at Hunter College School of Social Work and later went on to get her LICSW. In one of her roles she had the distinct pleasure of working with Maria Rodman where she furthered her knowledge of Trauma Informed Care.
Faith, family and friends are three extremely important gifts that help to balance day-to-day living for Pam. She can often be counted on to carry a small bottle of bubbles and believes that sometimes it is the simplest of things that bring the greatest joy. Her husband Mike and their rescue dog Cleo, short for Cleopatra, enjoy hiking, camping and relaxing in all four seasons of New England (well maybe not the camping).
Welcome Pam!
![Welcome New Salasin Director, Pam Fitzpatrick!]()
by LaMara HunterKelly | Dec 4, 2017 | In The News
The Western Massachusetts Training Consortium Welcomes Alaina Mango, new Director of the Salasin Project!
GREENFIELD, MA – Beginning on Monday November 20th, the Western Massachusetts Training Consortium welcomed a new Salasin Project Director, Alaina Mango. Alaina comes to the Salasin Project with ten years’ experience working with survivors of intimate partner violence to reach personal goals, establish increased safety, and begin the healing process. She believes in meeting individuals where they are, and helping them to find and travel their own unique paths. For a number of years Alaina worked with people who have been exposed to violence and their families in a residential setting, an active participant in a team that helped to support parents and their children through the reunification process following incidents of intimate partner violence, substance use, and other personal challenges. This segued into oversight of community programming for survivors of intimate partner violence and sexual assault, followed quickly by an expansion of services to include supervised visitation, court-based advocacy, and prevention of dating violence among teens and young adults.
Alaina earned her undergraduate degree in Psychology at Westfield State University, and is currently working toward her Master’s degree in Social Work at Simmons College. She is looking forward to applying these new skills and her years of experience to the Salasin Project.
In the hours between career, school, and internship, Alaina can be found at home with her husband and her father, or hiking with her two rescue dogs (totaling nearly 200 pounds of Mastiff-mix!). Welcome Alaina!
![Welcome New Salasin Director, Pam Fitzpatrick!]()
by LaMara HunterKelly | Nov 8, 2017 | In The News
Recorder Staff
Monday, November 06, 2017
GREENFIELD — A regional nonprofit devoted to recognizing the work of those helping people with disabilities honored a Greenfield resident with her work for half a decade at The Salasin Project.
Vickie Hutchison was one of a handful of individuals awarded honors by the Pioneer Valley-based Stavros, which selects winners in the community through a peer voting process. Hutchison has helped lead her community at the Western Massachusetts Training Consortium’s program for assisting women with trauma and for violence prevention.
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![Welcome New Salasin Director, Pam Fitzpatrick!]()
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!
![Welcome New Salasin Director, Pam Fitzpatrick!]()
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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