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Awards
PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
September 8, 2004
The Mental Health Center of Greater Manchester announces that
Manchester resident and longtime mental health advocate Janet
Stiles has been named the 2004 Wheelock-Nardi Advocacy Award
recipient. The award will be presented to Mrs. Stiles at The
Center’s Annual Celebration, which will be held on October
25 at the Bedford Wayfarer Inn and Conference Center and will
feature famed singer Judy Collins as the keynote speaker.
The Wheelock-Nardi Advocacy Award is presented
each year by The Center to recognize individuals or organizations
that exemplify a high standard of commitment and advocacy
to those with mental illness. In announcing the award winner,
Kendall Snow, Vice President of Community Relations at The
Center notes, “Janet has been a tireless advocate for
those with mental illness, always grounding her efforts in
a message of hope and her belief getting beyond illness to
recovery is indeed possible.”
Having completely recovered from schizophrenia
and depression, Mrs. Stiles now describes herself as a “full-time
volunteer”, actively involved in many aspects of the
mental health and consumer movement. She was a member of the
founding Board of Directors which established The Mental Health
Center of Greater Manchester in 1960, serving on the Board
for several years. She was also on the founding Board of Wel
Enterprises, one of the first peer support organizations in
the state, created at a time when the concept of consumer
peer support was in its infancy. While working as a peer counselor
and observing what services consumers needed, she was instrumental
in the development of a program in response to the National
Institute of Mental Health’s request for consumer proposals
in the late 1980’s. This led to the establishment of
A Way To Better Living, Inc., a consumer run, self-help agency
which today provides an array of outreach, fellowship, and
employment to support the success of consumers living in the
community. Currently, Mrs. Stiles serves as President of that
organization’s Board of Directors.
Through the years, Mrs. Stiles has served as
a volunteer at New Hampshire Hospital and for twelve years
volunteered at the NH State Prison’s Secure Psychiatric
Unit tutoring inmates and providing much needed supportive
counseling. In 2002, she was honored with the President’s
Award presented by NAMI-NH (National Alliance for the Mentally
Ill of NH) and continues to work to de-stigmatize mental illness
as a speaker for “In Our Own Voice”, an awareness
building effort sponsored by NAMI.
Currently serving as a Ward 2 Selectman, Mrs.
Stiles has always been committed to serving the Manchester
community and has been a member of the Board of Directors
of the Manchester YWCA as well as a volunteer with the VNA
Hospice program for many years. Retired from AMICA Mutual
Insurance Company, Mrs. Stiles and her husband, Walter, who
is also a retired and an active community volunteer, are the
proud parents of three children and five grandchildren.
Major sponsors of The Center’s 2004 Annual
Celebration to date include Stebbins Commercial Properties,
Inc., Catholic Medical Center, Stephen Eldridge & Co.,
Central Paper Products, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Manchester, and
USI New England.
For more information about The Mental Health
Center of Greater Manchester or The Annual Celebration on
October 25th, please contact Vivien F. Green, Director of
Development at (603) 668-4111.
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Awarded to Dr. Sylvio
Dupuis of Manchester
The promotion of mental health and the
treatment of mental illness are most effectively achieved
in an economically stable, healthy and understanding community.
The Community Leadership Award is presented annually by the
Board of Directors of The Mental Health Center of Greater
Manchester to honor a business or community leader who exemplifies
the leadership and commitment needed to build and support
a healthier, understanding and caring community and whose
involvement in business, civic, philanthropic, artistic or
cultural activities serve to enhance the quality of life and
wellness of our citizens.
Presentation of the award will be made
at the MHCGM Annual Celebration Event held on October 25,
2004 at the Wayfarer Inn and Conference Center, in Bedford.
For more information please
contact: Vivien F. Green, Director of Development,
The Mental Health Center of Greater Manchester, 401 Cypress
Street, Manchester, NH 03103, Tel: (603) 668-4111,
Fax: (603) 669-1131, E-mail:
greenvii@mhcgm.org.
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