How did you get into this field?
I grew up always wanting to be a nurse. My mother was a nurse and one of my father's sisters, who had mental retardation, lived nearby and was a big part of our family's life. She had lived with my grandmother and after my grandmother died, one of her sisters took her in. As my father's sisters aged and it became increasingly difficult to provide for her care, she was institutionalized. I visited her at the state institution and the change in her was heartbreaking for our family. She very quickly withdrew into herself, became less independent and verbal and frankly was probably depressed. I couldn't reconcile the change and was determined there must be other ways that families and aging people with disabilities could live as a family's ability to care for someone changed.

Who would you consider to be your mentor and why?
I really never had a mentor, one person who was important to my development. There were many people I met along the way. As a young psychiatric nurse working in the community health center in Jamaica Plain, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to combine my work as a therapist with supervision and learning opportunities from leaders in the psychiatric and mental health community. At the Mass. Mental Health Center, Drs. Henry Grunebaum and Jon Gudeman provided supervision and case conferences; Dr. Anne Alonso, a teacher and leader at MGH provided training in group therapy with Dr. Scott Rutan. I became a trainee in group therapy and later joined the board of the NE Group Therapy Association. Dr. Carol Hartman in my master's program at Boston College - all of these people were very committed to mentoring us in our personal and professional development in Boston.

What quote do you live by?
"The joy in life is to be used for a purpose. I want to be used up when I die." George Bernard Shaw said that.

What has been the most memorable moment of your career?
Other than becoming Commissioner, I would say my prior experience as a DMH Area Director and in our work with staff in creating a new vision for the state hospital at that time. We established a process to engage the leadership, of engaging the organization and transform the state hospital and its culture. It was very exciting as we developed and implemented an inpatient psychosocial rehabilitation model that we called PRISM (Psychiatric Rehabilitation Integrated Service Model). I learned a lot about how hard it is to shift the lens by which we view others, our roles in "caring for people" and the importance of change. We had to recognize and reorient ourselves in how to include patients in their treatment planning, understanding how routines of hospitals disempower people, and how to link the community and the hospital to improve the quality of people's lives.

Can you share an interesting fact about yourself that your colleagues wouldn't necessarily know?
I grew up in a small rural Wisconsin town where I knew everyone and felt secure. I will never lose the sense of community and responsibility that we all held - and how important it is to feel rooted and connected and that we carry it inside, regardless of where we live.

Is there anything you'd like people to know about your agency?
Mental health is an integral part of a holistic view of health care. Treatment works and it is critical that people seek it. Despite the amazing efforts made, stigma still exists and it is vital that family and friends help their loved ones get treatment when they need it.
This information is provided by the Department of Mental Health.