Congratulations to our employees recently recognized by their programs/departments as Mission Makers! Your dedication to our mission, vision, and values is highlighted through your work everyday!
Meet our November Mission Makers:
Christina Ainsworth, Assistant Director HCBS Programs. Christina Ainsworth is very active across the three HCBS programs. Her daily investment into assisting Managers, Coordinators, and DSP’s can be seen in her passion to always be improving. Christina also plays a key role with maintaining external relationships for Shared Living referrals and strives to assist WFS as standing out as a leader in that sector for service delivery. Christina juggles a lot and is always up for the task. Keep up the stellar work.
Amanda Brooks, Field Supervisor, Central ME. Amanda is valued beyond measure. Her support of her staff is amazing. She always lends a helping hand whenever she can. She encourages them, motivates them all while keeping up with many, many tasks. We are grateful to have her on our Central Maine Team!
Alana Dunham, Field Supervisor, Central ME. Alana is an amazing Field Supervisor. She helps provide support to our BHPs in the Bangor/Brewer area and does so with such passion. She supervises with understanding and empathy and is a team player. Her organizational skills are impressive. We are so blessed by her presence on our team.
Dan Flaherty, BHP, Southern ME. Dan is a member of the Southern Maine RCS team. He works as a BHP with a consumer in the home and community setting. Dan does a great job working toward goals with his consumer and has paired with not only the consumer, but the family as well and is a welcome part of that family dynamic. We’re so lucky to have Dan as a part of our team!
Danielle Forgues, DSP, Expeditions Westbrook. Danielle has been working as a DSP for 15 years at Woodfords. Over the last 2 years, Danielle transitioned from a full time DSP working 1:1 with a consumer in residential to working with a larger team and much larger group of consumers. Danielle has invested time in training and personal development to adapt to a much different environment that is constantly growing and shifting to improve services. She has made a point to step up and take initiative to assist her fellow teammates in implementing changes, schedule adjustments, and learning new consumers as the program continues to grow. Danielle has pushed herself past her comfort zones to be become the best version of herself and developed into a key member at Expeditions Westbrook.
Meagan Grass, Speech Therapist, Westbrook SPPS. Meagan was nominated by her peers for jumping right into our program with ease. Although she is still technically new to us, it honestly feels like she has been here for years! She works hard to make instant connections with her students, sincerely caring about each one of their interests and personalities. This bond creates a safe and engaging environment that is present in all of her sessions. Additionally, in her short time here, she has shared a wealth of knowledge about AAC devices and communication boards, ensuring all students have equitable means of communicating. She has become such a valuable and engaging part of the provider team. She never hesitates to answer questions or share her thoughts with classroom teachers about ways that everyone can support the students. Her presence is calm, kid focused, and tuned in to what each child needs at any given time. We are so lucky to have you Meagan, thank you for all that you bring to the team!
Katie Howe, Ed Tech, Westbrook SPPS. Katie was nominated by her peers for being such an amazing addition to the SPPS team and beyond! Whether she is in her classroom or subbing across the program, she always has a positive attitude and a smile on her face. She has worked so hard to learn behavior plans and pair with some very challenging kiddos. Even when the classroom is at its wildest, Katie is able to remain calm and collected. Her presence is contagious and so very welcoming to students and coworkers alike. Katie asks great questions and is receptive to feedback, implementing changes as soon as possible to provide the very best services that she can to our students. She is clearly passionate about learning all there is to learn in this field, always looking to grow and be the best teacher that she can be. She is energetic, engaging, and so fun to watch with our students. Thanks for being such a great role model Katie, you make our days brighter!!
Sarah Hunt, Program Manager, Expeditions. Sarah recently was tasked to develop a presentation on how the community supports program, Expeditions, supports consumer interest in employment exploration and skill set development. This presentation was made for the audience of the MACSP committee on community supports and delivered to about fifteen other service providers. Sarah did an amazing job highlighting the work she and her team does around supporting consumer interest in employment. Way to be a positive leader on this front Sarah!
Garrett Keniston, Residential Coordinator. Garrett has worked to create an activity space in the Westbrook residence in the large basement that has become a hit with the consumers. Garrett had a vision and has been supported to make that come to life through the program and donations Garrett sought out. The activity space has been used to host several activities. Feedback from consumers and their families has been positive on the creation and use of the space. A success on how to think out of the box to maximize space and create an engaging hang out zone.
Amanda Landry, BHP, Waterville ECS. Amanda brings a fantastic, positive, contagious energy to not only the classroom, but the whole school. She jumped right in and made herself a great part of the team. She is a strong role model in terms of positive and fun student engagement. Amanda is very flexible – subbing in other classrooms effortlessly, and seeks out opportunities to help colleagues whenever she can. She asks questions and is continuously working to strengthen her skill set without prompting. We really appreciate her and are grateful for her hard work and positive energy!
Melissa Nguyen, Program Manager, Residential. Melissa Nguyen has been a tremendous asset in working with her team of Residential Coordinators to support them in enhancing their service delivery to consumer’s and the team of DSP’s in the residences. Her ongoing positive presence with role modeling and coaching style to the coordinators and DSP’s has seen positive results with increased efficiencies and team confidence, which relates to increased consumers satisfaction of their support team. Thank you for making a difference each day!
Christina Osmer, Shared Living Coordinator, Kennebunk. Christina has been a wonderful addition to the Shared Living team this year. In her shared living coordinator role, she has built many positive relationships with providers, consumers, and their support team, which relay positive comments often, and express how much they enjoy working with her as their shared living oversight. We all appreciate Christina’s strong dedication, enthusiasm, and contributions she brings to the team every day. These positive attributes contribute greatly to Woodfords Mission & Values!
Rebecca Rafferty, Program Manager, Central ME. Rebecca always goes above and beyond in her role as Program Manager. She helps ensure our program runs smoothly all while supporting BHPs in the RCS and School Based Program. She is a great advocate for the needs of her staff, families and consumers. She is quick to jump in and take on additional tasks without question. She is a phenomenal supervisor and Central Maine is incredibly lucky to have her!
Taylor Smith, BHP, Central ME. Taylor has hit the ground running with her consumer this school year; he has made excellent progress over the beginning of the year and is fully accessing academics in his classroom as well as music in the mainstream classroom. Taylor uses every moment of his school day to work on skills, and it shows. He is using more independent communication to get his needs met, and she has facilitated the creation of a calm, consistent work environment where he is growing in both confidence and skills. She is a frequent communicator, and her consumer’s mother has expressed several times how happy she is with his school days, and how safe she feels knowing Taylor is with him. She also has started subbing for some other consumers when hers is out, and has handled some escalated behaviors from those consumers with confidence and professionalism as well.
Julie Stevens, BHP, Central ME. Julie is an incredibly skilled Behavioral Health Professional and we are lucky to have her as part of our Central Maine School Based team. Julie continues to provide excellent support to her school based consumer, has great communication skills and is not afraid to ask questions when needed. Julie has had to manage some changes and challenging situations with the start of the 2024/2025 school year and she has done so in a professional manner all while continuing to put the needs of her consumer first. She is kind and caring and does not hesitate to go above and beyond. Thank you Julie for your continued hard work and dedication to your consumer and Woodfords!
Whisper Waite, BHP, Central ME. Whisper is a remarkably skilled BHP and does not hesitate to go above and beyond for the consumers that she works with. Since the start of the current school year Whisper has worked diligently with her consumer, the school team and her supervisors within Woodfords to ensure that her consumer is successful this year. Whisper has done a great job navigating several unforeseen challenges in a professional manner, while reaching out for additional support as needed. Also while working full time within the school based program she continues to maintain her commitment to a Foster care consumer/family. Thank you Whisper for your continued hard work and dedication to not only the consumers/families you work with but to Woodfords as well!!