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2011 Courage to Change Award Given to Skip McNamara
October 26, 2011
Serenity Place, Manchester’s
addiction crisis and education center, is proud to
announce this year’s recipient of the Courage to Change
Award is the City’s own George “Skip” McNamara. The
award is given annually to someone who by his
contribution and example has demonstrated the
possibilities of growth and change for all persons,
especially those troubled by addiction. Mr. McNamara is
a lifelong resident of Manchester, a long-time employee
of the Mental Health Center of Greater Manchester and a
devoted friend and sponsor to many in recovery here. He
has served on the Board of Directors at Serenity Place
for 8 years.
Mr. McNamara was nominated by two
separate parties this year for embodying the spirit of
recovery, which includes supporting it for others.
He is known as someone who is there to help, no
matter your predicament, and this very nature makes him
the ideal candidate for the Courage to Change Award.
“Change is an easy word but a difficult goal,” says Sharon
Drake, Serenity’s Executive Director. “We help people in
our programs work toward sustainable change, which can be
problematic and slippery. Without people like Skip in our
community to reinforce not only the concept but the effort
itself for so many individuals, there would be much less
success with it. He is a patch of blue sky coming at you,
whether you are in recovery or not!”
Past Courage to Change Award recipients include Dave Moran, Attorney James Craig, Mary Ryan Woods of WestBridge, and Professor William J. Farrell of St. Anselm’s College. The 17th annual Courage to Change Awards Dinner is scheduled for November 18th at 5 pm at the Executive Court Conference Center, Manchester. Tickets are $50 each and can be purchased online at www.SerenityPlace.org/events.html.
Manchester’s Tirrell House to Reopen
August 29, 1011
Serenity Place, Manchester’s
addiction crisis and education center, has been approved
by Governor and Council to receive a state grant to
operate Tirrell House in Manchester as a transitional
living facility starting in September.
The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human
Services opened Tirrell House in the early 1980’s with 14
beds for men who had completed substance use disorder
treatment and were readying for life back in their
community.
Serenity Place will operate the halfway house with the
same parameters and include counseling, case management
and education as part of the transitional living program.
The Tirrell House program is one of a very limited number
of such programs in the entire Granite State, so it’s
reopening is being celebrated.
Serenity Place was awarded the contract from the Department of
Health and Human Services (DHHS) through a competitive
grant process.
Joe Harding, director for the Bureau of
Drug and Alcohol Services at DHHS, stated that he is very
excited to get this important program back on line and
that the contract was awarded to an agency that not only
submitted a great plan but that also has a long history of
providing substance abuse services in the Manchester
community. Executive
Director Sharon Drake added “Serenity Place understands
the value of Tirrell House here in Manchester and to the
state. We are honored to have been granted this facility’s
future and plan to uphold the exceptional level of care
and service there that clients at our Manchester St.
facility have come to expect from our programs.”
The Tirrell House program will
emphasize personal responsibility and community
accountability for residents by requiring employment,
active employment search or community service while a
resident, as well as commitment to group living rules. By
working with other agencies and organizations in the area,
such as the Mental Health Center of Greater Manchester,
Manchester Community Health Center, Alcoholics Anonymous
and NeighborWorks Manchester, Serenity Place has put
together a plan to provide financial education, job search
assistance, medical and psychiatric care access and
self-help group meetings in- house for those committed to
living their lives clean and sober. The program will have
24/7 staff and residents will be responsible for helping
to maintain the residence.
Additionally, business students at
Southern New Hampshire University, another community
partner, will have the opportunity to work on feasibility
study and business plan development projects to help
launch a for-profit business to be operated by and return
profits to Serenity Place. The business will have the
added benefit of providing a training ground for residents
of the Tirrell House program.
Serenity Place will simultaneously be
opening an Intensive Outpatient Treatment program (IOP)
for the agency’s eligible Multiple Offender Program and
Crisis Services clients which will meet at Tirrell House.
The program will
run three times per week for 16 weeks. This program
expansion is a natural next step for an organization that
identified treatment as a need in its Strategic Plan a
little more than year ago.
It provides Serenity Place clients more options
following detox and for aftercare with a DWI conviction.
The Tirrell House program is expected
to open in early September 2011. IOP is expected to start
in mid-September. For inquiries, contact Clinical Director
Kelly Reardon at
Kreardon@serenityplace.org.
Loretta Prescott can be reached at 603-625-6980 or lprescott@serenityplace.org
