County recognizes 2007 Exemplary Service Award honorees

2007 Exemplary Service Award Honorees: From left: Graydon Andrus, Downtown Emergency Service Center; Michael Donegan, Harborview Mental Health Services (HMHS); Meghan Szczebak, (HMHS); Trish Blanchard, Sound Mental Health (SMH); Executive Sims; David O;Neal (SMH); Jerry Evergreen, Center for Human Services (CHS); Colleen Blake (CHS); Janet Grimley (CHS); Nick Pealy (CHS)

King County Executive Ron Sims joined the mental health and substance abuse community in honoring the 2007 Exemplary Service Award recipients at a special ceremony and reception held in Seattle on October 4, 2007. The annual awards celebration, now in its ninth year, recognizes exceptional leadership and achievement in service delivery and advocacy on behalf of people with mental illness and chemical dependency.

"Each of the individuals and programs honored this year demonstrate innovation, creativity and commitment that has resulted not only in helping individuals with mental illness or chemical dependency to reach for recovery, self-sufficiency and a higher quality of life, but has also improved and strengthen our entire systems of care“ said King County Executive Ron Sims in his keynote speech. “Our honorees are a reminder of the incredible work going on every day across King County by thousands of treatment providers, consumers, family members and advocates – working to dispel the myths and misunderstandings of mental illness and chemical dependency and spreading the word that treatment works and recovery is possible.“

Individuals and programs were nominated for recognition in four established categories: Advocacy, Direct Service, Service Innovation, and Systems Integration. Nominations were submitted by the community and the honorees were selected by a review committee.

The 2007 honorees are:

Advocacy:
Michael Donegan and Meghan Szcebak, Harborview Mental Health Services. Two Harborview Mental Health Services case managers honored for working creatively to help their clients achieve stable housing and employment – two critical elements of recovery. In addition to employment and housing advocacy, their efforts include creating a Certificate of Rehabilitation Pilot Project in collaboration with the King County Bar Association and the King County Superior Court to help people with mental illness and a previous criminal justice record demonstrate to prospective employers or landlords their compliance with treatment programs and their readiness for housing and employment.

Direct Service:
Center for Human Services. Honored for their leadership and exceptional efforts toward implementing the county’s new assessment and treatment planning tool that is empowering and helping young people with substance abuse problems to get the help they need. King County received a national Best Practices Award for the implementation of that assessment tool, an award they share with the Center for Human Services and other treatment agencies that has resulted in the highest treatment completion rates for youth in the state.

Service Innovation:
1811 Eastlake Project, Downtown Emergency Service Center. A truly innovative project receiving national and international attention, developed by an agency dedicated to helping those homeless people who are the most difficult to house and serve, 1811 Eastlake is honored for innovation in moving chronic inebriates off the streets of Seattle and into a safe and stable home – for many of their residents, the first home they have had in decades – and giving those residents access to care, treatment and a safe place to live.

Systems Integration:
Substance Abuse Treatment and Recovery (STAR) Program, Sound Mental Health. The STAR program is an innovative pilot program, the first of its kind in the state and one of the very few nationwide, that is specially designed to provide chemical dependency services for people with developmental disabilities. Services are individualized to the unique needs of individuals with varying physical and cognitive abilities and is achieving great success in helping people achieve recovery.