Author: Angie Sykeny

Granite YMCA names first female interim president

Meet Michele Sheppard, who was recently appointed interim president and CEO of The Granite YMCA, becoming the first woman to hold the position.

What is your background in this kind of work?

I’ve been in the Y movement since 1986. I came to New Hampshire to become an executive director for the Granite YMCA at the Allard Center and have been with this organization for 12-plus years and have moved up in opportunities to oversee operations for our organization, our branches, our camps and our service delivery in various programs. I’ve become the interim CEO and president here in a transition that occurred this winter. It’s a wonderful opportunity to grow my skill set and leadership, and to help support our organization and our communities to serve more people, especially as we’re coming out of so many challenging things that have been happening in these past couple years.

What does your job entail?

One of the most important things I do is work as a mentor for staff in the organization, as well as strategic thinking and leadership, working with our board of trustees and our local advisory boards to see how the Y … can make a further difference … beyond our typical types of programs that people know us for — building community partnerships and collaborations and visioning along with other agencies how to support the citizens of New Hampshire and their health and wellness, their community needs for child care, as well as mental health, which is a struggle these days, so how can the Y be relevant in people’s lives to give them a place of respite and support?

What do you hope to accomplish during your time in this position?

One of the biggest things I’d like people to know is that the Y is more than just a place where you go for a swim or to work out or for child care. We are proud to be all those things, but there’s so much more we do … from education support, mental health support and chronic disease prevention to just being a place where groups can gather and learn from one another and really feel connected. In today’s world, a lot of folks don’t feel connected; they don’t have what you call the ‘third place’ — the church or the community group — and the Y can and has been that. … We have a long line of building relationships with people and helping people find friends and places where they can feel like they belong, where they can make a difference and where they can grow their skills and achieve. That’s what I hope to continue doing.

What are some of the biggest challenges you’re facing right now?

We know that society is changing. … We’ve been working hard on diversity inclusion efforts … and [being] a Y where folks from all different walks of life feel comfortable coming in. We’ve been working hard on finding a way that the Y can be more present in places where there’s not a facility. An example of how we do that currently is our chronic disease prevention and diabetes prevention classes. We partner with the state and local public health departments to … offer a virtual program that is available in all 10 counties in the state. … Those are the types of things that challenge us, but we’re seeking alternative ways of delivering services to help people have better health and feel better about their day-to-day lives.

Summer camps are starting soon. What will those look like this year?

We’re so excited that we’re opening our doors and having summer camp again. … They’re going to be full of very well-trained staff; they’re going to have exciting, refreshed facility spaces and some new program offerings; and they’re going [be a place] for each of the [campers] to be cared for … where they can cultivate leadership development, new friendships, and better health and wellness. I think the camps are going to be a great, fun way to get away from the stressors of the world, from being connected to electronics, from being in a classroom; and to get outdoors, get some fresh air and be in a place where a child can be a child … and not have to worry about some of the stresses they’ve been experiencing the past couple years.

What do you enjoy most about this work?

The people. I love the fact that every day we transform lives in one way or another. … We have the capacity to do that, and we strive to do that. … I love the fact that I get to do this with other people who care and have a heart for taking care of others … and doing something good in the community — a big shout out to all the [Y] volunteers. … Without them, this movement doesn’t exist. The Y started with volunteers, and we’re proud to maintain that tradition. It’s an honor to serve with [them] and the staff. We’re also grateful for the members, because they make our days filled with fun and a lot of interesting experiences.

Featured photo: Michele Sheppard.

A Nashua sophomore talks about the March for Our Lives

On Saturday, June 11, students from Nashua North and South high schools gathered in Greeley Park in Nashua for a March for Our Lives protest as part of a nationwide movement to raise awareness about gun violence and advocate for gun control legislation. Nashua High School North sophomore Aarika Roy organized the event.

What is March for Our Lives?

March for our Lives is a student-led organization that was created by the survivors of the Parkland shooting, which happened in Florida in 2018. [Students] started doing marches … fighting for gun reform and justice.

How did you end up organizing one in Nashua?

When they had their first [march], Nashua students had organized one. At the time, I was only in the sixth grade. My mom [was] a teacher [at the time], and she figured it was important to get me exposed to the political world. … She brought me to the protests, and I joined kids from all different ages. It was honestly a really great experience for me. It’s how I got into activism. I was able to hear all these people give speeches, I was able to meet Maggie Hassaan as a little kid, and it was really great. After the Uvalde shooting, I felt like everything was getting [to be] too much, and I figured it was time for another [march]. I started asking around, like, ‘Hey, is anybody doing this?’ because I knew some people might be interested, and everyone was like, ‘No, I don’t have the time [to organize it], but I would go to it,’ so I was like, ‘OK, I can make the time to do it.’

What was the turnout and the response like?

There were at least 150 people. … We were expecting counter-protesters to be there, and they were, but it wasn’t that bad. … We got a lot of news coverage on this, which is great. There were a lot of different groups there, like Moms Demand Action, so we were able to meet a lot of people. Jim Donchess, our [Nashua] mayor, was there, and he commended a lot of us. We were able to get Sen. Maggie Hassaan to come, and we had speakers like Shoshanna Kelly, Alderwoman at Large … and Laura Telerski, who is a state rep.

What topics were discussed?

As the main organizer of the event, I was the first speaker. I basically just gave a quick introduction. Then, there were student speakers, and they talked about how they felt unsafe … how we feel scared to go to school … and how people need to put pressure on their legislators to sign in the right laws that will keep us safe, and to vote in the right people who will pass the laws to keep us safe.

What was involved in organizing the march?

I’m involved in a lot of socio-political organizations. I’ve been [involved] in organizing protests, but never organized one on my own. That’s the reason I was a little bit hesitant before I decided to do this protest, but I’m so glad I did, because I was able to learn a lot. It took two or three weeks [to plan]. … I started by … [designing] a flyer and posting on my social media … [calling for people] to get involved. I got a lot of really great responses. From there, I started organizing meetings. We figured out a location, which ended up being Greeley Park in Nashua. … We were able to get a lot of press coverage. … We got a lot of parents involved. … The day before, I was just making posters all night, and they turned out really great.

What are your future plans for the movement?

I don’t want to have to do this again. It’s awful that we had to have it in the first place again. If [a shooting] like this happens again, I will definitely take part in setting up and organizing another one again, but our hope is that it never happens again, not in New Hampshire or anywhere.

Featured photo: Aarika Roy, speaking at the March for Our Lives Nashua event. Photo courtesy of Aarika Roy.

Broderick discusses mental health book, webinar series

John Broderick, senior director of public affairs at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health and former Chief Justice for the New Hampshire Supreme Court, discussed his new book, Back Roads and Highways: My Journey to Discovery on Mental Health, coming out at the end of this month, and a year-long webinar series about mental health called “Heads Up,” which he is organizing in partnership with Dartmouth Health.

What is the Heads Up Series?

The Heads Up series was started during Covid … [to talk] to the New Hampshire community about Covid-related mental health issues, for children, for families, for the elderly. It was very successful. … For the next year, we’ll be focusing on mental health issues … covering a number of topics. … There will be some virtual forums on these various topics that will be available to the public at no cost. Some of those forums will have Dartmouth Health people on them and many other folks, too. … The goal of this series is really to increase awareness and start a different conversation around mental health.

What topics will it cover?

A lot of it will be focused on adolescents. … Some of it will relate to social and cultural pressures that young people are feeling before, during and after Covid. We’re going to talk about social media, athletics, stress. … There will be a number of topics that I think will hit a broad audience over the next 12 months.

How did you determine those topics?

They’re topics that I’ve raised in the book I [have been writing] for the last six years with the help and support of Dartmouth Health. … I’ve been traveling all over New England and talked to 100,000 young people in grades 6 through 12 in 300 gyms and auditoriums about mental health awareness. Of those kids, probably 4,000 of them have talked very privately and confidentially to me about what they’re seeing and experiencing, not just during Covid, though a lot of it has been exacerbated [due to Covid].

What is your personal interest in mental health?

It comes from my own lived experience with my family. … I’ve been very open about my family’s journey. … Two decades ago, while I was in public life, I didn’t understand mental health at the time, and I didn’t see it in my own family for what it was. I made mistakes; I see them now. It took my family on a really hard public journey that I wouldn’t wish on another living soul. The good news is, my family came through it. We’ve healed, and we’re in a very different place now. … The reason I’m doing what I’ve been doing is because of my own ignorance and the unintended harm it had in my own household. … Over the last six years, [mental health] has become acutely personal in a different way. … When I go to the schools, I’m honest with [the kids]. I’m vulnerable in sharing my family’s journey. I’m asking for their help to change the culture and the conversation which we have avoided for generations, and kids respond to that.

What is the book about?

The book is not really autobiographical or a story of my family. That story is already public; I share it every time I go and speak. The focus of my book is … everyone else’s family. I wrote the book because I wanted people to come with me at my elbow, into the [school] gyms and auditoriums all across New England, and to feel and experience what I felt and experienced. I want people to realize the nature and scope of the problem, and to understand that we can fix it, but only if we talk about it. … My book really is [meant] to drive a new discussion about the needed change in America’s mental health system, and to say to people that treatment works; it’s not hopeless. We just need to expand the system and allow people to access health care when it relates to something going on above the neck.

How can mental health be improved in New Hampshire?

The numbers of families and people dealing with mental health and substance [issues] is enormous, and we don’t have a system in this country to deal with either problem. … We don’t have enough psychiatrists … or nurse practitioners who deal with mental health issues. We don’t have enough psychiatric social workers … or mental health counselors. It’s not because people wouldn’t go into those careers; it’s because we don’t incentivize it. We don’t pay them. Psychiatrists, for example, are among the lowest-paid members of the medical profession. … Also, [mental illness] is still stigmatized. People are still ashamed. I know because the kids have told me that. They don’t feel that way when they have a broken ankle or a bad back. [Kids] feeling like they’re letting someone down or are defective in some way because they have a mental health problem is on all of us. … We need to let people know that it’s an everywhere, everyday problem, and not the result of some personal deficiency or weakness.

Featured photo: John Broderick.