Today, as Director of Residential Services for the MHA, Maggie oversees services for 80 residents in a variety of settings and supervises 65 staff members. She manages three community residences, 34 scattered site apartments in the Treatment Apartment Program, and 37 permanent apartments, working closely with
residents and their families.

Maggie also serves as MHA's Director of Mental Health Advocacy Services for the Deaf, in which capacity she oversees several housing programs, case management, a drop-in center, community education and advocacy. One of her proudest accomplishments is her mastery of sign language. She also serves individuals who are blind and physically disabled. Maggie was an early advocate of providing jobs for people with mental illness. The MHA Residential Programs worked closely with Jawonio's Project STEPS to provide job coaching and whatever accommodation needed by clients to achieve success in their work. MHA residential services continue to be recovery oriented, geared to helping their residents develop independence. She was also involved in the early years of the Friendship Club, a unique social recreation program for developmentally challenged adults. Her genuine relationships with the members of the Friendship Club continue to this day.

As a founding member of the Mental Health Association's Cultural Competence Committee, which promotes equity oftreatment and services across all cultures, Maggie is committed to human rights, social justice and undolnq racism. Underscoring that commitment she is an active member of numerous organizations that advocate for the ideals to which she is devoted (including NAMI). A charter member of ACL (Association for Community Living), she is a steadfast activist and proponent of human rights, accessibility and quality housing for individuals living with psychiatric disorders.

Maggie's Irish heritage is important to her and she describes her frequent visits to Ireland as "leaving home to go home:' She and her family were founding members of the Irish American Political Education Committee and of Project Children. Her free time is spent in the New York Adirondack Mountains with fellow Irish Diaspora cultivating potatoes and other native vegetables. She is also a lover of all dogs; especially Jack Russell Terriers several of whom have grown up in an MHA Residence.

 

---