Kate Gaston
As Vice President for Affiliate Services and Relations with Mental Health America, Ms. Gaston coordinates affiliate membership strategy and development both within the national office and throughout the affiliate field. Concurrently, along with the other MHA departments, Ms. Gaston and her department support the health and wellbeing of the 340 existing affiliates, and provide development opportunities for new affiliate markets. In addition, Ms. Gaston supervises staff and programs of MHA's National Consumer Supporter Technical Assistance Center, one of five TAC's funded by SAMHSA, and works extensively with consumer led and run organizations around the country.
In her role as affiliate leader, she has crafted new collaborative programs with affiliates, including
- 2009-2011's Eliminating Behavioral Health Disparities for Rural and Native Populations, which is currently being piloted in New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and North Dakota, and
- The National Staff Institute, which is now hosted each year by an affiliate chosen to support that year's theme.
- In 2007 the NSI was held in Utah around the topic of engendering opportunities for mental health access in rural, frontier and Native populations. In 2008 the NSI was held in Wichita, Kansas, on the topic of responding to issues and concerns of veterans and their families within communities.
- The 2009 NSI will be held in Rockport, NY, and will be the culmination event of a new 8-month program Ms. Gaston developed,
- 2009's Executive Management Training for Today's Economy and Environment.
- Beginning in 2007, Ms. Gaston developed a development training program for anyone interested in becoming an affiliate, The BELL Class of ____, which included 10 months of web and teleconference based classes and resource materials designed to support a participant in meeting the 8 standards of affiliation. In 2008, this program was opened to new executive directors with affiliates as well.
Prior to coming to the Mental Health America in 2006, Ms. Gaston's roles in the mental health field included experiences as executive directors for multiple mental health associations, private consultant on juvenile justice and human services systems, grant consultant for university research teams, regional manager for a home-based services corporation, regional planner for a children and youth commission, assistant director for an offender aid program, senior staff for emergency services, and coordinator for Virginia's comprehensive services act for children, youth and families. During her tenure in the field she was instrumental in creating new systems of care, expanded partnerships, and greater inclusion of individuals in the development of critical crisis responses. As an ASIST specialist, her focus on suicide prevention led to the creation of support groups, community advocacy organizations, and creative outlets in poetry and art. While conducting research on juvenile justice systems, she created new models of mapping community resources, and successfully developed community conversations around difficult topics. Her work has included a variety of applications of logic and program development models, as well as outcome evaluations of non-statistical fields. Her professional history and personal experiences with friends, family and peers as consumers drive her passion to make a difference in the lives of others, to create opportunities for inclusion and leadership.
She can be reached at kgaston@mentalhealthamerica.net or (703) 838-7536.
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