By April Amadon/amadona@gnnewspaper.com
Lockport Union-Sun & Journal
March 12, 2007 01:41 am
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Cheryl Blacklock has been doing some adjusting since taking the position of executive director at the Mental Health Association in Niagara County, Inc., in January.
Blacklock, who previously worked at the Niagara County District Attorney’s office, said the new opportunity came to her by chance, she said, when she ran into former executive director Mary Jane Beilein.
“She told me that she was leaving this position and then encouraged me to put a resume in,” Blacklock said. “I hadn’t done it, and she called me about a week later and said, ‘I’m waiting for your resume.’ I sent it in, and a short while later got a letter inviting me to come in an interview, and the next thing I know, here I am.”
QUESTION: Tell me a bit about your professional background.
ANSWER: For the past 20 years, I’ve worked in human services, and most recently, probably the last 15 years, it’s been domestic violence. My last job was with the District Attorney’s office, as the director of the ARREST program, which is where we provided services for victims of domestic violence that had special needs. Those special needs were stalking, they could be elderly, they could have a mental or physical disability. What we did was we provided in court and out of court advocacy for them. A lot of people fall in the cracks of the court system, because they don’t understand the court system. So our advocates would go in and help them through the court system.
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Q: Do you think it takes a special kind of person to work in the field of mental health?
A: I don’t know if it’s a special kind of person, but I think that you have to be somebody that cares about people. ...It’s hard to answer, because I don’t think I’m a special person because I do this, this is just who I am. I’ve always worked at trying to help people that are, I don’t know if less fortunate would be the right way of terming it. I like to help, I like to be of assistance to people. And if that means pointing them in the right direction of getting services that they need, I can do that. Or if they just need somebody to talk to, I can offer that too. The Mental Health Association is a very quiet, very small agency, but we do a huge service out there, and our focus I believe is going to be on trying to eliminate the stigma in mental illness. A lot of times the media portrays mental illness as being a schizophrenic that kills people or does something terrible. That’s a very, very tiny part of mental illnesses. You could be working every day with somebody that has a mental illness, and they’re talking medications, and it’s working for them, and you would never know anything about that.
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Q: What are your duties here?
A: My duties are to make sure the agency runs to the best of its ability, to continue providing the services that we provide for the community. It’s not a very large agency, but we do a lot of different things. So it’s making sure everyone is doing their part in the way that they’re supposed to be doing it, best to the benefit of the consumers as well as to the agency. Of course finances, fundraising, employee relationships, tons of collaboration out in the community — which I am a firm supporter for collaboration. A not-for-profit can’t really do its business unless it’s collaborating with other agencies. Because that’s what we’re all here for, is to do the same thing.
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Q: If someone feels they need to talk to someone, for example, can they walk in here and get help? How does that work?
A: Sure. They would just come into the front door and say that they’re having a problem, and is there somebody that they can talk to? ...A lot of times the walk-ins are known by the agency. If there’s nobody here, I have an open door policy. They can always come in and talk to me, and if I can’t provide a service for them, it is up to me to find the service for them.
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Q: Do you have any plans for the next year or so here?
A: Sure. They would just come into the front door and say that they’re having a problem, and is there somebody that they can talk to? ...A lot of times the walk-ins are known by the agency. If there’s nobody here, I have an open door policy. They can always come in and talk to me, and if I can’t provide a service for them, it is up to me to find the service for them. Just building up the programs that we have. They’re all doing very, very well. One of the newest programs that we have is a nutrition class. I think eating disorders are on the rise ... I’m hoping to gear a little bit toward that. ...I want to take a look at all of the programs and see how they’re running and see if we can’t maybe update them a little bit, make sure they’re doing what they’re supposed to be doing. I can’t really make a lot of changes until I know the programs inside and out. ...The former executive director told me that it was going to take me about a year before I felt comfortable doing this position. The board has been very supportive. I didn’t know any of them before coming on board, so that was a new experience. They’re a great bunch of people.
Contact April Amadon at 439-9222, Ext. 6251.
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