Cel­e­brat­ing our Team­mates of the Year

September 23, 2022

The life-sav­ing work we do at Ken­neth Young Cen­ter is a direct reflec­tion of the incred­i­ble com­pas­sion of our team mem­bers. We were proud to hon­or and cel­e­brate some of our most exem­plary team mem­bers recent­ly as our Team­mates of the Year!

We named a Team­mate of the Year for each of our five orga­ni­za­tion­al divi­sions. Every staff per­son was invit­ed to nom­i­nate some­one that they feel goes above and beyond to make a mean­ing­ful impact. Nom­i­na­tions were then shared with a review com­mit­tee, who select­ed the award recip­i­ents. We’re grate­ful for the work our teams do each day, and are espe­cial­ly hon­ored to cel­e­brate the ded­i­ca­tion, com­pas­sion, and kind­ness shared by this excep­tion­al group of team members.

Behav­ioral Health Out­pa­tient Team­mate of the Year: Lacey!

As our Senior Intake Spe­cial­ist, Lacey is a com­pas­sion­ate first point of con­tact for many com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers who reach out to KYC. As her nom­i­na­tor shared, ​“Lacey is always will­ing to go beyond to make sure clients are aware of the amaz­ing ser­vices that KYC has to offer…Lacey is always pro­fes­sion­al and will do every­thing she can to find solu­tions to any prob­lem that comes her way. She is always look­ing for new refer­rals for clients that have cer­tain wants or needs.” 

Thanks to her dri­ve and com­pas­sion, our Intake Depart­ment is well-versed in cur­rent com­mu­ni­ty resources beyond the pro­gram­ming that KYC pro­vides, ensur­ing that we’re able to con­nect com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers with the suite of ser­vices that they need to thrive. Whether she’s sup­port­ing com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers in find­ing the sup­port that’s right for them, or edu­cat­ing and sup­port­ing our team mem­bers to be able to do the same, we’re grate­ful for Lacey’s com­mit­ment to help­ing oth­ers find the solu­tions they’re seeking.

Behav­ioral Health Recov­ery Ser­vices Team­mate of the Year: Alicia!

Ali­cia is our Man­ag­er of Out­reach & Pre-Tran­si­tion. She over­sees our teams who help com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers tran­si­tion to com­mu­ni­ty hous­ing as they move out of nurs­ing facil­i­ties and spe­cial­ized men­tal health reha­bil­i­ta­tion facil­i­ties. Her teams con­nect com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers with the sup­port­ive resources they need to thrive out­side of unnec­es­sar­i­ly restric­tive or insti­tu­tion­al­ized settings.

Her nom­i­na­tors shared that ​“Ali­cia goes above and beyond to sup­ple­ment any need­ed task for her team with the shared goal of safe and effi­cient transitions…Alicia is always open to feed­back and asks for ways to do things dif­fer­ent­ly, do things bet­ter. She is always think­ing of oth­ers.” Her lead­er­ship, flex­i­bil­i­ty, and cre­ativ­i­ty help our teams equip the peo­ple we serve with the tools they need to live their best lives, and our teams with the sup­port they need to give their best back to our communities.

Com­mu­ni­ty Col­lab­o­ra­tion Team­mate of the Year: Marian!

Mar­i­an, our Com­mu­ni­ty Col­lab­o­ra­tion Divi­sion Deputy Direc­tor of Oper­a­tions, over­sees our Com­mu­ni­ties for Pos­i­tive Youth Devel­op­ment (CPYD) Coali­tion, grant-relat­ed media com­mu­ni­ca­tions, and divi­sion oper­a­tions. She has estab­lished her­self as a trust­ed resource across KYC’s teams, hav­ing achieved exten­sive knowl­edge of all aspects of KYC’s youth empow­er­ment programming.

Her nom­i­na­tor shares that ​“Mar­i­an with­out a doubt is a solu­tion finder…She is a sup­port, resource­ful, and pro­vides edu­ca­tion in almost every sit­u­a­tion. She reg­u­lar­ly helps nav­i­gate con­fus­ing and ambigu­ous cir­cum­stances to pro­vide clar­i­ty and direc­tion. She does all this through a gen­uine hum­ble heart.” Her kind­ness and com­mit­ment to shar­ing with oth­ers what she’s learned make her an invalu­able part of our team. From ensur­ing that exist­ing pro­grams can run as smooth­ly as pos­si­ble to help­ing expand KYC’s pro­gram­ming to fill gaps in need­ed net­works of care, Mar­i­an’s work tru­ly builds health­i­er, stronger communities.

Old­er Adults Team­mate of the Year: Alexys!

Alexys, Qual­i­ty Con­trol Coor­di­na­tor for our Old­er Adults Team, assists with care plan imple­men­ta­tion, coor­di­na­tion of ser­vices, and pos­i­tive ongo­ing ser­vice deliv­ery for the old­er adults that we serve. In addi­tion, she ensures that all nec­es­sary paper­work is com­plet­ed, and acts as a resource to old­er adults who are look­ing to learn more about KYC’s services.

Her nom­i­na­tor shares that ​“You name it, Alexys has done it. With all these hats she wears, she will always be there to take on more and help wher­ev­er she can…Alexys is excep­tion­al at her job by mak­ing sure our paper­work is in line. She is a tremen­dous help for the Case Man­agers.” Alexys’s flex­i­bil­i­ty and exper­tise trans­lates to qual­i­ty sup­port for the old­er adults she serves direct­ly, and equips our Care Coor­di­na­tors to pro­vide excel­lent ser­vice to still more com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers. We’re grate­ful for her ded­i­ca­tion to ensure that old­er adults have the sup­port they need to live safe­ly and as inde­pen­dent­ly as possible.

Oper­a­tions Team­mate of the Year: Frank!

As KYC’s Main­te­nance Tech­ni­cian, Frank suc­cess­ful­ly han­dles a myr­i­ad of projects to keep our spaces safe and com­fort­able for clients, staff, vol­un­teers, and vis­i­tors. From small one-time requests, to major ren­o­va­tion projects, Frank expert­ly nav­i­gates each chal­lenge with kindness. 

“Frank came to KYC as an expe­ri­enced facil­i­ties tech­ni­cian with many years of expe­ri­ence in sup­port­ing build­ing engi­neer­ing. Yet, he takes an approach to the work com­plete­ly devoid of any ego. There is no task too small, no task too ardu­ous, no task too com­plex for Frank to tack­le,” share his nom­i­na­tors. ​“Frank exem­pli­fies what it means to be a part of the KYC com­mu­ni­ty through his com­mit­ment and joy­ful approach to dif­fi­cult and ardu­ous work.” Frank’s work direct­ly impacts all who share KYC’s spaces across the sub­urbs, and we’re grate­ful for the care he puts into each project.

Togeth­er We Thrive.

The Team­mate of the Year Awards are just one way that KYC strives to cel­e­brate our incred­i­ble team mem­bers. Learn more about how we cre­ate a pos­i­tive orga­ni­za­tion­al cul­ture for our teams here.

---

Previous Article Next Article