FOCUS and the Addiction Prevention Coalition (APC) in Birmingham, AL are pleased to announce Emily Herring, Fairfield City Schools, as the winner of the 2023 Difference Maker Award which recognizes the most outstanding educator facilitating FOCUS in Alabama!
Mrs. Herring is the Mental Health Coordinator for Fairfield City Schools and has a social work background. She has been the Mental Health Coordinator in Fairfield City Schools for three years and has been a social worker in the Birmingham area for nine years. This is her first social work role working directly for a school system. Mrs. Herring worked with Addiction Prevention Coalition to start Fairfield City’s FOCUS group this school year! She has been wanting to start a student group focused on mental health, addiction prevention, etc., and heard about FOCUS and thought that it fit perfectly with her goals! Over the summer and the start of the school year, she began recruiting students, ensuring that she had representatives from many different student groups. In her role as a facilitator, she has learned so much from her students and is always grateful for opportunities to be their cheerleader as they lead our school, district, and community.
Fairfield’s FOCUS group led the way in sharing about the importance of mental health district-wide this year. Their group held three mental health assemblies at Fairfield’s middle school, sharing the importance of mental health and leading mental health trivia and other activities. They then led a mental health assembly in front of their own peers at their school, and each FOCUS member shared why mental health matters to them and how they cope with their own mental health. An individual nominating Mrs. Herring stated, “Emily strives to find opportunities for the students to shine and empowers them to express their ideas at every chance.”
According to Mrs. Herring, “the students in Fairfield’s FOCUS group are some of the most resilient, inspiring people I have ever met! They have done an incredible job creating a vision for student-led mental health efforts in our school district and finding ways to implement that vision. They encourage each other to be bold in talking about mental health. They work together to lead the school. Above all, they have shown immense resilience in overcoming so many obstacles to get to where they are. I could not be prouder of them!”
We are honored to recognize Emily Herring for her outstanding leadership! Congratulations and thank you to Mrs. Herring for her work in reducing the incidence of adolescent risk behaviors and truly Making a Difference in the lives of students
