Happy early Independence Day, Forge & KPC! I hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable June and is looking forward to a long weekend. June held two important celebrations for our community, Juneteenth and Pride Month, both of which we stand to honor, celebrate, support, and acknowledge as an opportunity to continue championing our Black and LGBTQ+ communities and their mental health. Please see below for our blog posts commemorating both celebrations.
A few additional announcements to kick things off:
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A reminder that today is the final day to submit your Employee Engagement Survey. Please remember that your individual feedback will help us continue to improve and every response is extremely valuable. If you have any questions regarding the survey, please reach out to Alicia McDermott at [email protected].
- Greensburg, PA was our winning team for the Veteran Holiday #Cards2Connect Challenge and will be receiving a pizza party! Well done.
- We are excited to introduce this newsletter to our two fantastic teams at the Kenneth Peters Center for Recovery (KPC) in Syosset, NY and Hauppauge, NY. We are thrilled to be showcasing new faces, names, and the hard work that our KPC teams put in every month. Welcome to the newsletter, KPC!
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New Hires, Birthdays & Work Anniversaries |
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New Employee Introductions
Welcome to the team!
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Mike Cohen
IT Specialist
Corporate
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Tashanna Fisher
Administrative Assistant
West Orange, NJ
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Jamila Pough
Talent Acquisition Specialist
Corporate
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Tina Cabrera
Office Manager
White Plains, NY
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Courteney Bender
Clinician
Greensburg, PA
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Paul Harris
Clinician
West Orange, NJ
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Megan McDermott
Director of Business Development
New Jersey
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Fran Colello
Clinician
KPC - Hauppauge, NY
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Colby Mills
Lead Psychologist
His 1 year Anniversary is July 12th!
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Heather Glendenning
Medical Billing Director
Her 1 year Anniversary is July 26th!
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Annie Lankowicz
Clinician, KPC
Her 2 year Anniversary is July 28th!
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🎉Happy Birthday to our July staff!🎉
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Chrissy Cox's birthday is today!
Shawna Packard - July 4th
Heather Glendenning - July 9th
Chris Cox - July 9th
Dalton McLaughlin - July 12th
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Michael McCann - July 15th
John Krachenfels - July 20th
Theresa Bacher - July 20th
Gared Deady - July 25th
Margie Rodriguez - July 27th
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Bonus Birthday - Charlie McLaughlin! |
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Dalton's pup Charlie turned two years old today! Happy Birthday, Charlie! |
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Hannah Blank, our Care Coordination Development Manager in New Jersey created and executed our very first New Jersey Quarterly Alumni Newsletter! Hannah continues to go above and beyond in engaging our communities and making sure our clients are supported in every way that we can help. In her first newsletter, she covered summer wellness tips, things to do, places to go, and so much more. This is an exciting and important addition to our care coordination program - congratulations on a successful launch, Hannah! See below for a sneak peek. |
Chelsea Hayet who joined Forge last month as a full-time clinician after interning with us for one full year, recently passed her LSW exam and is now a fully licensed clinician! Congrats, Chelsea! It has been a joy to be part of your journey so far and we are grateful to have you on board. |
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We hope everyone had a wonderful Pride month celebrating and recognizing the LGBTQ+ community. It was delightful watching the pride celebration photos roll in. Please see below for a few members of our team celebrating! 🌈
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Our Paramus team + Eric Frieman rocking their Pride at Forge shirts pictured above.
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Pictured above and below is our Paramus team at the New Jersey Pride Festival at Asbury Park |
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Pictured above: Our West Orange team showing their Pride in our brand new office
Pictured below: Tashanna Fisher and Rachel Rodriguez virtually joining team photos
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Pictured above: Jess Dickerson's dogs woofing for equality! Pictured below: Michele's dog, Rex, sporting a pride bow tie |
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Eric Golnick received an incredible honor and was invited to a Pride Month Celebration at The White House, hosted by The President. Please see pictures below - we are so proud! |
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Introducing Jonah Harris Knafo |
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Introducing Jonah Harris Knafo, born on June 6th, 2022! Congratulations to Benji Knafo and his wife, Amanda, on a healthy, beautiful baby boy! We are so excited to meet him and welcome Jonah as our newest member of the Forge team. |
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Launching Forge Health Intranet |
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This month our IT team launched our brand new Forge Health Intranet! The Intranet is a private website that we can use to securely share relevant and important information to everyone in the organization. We hope you will use the intranet site as your go-to place when looking for company information or if you have any questions. BIG thank you and shout out to Mike Cohen, our new IT Specialist, for leading this effort!
If you are using the Edge browser, as your company computer updates with our set policies, your landing page will default to the new intranet site. If you select the home icon within Edge, you will also be directed to the intranet site.
The intranet site will have plenty of useful information, including:
- Links to company systems
- Links to our payroll and benefits information
- Monthly newsletters
- Helpful company documents
Please let us know what you think or if there is anything else we can add to the site that may be helpful to you and the organization by emailing [email protected].
Well done to our wonderful tech team!
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HRSA Student Loan Repayment Program |
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The Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) has a student loan repayment program for SUD professionals through the Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Recovery Loan Repayment Program (STAR LRP), in exchange for six years of full-time service at an HRSA approved facility. You must be an eligible clinician at an eligible facility to apply.
According to the facility eligibility requirements listed by the HRSA, which require specific timely criteria based on facility county location & determinants stemming from substance use disorder, the following Forge Health facilities are STAR LRP-approved, eligible, and registered with the HRSA:
- West Orange, New Jersey
- Manchester, New Hampshire
- Devens, Massachusetts
- KPC – Hauppauge, New York
- Greensburg, Pennsylvania
For more information on these facility-based requirements, please visit here. Eligibility for each facility is for this application cycle only and is subject to change year to year.
Receive Up To $250K To Repay School Loans
The deadline for applications is July 7th, 2022 at 2:30pm EST.
**Please note that this program is not affiliated with Forge Health and the application process is solely through the HRSA. Any questions you have regarding the program, eligibility, commitments, benefits, etc. can and should be directed to the HRSA – you may also find more information here.
A special thank you and shout out to Merrit Hartblay for making us aware of this fantastic program!
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Mileage Reimbursement Rate Increase |
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Effective July 1, 2022, Forge Health's standard gas mileage reimbursement rate will increase to 62.5 cents per mile driven for business purposes, outside of travel to and from your standard work location.
There is also a new expense report that reflects the updated mileage reimbursement rate. This new expense report can be found on the Intranet and is located here.
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Our Forge teams were out and about this month! From strategic initiatives to team dinners, Forge members got together for some quality time. See below.
Dalton McLaughlin, Casey Lancaster, and Eric Golnick represented Forge Health in Washington, DC in a meeting with representatives from Wounded Warrior Project, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and DAV (Disabled American Veterans) in order to advocate for the Veteran community. We thank all three of you for all that you do and the honorable way in which you represent Forge.
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Our full Greensburg team went out to dinner with a few members of the corporate team. Great to see Cynthia, Liz, and Claudia out in Pennsylvania! |
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Jason Palamara, our Director of Veteran and First Responder Engagement, visited us on the East Coast this month - a few members of the Corporate team got together for dinner in White Plains to celebrate! Pictured below (L to R) are: Jason Palamara, Hannah Blank, Rachel Rodriguez, Eric Frieman, Liz Walker, and Cynthia Fox. |
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Welcome back to your newest recurring section – Monthly Tech Tips! Do you have lots of unsaved documents on your screen? This month’s Tech Tip will help you to never worry about losing a document again!
Setting up One Drive:
If you haven’t already set up one drive on your computer, follow these instructions to do so!
This will enable Auto-Save on all your documents and allow you to easily share and backup your files!
Select the Start button, search for “OneDrive”, and then open it:
In Windows 10, select OneDrive. Or find the Cloud Icon on your Task Bar (it will be grey if you have never logged in)
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When OneDrive Setup starts, enter your @forgehealth or @kenpeterscenter email, and select Sign in. On the “This is your OneDrive” folder screen, select Next to accept the default folder location for your OneDrive files.
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You're all set. Your OneDrive files will appear in File Explorer in the OneDrive folder under OneDrive – Forge Health. Now you have the ability to autosave all your documents to One Drive.
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You can always reach out to the Forge Support Team by emailing [email protected]. Let us know your favorite shortcuts or what tech tips you may want in the future!
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We're back with our Pop Culture Corner! This month, Michael McCann and Rachel Rodriguez share some of their recent pop culture recommendations: |
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Michael McCann
Heartstopper
Netflix
An amazing heartwarming coming-of-age story adapted from a webcomic. The show tells of a group of highschoolers coming to terms with queer relationships, navigating homophobia, internal anxieties about identity and doing so without falling into tired tropes. A wonderful cast of talented young actors, great depictions of the complexities of sexuality and gender will make you smile during the Pride season!
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Rachel Rodriguez
Between the World and Me
Ta-Nehisi Coates
Written as a letter to a teenage son, Between the World and Me attempts to explain the intricate and complex world that a Black man navigates every day. Coates uses personal narrative and history to guide his son through the realities of life that millions of Black Americans face every day, providing a deeper understanding of the Black experience in America. An extraordinary read!
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- Today is the last day to fill out and submit the Employee Engagement Survey.
- If you are applying for the HRSA Student Loan Reimbursement Program, applications are due by July 7th at 2:30pm EST.
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Don't forget about Insight Timer! Every employee here at both Forge and KPC has premium access to Insight Timer, a leading mediation app. Instructions below on how to create an account:
- Step 1: Download the Insight Timer app
- Step 2: Create an Insight Timer account
- Step 3: Join our Workplace by clicking on the Work icon in the top left corner of the screen and entering your work email address. If you are a KPC employee, please use your current email address, but replace @kenpeterscenter.com with @forgehealth.com. For example, [email protected] would enroll as [email protected]
- You can also click this link to join: https://insig.ht/vOUZPQ9Kmmb
- Starting July 1st, Insight Timer will be running a 30-Day Affirmation Challenge. The empowering affirmations are designed to help set in motion positive change in your life Positive affirmations are phrases or statements used to counter negative or unhelpful thoughts, and each day of the Challenge you’ll receive a short 5-minute affirmation practice. See below for further information.
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Please remember, and a fresh reminder for our KPC staff, if you'd like to see your highlights, celebrations, wins, events, pictures of your pet, etc., included in next month's newsletter, please send your submissions to Rachel Rodriguez at [email protected]. Each submission brings me such joy and I'm already looking forward to next month! |
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To sign us off for our long weekend, we have an exciting announcement.... Andres Reyes-Capo and his fiance, Ana, are now engaged! Congrats, Andres! No one is happier than Pepper, pictured bottom left. |
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Have a safe and happy 4th of July, everyone!
Rachel
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