Happy April, everyone! This edition of the newsletter features our Stress Less April campaign for Stress Awareness Month, an introduction to VFR Challenge Coins, our first Kudos Corner shoutouts, and so much more!

However, before we get started, we are so excited to announce that Forge Health reached an incredible milestone and we are officially 200 employees! This is such an amazing testament to all of the work that each and every one of you do day in and day out and we, quite literally, would not be here without you. We thank you, we congratulate you, and we celebrate you! Here's to all 200 of us!

Don't forget to complete your Employee Engagement Survey!

As a reminder, the goal of this survey is to measure your level of engagement with the organization and to identify areas of interest for future programs and initiatives. As our team grows, we want to continue to provide optimal support and tools for you to be successful and fulfilled. Your direct and honest feedback throughout this survey is not just welcomed, but strongly encouraged! The survey closes on Wednesday, April 5th at 11:59 pm. 

Email Christina DeStefano, cdestefano@forgehealth.com with any questions or comments you have about the survey. 

Let's have some FUN and say peace out to stress this month! Whether it's coming from your personal or professional life, stress feels inevitable and the effects of stress can be harmful to your mental and physical health. Over the next four weeks, we're going to learn how to take control of stress and anxiety through 4 aspects of health...

Each Monday in April you'll receive an email with ways you can fight stress based on the weekly health focus. In that communication, you'll get educational material based on the following:

But wait there's more!! Play Stress-less BINGO as you participate each week for the chance to win a prize!

Here's how it works: 

1. Complete an activity on the card or add a relaxing activity in a blank square.
2. Mark it on the card (photos and selfies are welcomed 😉).
3. Complete 5 squares in a row to win BINGO! 
4. Send a scanned copy or a photo of your completed card to be entered into the raffle to win a prize!

*There will be one winner* 

Download your BINGO card here! All completed cards must be submitted by the end of the day on Monday, May 1st in order to be entered into the raffle. 

Keep an eye on your inbox as we kick off our Stress Less April on Monday morning with our first focus, physical health!

Get a jumpstart on Stress Less April with exercises like Be a Smart Stress Avoider, Take a Stress Pause and The Lightness of Laughter that aim to pinpoint your stressors and guide you through managing them.

Don't forget about the $150 Wellness Reimbursement! It will cover the cost of apps, gear, sneakers, classes, or anything wellness related. Refer to the policy here.

Congratulations to our March hires!

Mercedes Aspiazu

Real Estate Project Coordinator, Corporate

Samantha Beckett

Clinician, Greensburg Huff

Galo Cunto

Executive Clinical Director, Langhorne

Marie Flanagan

Clinician, Queens

Deanne Griffin

Executive Clinical Director,

Toms River

Halimo Hotchkiss

Intake & Experience Coordinator,

ACE

Precious Jackollie

Clinician, Langhorne

Ivy Opoku-Nti

Intake & Experience Coordinator,

ACE

Meagan Quinn

Clinician, Devens

Kayla Ray

Executive Clinical Director,

West Orange

Ruby Rodriguez

Administrative Assistant,

PA Virtual

Michael Savino

Clinician, Princeton

Sue Brown

Lead Clinician - Manchester

Her 5 year Anniversary is Apr. 3rd!

Brian Kephart

Executive Director - Western PA

His 6 year Anniversary is Apr. 3rd!

Janet Bamgbade

Executive Director - Virtual Outpatient

Her 1 year Anniversary is Apr. 4th!

John Krachenfels

Clinician - White Plains

His 1 year Anniversary is Apr. 13th!

Christine Zogaib

Intake and Experience, ACE

Her 1 year Anniversary is Apr. 18th!

Ryan Castellano

Clinician - KPC/Hauppauge

His 1 year Anniversary is Apr. 18th!

Alicia McDermott

Compliance Manager

Her 1 year Anniversary is Apr.25th!

Let's celebrate our April birthdays!

Johanna White - April 4th

Christine Perugini - April 7th

Ivy Opoku-Nti - April 7th

Sheila Reeves - April 8th

Shanice Avery - April 14th

Chad Burkholder - April 14th

Jennifer Tierney - April 15th

Ivey Washington - April 16th

Michele Spagnuolo - April 17th

Sabrina Cargill - April 19th

Casey Lancaster - April 22nd

Tom Rhodes - April 22nd

Alexandra Little - April 26th

Mindy Feldman - April 27th

Teja Shah - April 27th

Dana McAllister - April 29th

Happy One Year, West Orange🎉

To celebrate West Orange's one year anniversary, Janet Bamgbade shared a note highlighting her team's incredible journey over the past year:

"I’m so proud of my team and grateful for the journey they choose to take with me. Our office started out with our very first hires in March 2022 and our first client in April 2022. We’ve since grown to an entire team of 17, this includes APNs, clinicians, administrative staff, and supervisory staff. We’ve also partnered with Rutgers University School of Social Work to support 3 interns with their field practicum. Our journey has been unique, as we started with over 300+ med management-only patients whom we were challenged to educate about the Forge Health way. We now have included 300+ clinical patients to that original number. We’ve had several moments of trial and error, regarding what worked well for us, operational-wise, as well as what would work well for our patients. Every idea shared and every opportunity seized helped us to achieve the heights. My team’s dedication has truly been imperative to our office's growth. They probably haven’t thought of anyone noticing the days they stayed late, or the difficult and challenging conversations held with our patients. Yet, they continued to show up and place our patients at the heart of every decision. Their dedication has truly contributed to our success. Thank you, all, for being a part of this journey! No, we are not perfect but like I always say, we’re a small but mighty team. Here’s to many more years of being the change we wish to see in the world ❤️"

SPOTTED! Eric Golnick attended the University of Miami's first student/alumni networking event in March, Spring Into Success. Eric and a handful of fellow Hurricane alum sat on a panel to share their experiences with current students and answer questions on entering the workforce post-graduation.

Reps for Responders

We're thrilled to announce our new collaboration with Reps For Responders! This is a non-profit founded and ran by first responders and those who care for them. Their mission is to improve the physical and emotional survivability skills of first responders, helping them to make responsible decisions at work and at home. Much like Forge, their overall goal is to reduce the rate of suicide in all first responder and military communities. We can't wait to see this remarkable collaboration flourish!

Give them a look and see what they're all about on their website at Reps for Responders - Reps for Responders

Our team in Greensburg spent Criminal Justice Day (March 23rd) at Seton Hill University located in Greensburg, PA. They spoke with students in their Criminal Justice Program about all that Forge VFR does for law enforcement and veteran communities.

Benji Knafo and Rob D'Annibale had the opportunity to visit our team at Greensburg Huff! The team has been doing an incredible job transitioning EMR and systems while maintaining an exceptional level of care for clients.

Pictured above are Benji (left) and Brian Kephart (right)

Alison Wooten, from our Princeton team, traveled to Costa Rica this month for a relaxing and educational yoga retreat with her yoga studio. While there, she learned different techniques, attended classes, and even got to see some of the beautiful places (and animals!) that are unique to Costa Rica.

*Spoiler*



Alison is using her skills as a yogi to help us during Stress Awareness Month! Going along with our Week 3 focus of Meditation & Mindfulness, Alison is going to walk us through a beginner-level yoga class and help us tap into our inner zen 🙏🏼

This month, we launched an extra special recognition for our Forge VFR team - VFR Challenge Coins. These coins represent the difference we make and the positive impact we have on the lives of our veteran, active duty, and first responder communities. Read the symbolism of the coin below and a note from Eric Golnick with a message of gratitude to our VFR team ❤️

A message from Eric Golnick:

I want to recognize those in our organization who have dedicated their lives to serving others. Those of us who have served in the military and/or as a first responder understand what it feels like to raise our hand and put our lives on the line for something bigger than ourselves.

This unique quality is what separates our organization from others. We're not just serving the VFR population, we are the VFR population. Your service to our country and community guides us as we work to provide outstanding service to our brothers and sisters.

We had 3 kudos submissions this month!! These individuals stood out to their peers by going above and beyond and just by being outstanding coworkers. Read these well-deserved kudos below for Heather, Amy, and Janice 😊.

Heather Glendenning

Medical Billing Manager

"Being an amazing teammate!!" 

Amy Young

Clinician - Greensburg Main

"Amy has not only grown tremendously as a clinician but is also consistent with her daily sessions and IOP groups. Amy is on site 4-5 days a week and typically has back-to-back sessions. Amy is a team player and upholds Forge's brand standards of client care first. Amy's confidence has soared and her professional and personal growth is evident."

Janice Descarreaux

Office Manager - Devens

"Janice has consistently been an amazing support and coverage when needed. If phone coverage is needed for Manchester if I am out, Janice is the first to offer to help out. Most recently the last few days Janice covered phones for me while I was out due to a death in the family. She checked in daily to see how I was doing and is overall just an incredible support. Always willing to step up when needed. "

Want to send kudos to someone? Send it now!

Welcome back to our monthly tech tip! This month's topic is... searching for optional updates! We will share with you a useful troubleshooting step for Windows when your Mic, Camera, or any peripheral devices are not working correctly.

Optional Updates include drivers which make your devices work better, they are the programs that let the hardware talk to your computer!

• Running system updates do not always include these important tools.
• To find out if you have any drivers to update, click your search bar and type Optional Updates

• This will open a new page where you can download and install any new versions of Window 10 as well as every missing driver from your computer!

• Check all the entries in this list, and then choose to download and install at the bottom of the page! We want everyone to be on Windows 22H2. Once they install, it will ask you to reboot just like a normal update. 

If you see Windows 11 as an option, you can ignore it. For now, we are staying on Windows 10.

We hope this tip proves helpful for those of you who have issues with your external devices! If you have any questions of issues with this process, reach out to the IT Team at Support@forgehealth.com.

Kayla Ray

Wednesday

Netflix

I've been into the Netflix show, Wednesday. I love how nostalgic it is and it has a very interesting story line! The show follows Wednesday Addams through her school days at Nevermore Academy as she attempts to master her developing psychic ability, and solve a mystery that her parents are the center of.

Deanne Griffin

Shrinking

Apple TV

As a therapist, the title drew me in and my husband (in being a good spouse of a therapist) agreed to give it our usual “3-episode rule” which means watching the first 3 episodes before we made a decision on if it was going to be worth sticking to or not. We were both drawn in a few minutes into the show with the witty humor. Jason Segel and Harrison Ford are quite the dynamic duo, both playing therapists that do not always agree on ethics. This show makes you feel a complete range of emotions while watching it! All season long we looked forward to being able to see the new episode that dropped on Friday! I also highly recommend Apple TV shows in general, every show I’ve watched produced by them has been great! 

I'm looking forward to an incredible month full of relaxation and fun with you all! Feel free to get a head start on the Stress Less Bingo card this weekend. There will be an external Bingo card posted on the Forge Health Instagram page early next week for your friends and family to get involved too 😉.

You can submit all your news, updates, and celebrations for our May newsletter by emailing me at cdestefano@forgehealth.com. Now let's have an awesome, stress free April!

-- Christina 💜