Mary Jo Harris has been named the Volunteer Development Coordinator for the Family Guidance Center, which has been serving Warren County for over 60 years.

Harris was formerly the Community Coalition Coordinator for the Coalition for Healthy and Safe Communities, a program of the Family Guidance Center.

Harris’ focus in her new position will be on recruiting volunteers and charitable support for the vital services provided by the FGC and to continue community outreach education to remove stigma associated with mental health and substance use disorders to reduce barriers to accessing needed care.

“I am very excited about this new challenge,” said Harris, who anticipates speaking at public gatherings, contacting officials and members of the public, and doing whatever is necessary to have FGC move forward with this effort. “Volunteers are urgently needed to join our Board of Trustees, to help plan and implement promotional and fund-raising initiatives and to support the work of our prevention, treatment and recovery service programs.”

The Family Guidance Center provides services to over 4,000 individuals each year who are diagnosed with a mental illness or substance use disorder. The individual, their family members and their communities are all impacted by this diagnosis.  Some realize their illness as a result of a crisis, others learn of their illness through their everyday struggles that keep them from living a life free of anxiety, depression or desperation.  Families can be just as fragile as their loved one as they learn how to cope and support their husband, wife, daughter, son, mother or father through a time in their lives when hope is just a word and not a reality.

If Harris’ track record as the Community Coalition Coordinator is any indication, you can expect her recruiting efforts to engage volunteers will be very successful.

“We are very confident that Mary Jo will rise to the occasion,” said Rich McDonnell, the Executive Director of the Family Guidance Center. “She is extremely dedicated and has proven herself tremendously in building up the Coalition over the years.”

When Harris first came to the Family Guidance Center she was initially asked to concentrate on reducing underage and binge drinking among college aged students. Warren County Community College and Centenary University, home to this very population, was the targeted age group for this work.  Harris, in true fashion, immediately set out to develop a relationship with those at the top and reached out to then Centenary University’s President Dr. Barbara Lewthwaite and WCCC Dr. Will Austin to first ask permission to gather information as to the true sense of the problem, if there was one, and to begin building a foundation for the work to be done.  That was nearly 10 years ago and today, through the work Harris did as the Coordinator of the Coalition, WCCC continues to be the site to dozens of trainings, Town Hall Meetings and Recognition Awards Ceremonies focusing on Substance Use Prevention. Centenary University’s Student Life has taken on the STOP initiative (Students Taking On Prevention) to reducing drug and alcohol use and focus on by-stander interventions.

“No one can do it alone,” said Harris. “I’m not one for cliches but it does take a village and I have always turned to the community for their help. I will continue to do so in my new position at FGC.”

The Coalition’s beginnings started in 2012 when the Family Guidance Center received state funding through a partnership with Sussex County’s Center for Prevention and Counseling to develop a Warren County Community Coalition to reduce substance use targeting populations across the life span.  This meant building a grassroots coalition from the ground up. Over the last six years the coalition has partnered with the WC Prosecutor’s Office, WC Health Dept., WC Dept. of Human Services, DASACC, WC Police Chiefs Association, NCADD of NJ, the Partnership for Drug Free NJ, NJ DEA/HIDTA, Parent 2 Parent WC, St. Luke’s Hospital, Hackettstown Medical Center, WRNJ, WC One-Voice a faith-based Community Coalition and both the Hackettstown and Washington Borough Business Improvement Districts.

Through the work of the coalition and its partners Warren County now has 7 permanent prescription drop box locations, has presented substance abuse prevention strategies to over 300 medical professionals, 100 school nurses, 3,000 community members 7,500 students and has honored over 300 WC first responders and 100 individuals and groups for their work in providing a safe environment for youth, young adults and residents of Warren County.

Additionally, the Coalition has provided preventative support in the areas of alcohol, prescription drugs, heroin, marijuana and new and emerging drugs, and has disseminated over 80,000 pieces of print materials in the effort of preventing substance abuse.

“I pride myself in seeing the potential in someone’s – or a group’s – ability to make a difference and ask them to join in the effort,” said Harris. “As a result, the work through the Coalition is sustained through their ability to expand on the initial project and make it their own.”

For more information about the Family Guidance Center, including its locations throughout the county, full suite of services, how one can volunteer, and other details about the organization, visit www.fgcwc.org or call Mary Jo Harris at 908-689-1000.