News
Wellness Through Employment 2023 Statewide Conference: May 11 and 12
The annual Wellness Through Employment Statewide Conference was held May 11 and 12, 2023. Attendees both in-person and virtual, received valuable insights and created connections with leaders in the field and peers from across the state. Highlighted presentations included the keynote presented by originators of the IPS model, Bob Drake and Debbie Becker. Additional presentation topics included applying IPS to people living with and recovering from substance use disorder, the Eight Dimensions of Wellness, and more. A special highlight was a panel discussion on the second day of the conference looking back at ten years of IPS in Tennessee with the men and women who brought the model to the Volunteer State.
You can view video of presentations from the conference at this link.
Click the photo gallery below for images from the conference and to view award winners.
Welcome our new Assistant Director of Wellness and Employment: Stephanie Cooper:
As Assistant Director of Wellness and Employment, Stephanie will be responsible for the day-to-day administration of agency contracts for the provision of the Peer Wellness Initiative and Individual Placement and Support supported employment programs. She will also participate in annual contract development and processing, collection and analysis of program data and monitoring and approving contract spending.
Stephanie comes to the Office of Wellness and Employment from Centerstone, where she worked since 2014. While at Centerstone she worked to help integrate physical and mental health before moving over to the Supportive Services for Veteran Families program working to help end veteran homelessness. In her final role at Centerstone she served as the Program Manager of the Keys to Recovery program, working with individuals experiencing homelessness as well as substance use and mental health issues. In this role she also worked with the local Continuum of Care participating in multiple committees and serving as the Chair of the HMIS Oversight Committee to effectively end homeless in Davidson County.
You can reach Stephanie at stephanie.cooper@tn.gov
Meet our newest PWC, Barry Floyd:
Barry N. Floyd was born in Manchester, Tennessee and raised in Flintstone, Georgia outside of Chattanooga. He joined the U.S. Navy after high school and trained as a Hospital Corpsman spend much of his time with the United States Marine Corps. Barry retired from the U.S. Navy and moved back to Tennessee in 2011. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Management from the University Phoenix and obtained his CPRS in 2019. Barry put that certification to work starting as a Program Assistant in psychosocial rehabilitation for Ridgeview in 2020. Barry comes from a family with a history of medical and mental health issues., and he has his own health and mental health issues from his time in the U.S. Navy. Barry wants to help others in the best capacity that he can, so he decided to pursue the Peer Wellness Coach position. As a coach, he has more opportunities to show people there is hope for a positive change and help more people with the same problems that he has experienced.