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HALLOWELL — NAMI Maine recently welcomed five new members to its board of directors — Dr. Joe Fitzpatrick, Karen-Ann Hagar, Col. Michael Pooler (retired), Lisa Shaw and Lt. Bryan Slaney. “NAMI Maine continues to grow into a more dynamic and responsive entity. The addition of these five diverse and talented individuals, each of whom has great passion for mental health, will only catapult the entity further,” saID NAMI Maine’s CEO Jenna Mehnert. “These are exciting times of change for NAMI Maine.”
Fitzpatrick is a clinical psychologist with 30 years of direct experience in the field. He trained at Boston Children’s Hospital and Dana Farber Cancer Institute, where he later joined the clinical staff. HE moved to Maine in 1990 and spent 25 years working in the Maine Department of Corrections, serving as the chief clinical resource for the department. During his last five years with the department, Fitzpatrick served as commissioner and made significant progressive changes to expand and support mental health services within the department. He currently has a private practice focusing on school consultation and services as well as support of medical populations. Fitzpatrick lives in Fayette with his wife Patti; they have four children, — Shannon, Molly, Joseph and Emma.
Hagar was born in Damariscotta and is a graduate of Lincoln Academy. She has been with the YMCA organization since 2000 and is the director of After School Programming for school age children from four different school systems while also serving as the Community Outreach Program coordinator. Hagar is a suicide loss survivor of four family suicides and is passionate about sharing her family’s story to educate and inform others about mental health and suicide prevention.
Pooler grew up in Brewer and commissioned an Infantry 2nd Lieutenant from the University of Maine at Orono in 1986. He taught social studies at Houlton High School until 1992; the following year he began his full-time employment with the Maine Army National Guard. Pooler held various command and staff assignments at the Maine National Guard state headquarters and the 1st Battalion, 152nd Field Artillery, to include battalion commander. After command, Pooler volunteered to deploy to Afghanistan, where he led a 15-man team, which trained an Afghan infantry battalion of 500 soldiers during combat operations. He returned in December 2008 to become the Maine Army National Guard’s Deputy Director of Personnel, then Director of Personnel, and retired as the Director of Human Resources of the Maine National Guard. He was also instrumental in integrating and expanding the Maine National Guard behavioral health program. Pooler earned an MBA from Thomas College and a Master of Strategic Studies from the US Army War College. His awards include the Bronze Star and Combat Action Badge. He is married to Suzanne Pooler and resides in Oakland.
Shaw is the Rural & Small Libraries and Workforce Development Specialist with the Maine State Library. She seres as chairwoman of the board of directors for the Bangor Area Homeless Shelter; is a memb ter of he City of Bangor planning board; and is chairwoman of the Advocacy Committee for the Association for Rural & Small Libraries. Shaw enjoys writing, painting and proofreading impossible crime and locked-room mysteries for Locked Room International. She lives in Bangor with her husband, daughter and two cats; a son lives in Missouri.
Slaney is currently the assistant jail administrator at the Kennebec County Correctional Facility. Slaney started his career in corrections at 19 as a corrections officer after co-captaining the Lawrence Bulldogs to a Class A Maine State Football Championship. Slaney has held many roles within the correctional facility, including corporal, sergeant and administrative sergeant. He was awarded Corrections Officer of the Year in 2008, Supervisor of the Year in 2011, the Eagle Award in 2015, the CIT FBI LEEDA Trilogy award in 2018, and CIT Corrections Officer of the Year in 2019.
Through support, education and advocacy, NAMI Maine is dedicated to building better lives for the one in four Mainers affected by mental illness. To view the full list of NAMI Maine’s board of directors, visit www.namimaine.org/about
