Mercer Council News
Keep up to date with our news and activities
Greetings to our Mercer Council Family, Extended Family, Community Partners, and Mercer County Community - A warm and heartfelt thank you for your continued loyalty and support of our agency and work throughout the year. Wishing you and yours all the peace and joy in this holiday season and the New Year!
Giving Tuesday is an opportunity for people around the world to come together to thank, help, give, show kindness, and share what they have with those in need. Make a contribution today so together we can make a healthy, safe, and responsible community become a reality! Donate Mercer Council is a private, non-profit agency dedicated to th...
We want to thank Brian Bittings, OORP Patient Navigator, for the 4 years he has spent leading our OORP team. Brian decided to move on from the Mercer Council mid-October. We wish him all the best in the next chapter of his journey. We want to congratulate David DeCamp, who has fully transitioned from the role of Assistant Patient Navigator/Re...
On Friday November 5th, 2021 Mercer Council was honored to participate in the inaugural "Open Access To Recovery" (OATR) outreach event. This event was organized by Recovery Advocates of America and the Mercer County Operation Helping Hand Program (OHH) under the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office. OHH offers those arrested for n...
September is Suicide Prevention Month. While ASYSST is assisting students throughout the year, suicide is one of the many areas we focus on. This year's theme is HELP, take one post one. There is a help sign posted outside of one of our offices, students can take a Post-It Note with a positive affirmation that speaks to or means something to him/he...
OORP's Dream Team of Certified Peer Recovery Specialists, spread hope and healing as they reflect on the gift of recovery and what being in recovery means to them! For some Recovery Month inspiration, check out what they have to say! 💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜 Marc North, Stacey Ross, James Boozan, Brian Bittings, Jon Macciocca, Dave...
4 Types of Grief Nobody Told You About | Psychology Today And why it’s important that we call them grief. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/between-the-generations/201904/4-types-grief-nobody-told-you-about#:~:text=%204%20Types%20of%20Grief%20Nobody%20Told%20You,one%E2%80%99s%20own%20life%20and%20affairs.%0AExamples%20include%3A%0AA...%20More...
So many faces and voices of recovery have paved the way for countless others to reach their goals with the hope and healing that is generated through connections, support and a shared peer recovery experience. One of the faces and voices making a huge impact in the recovery community is Mercer Council's own, Stacey Ross, a Certified Peer Recovery Specialist with our Opioid Overdose Reco...
Hello Community Members! While New Jersey has become one of the pioneers in underage marijuana usage and law enforcement reform, the new marijuana legislation has led to frustration and confusion with parents, business owners, and law enforcement alike. While there have been news outlets and educational resources mitigating some of that confusion, the Prevention Coalition of Mercer County an...
The stresses of the pandemic as well as the social isolation felt from distancing measures takes a toll on all of us. Older adults and their caregivers are also a group that can been hit hard by feelings of loneliness, anxiety and boredom. Find out in our next "Morning Conversations" how to build senior and caregiver resilience during the COVID pandemic and beyond with Dale Ofei-Ayisi....
In the program I teach called Protecting You, Protecting Me (for children in grades K-5), one of the topics I discuss with students is the reasons for rules and laws. They learn that rules and laws are in place to protect themselves and others (i.e. wearing a helmet to protect the brain), show respect toward others (i.e. being polite), and to show order (i.e. not cutting others while in line at a ...
Greetings to our Mercer Council Family, Extended Family, Community Partners and Mercer County Community - It is hard to believe that the holiday season is upon us. It has been a tumultuous year, filled with pain, suffering, sickness, loss, unpredictability, financial instability, social/physical isolation, among other hardships. With these things, however, has come a sense of deep...
I had the pleasure of hosting our weekly Parenting series centered around peer pressure. With stories shared and valuable input from participants, I am excited to know the potential for this prorgram. This is the first session on Peer Pressure in General- A New Persepctive, that premiered on Thursday, November 12th, on our YouTub Channel: This is what the rest of the series will...
This past week, I was honored to be invited to share space with Stacey Ross and Marc North of Recovery Advocates of America on their show, 'The Fix'. In addition to their roles at Recovery Advocates, Stacey and Marc are also Recovery Specialists on Mercer Council's OORP Team. Through both of their roles, they are well versed in all things recovery and we are lucky to have their voices....
In support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Mercer Council staff wore pink and spent a portion of our weekly staff meeting discussing the importance of prioritizing health and how Council's work in substance use prevention education impacts the overall health and well-being of every individual. Studies show that a woman’s risk for breast cancer increases with the more alcohol she ...
In support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Mercer Council staff wore pink and spent a portion of our weekly staff meeting discussing the importance of prioritizing health and how Council's work in substance use prevention enducation impacts the overall health and well-being of every individual. Here at Mercer Council we strive each day to offer programming to foster a healthy, safe ...
The Opioid Overdose Recovery Program (OORP) team has been hard at work during the pandemic, ensuring that the invaluable Recovery Support services typically provided, continue to be available, accessible and effective no matter what challenges and barriers are going on in the world right now. The Mercer OORP team has worked with 921 individuals to ...
Mercer Council team members Malissa Arnold, Jocelyn Cooper and David DeCamp all spent their Saturday supporting strong community partner, Recovery Advocates of America as they hosted their 8th Annual 5k Fundraising Walk/Run. Despite the pandemic, Recovery Advocates safely hosted another very popular and well attended event (over 400 participants!!), that not only raises awareness about subst...
Election Day is quickly approaching on November 3rd, 2020! Voting is a privilege to those who are able and an opportunity for the many voices of our communities to be heard. Each year on Election Day, Mercer Council closes their office to allow staff to prioritize exercising their right to vote. Although the election will look slightly different this year and most of our staff wi...
Hello Community! At the end of each cycle for the Trenton Municipal Alliance Grant, the Coordinator- along with the Mercer County Division of Youth does an undertaking called The Calendar Project. We specifically ask them to express how drugs, alcohol, and violence has shaped their lives and they express that through poems, drawings, and paintings. We collaborate with primary and middle school stu...
