Senior Center Summit: Mental Wellness Session 2

Dianne Stone has more than 20 years of experience with senior centers and aging issues, primarily as the Director of the Newington Senior and Disabled Center in Newington, Connecticut. Stone has also worked, volunteered, and held leadership positions with a variety of organizations in Connecticut, including Connecticut AgeWell Collaborative, the ADA Coalition of Connecticut, Connecticut Medicaid Oversight Council, and the Commission on Women, Children, Seniors, Equity and Opportunity. She joined NCOA in January 2022, as a member of the Center for Healthy Aging, where she is primarily focused on supporting senior centers throughout the country through the ACL-funded Modernizing Senior Centers Resource Center and NISC. 

Grant Merrell, MDiv came to LivingWorks Education following a five-year career in higher education and a fifteen-year career in nonprofit management that included places of worship, preschools, and community foundations. Passionate about suicide prevention, he brings the strength of being a connector – connecting people and organizations to resources and connecting individuals to their own roles in helping to create communities that are suicide-safer. Outside his role as the LivingWorks Suicide Prevention Manager for the Northeast quarter of the United States, Grant loves hiking, swimming, baking, and lives in Indianapolis, Indiana, with his husband, two children, and two senior rescue dogs.

Nicole Cadovius, MBA, MSM, CAPS and FAAIDD is the Director, Strategic Initiatives MHFA, for the National Council for Behavioral Health. She leads strategic initiatives for Mental Health First Aid USA expanding engagement opportunities and increasing awareness and implementation of the MFHA programs. She has led the mental health and substance use related projects as director and subject matter expert, including tasks elated to executing fiscal reports, training and technical assistance, grant and contract proposals, and supervision of staff. She also oversaw government, pharmacological, and State level grants, contracts, and subcontracts to ensure compliance, high quality relationship with funders, strategic oversight, and timely submission of deliverables.

Throughout Nicole’s career, her passion has been to create quality community-based programs and develop strong teams supporting older adults, individuals with substance use and mental health support needs throughout the life span and individuals with developmental disabilities. She is a national speaker on topics such as healthy aging and aging in place. Nicole serves as a member of several national boards, Steering Committee member, National Task Group on Intellectual Disabilities and Dementia Practices, President of the Gerontology Division and Vice President of Region X, for the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.

Before joining the National Council, Ms. Cadovius, served as a Director of Programs & Services for community non-profit supporting individuals with developmental disabilities, Director of Communications and Strategy for a state agency, and a Regional Director and Executive Director of Skilled Nursing Facilities. Nicole began her career as a Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist.

She holds a Master of Business Administration and Master of Business Management both from Albertus Magnus College and a Bachelor of Science in Education from the University of Connecticut.

Bronwyn Keefe is Boston University School of Social Work’s (BUSSW) Assistant Dean of Workforce and Professional Development, Research Associate Professor, and Director of BUSSW’s Center for Aging and Disability Education and Research (CADER). She is dedicated to expanding access to high-quality educational programming for people who work in the aging and disability networks. Through CADER, Keefe is committed to strengthening the workforce that provides home and community-based support and services to older adults and people with disabilities through developing innovative, competency-based, practice-informed online training. Keefe has been funded on many behavioral health projects, focusing on building the capacity of providers and communities in understanding the importance of mental health, substance use, and developing age-friendly initiatives to improve the lives of older adults.