Officers

President: Molly Boxer

Molly and her husband, Lou, live in Richmond. They have four sons, Ben, James, Charlie, and Russell. Molly taught at Berkshire Country Day School for a total of 12 years, with a long hiatus in the middle to raise her children. An avid gardener, Molly's latest project is carving out trails in their woods. Her favorite tool is her chain saw.

In 2002 her oldest son was stricken with the onset of mental illness, and Molly resigned from teaching to support him and the family as they struggled to work through this. A family-to-family class with the extraordinary teachers Ron and Roberta Myers was Molly's first introduction to NAMI.  This class and the amazing leadership of Ron and Roberta, inspired Molly to join the board, and the following year she was elected president of the board. It has become the over-riding passion of her life. Of particular interest are the wonderful education meetings and programs, building support group networks, and getting the word out about NAMI and mental illness to the community at large. It is also extremely rewarding to live in Berkshire County and to work with the talented, generous and inspirational people here who work in the field of mental health care.

First Vice-President: Marsha G. Burniske

Marsha moved to the Berkshires with her husband Ed in 1971, and has raised three children here:  Gail, Brian and Darin.  She has an associates degree from Berkshire Community College and a bachelor's from Southern Vermont College.  Currently, she works as an office manager at the Registrar's Office at BCC, and was previously employed at Girls Incorporated (now the Gladys Allen Brigham Children's Center).  She is secretary for BCC's Alumni  & Friends organization, and serves on the Christian Education Committee at First Church of Christ in Pittsfield, Congregational.  In her spare time she enjoys walking, gardening, and traveling.

Marsha first learned about NAMI  in 1997, when her middle child was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.  She and her husband took the Family to Family education course and then she joined the board of directors the following year.  She has been an active member of the board for the past ten years and has held these positions:  president, secretary, treasurer and currently vice president.  She received both the Silver Ribbon Award and the Zorbo Member of the Year award in 2007.  She currently serves on the education committee, the visibility committee which is an outgrowth of NAMI-BC's strategic plan and is a Citizen's Monitor. Her favorite NAMI project is assembling and distributing hospital gift bags during the holidays which has been expanded to include patients at BMC's psychiatric units Jones, II & III, and Greylock Pavilion in North Adams.

Second Vice-President: James Beauregard

Jim Beauregard's personal experience with mental illness began when a family member was stricken by schizophrenia in 1995. It was NAMI that gave Jim the comfort of knowing that he was not alone, that mental illness was a treatable disease like any other, and  that provided him with the tools to deal with a serious mental disorder. With NAMI's help he has assisted his family member in establishing a full and meaningful life and as a Board Member of NAMI BC he would like to help improve the lives of other individuals and families affected by these illnesses.  Jim Beauregard, B.S. M.S., has had an extensive career in the research and testing of plastics and polymers. He worked for David Litter Laboratories, Glidden Coatings and General Electric Plastics before founding Plastics Technology Laboratories Inc. with his partner Margaret Beauregard. Over a 21 year period he and his partner built their business into the leading plastics testing laboratory in the United States, then sold the laboratories to a multinational technology firm, Intertek Inc., upon their retirement.

Secretary: Marilyn A. Moran

A native of Adams, Marilyn has worked in various positions in the field of education.  In addition, she and her husband, Fred, owned and operated an Orvis fly fishing shop known as Points North Outfitters for many years. That endeavor led her to become a founding member of Casting for Recovery, a non-profit which sponsors fly fishing retreats for women recovering from breast cancer, and served as a board member of the Taconic Chapter of Trout Unlimited.

As the parent of an adult diagnosed with a major mental illness,  Marilyn has relied upon the support and guidance of the advocates from NAMI-BC who help her and her family cope with the challenges they face. Volunteering as a NAMI-BC board member affords her the opportunity to further the work of this remarkable organization and in a small way to say thank you.

Treasurer: Margaret Beauregard

For 21 years Margaret owned a laboratory that specialized in physical property and analytical testing of plastics. She was the Vice President and Treasurer. Her duties included running the retirement plan, taking care of all insurances for the corporation and employees, the corporate accounting, and overseeing the quality control program.

Margaret has been involved with the NAMI-BC board since she took the Family-to-Family course about ten years ago. The knowledge the course gave her brought back a sense of control to her life. She has felt indebted ever since. Over the years she has been President, Vice- President and is now Treasurer of NAMI-BC.

Members-at-Large

 Karen M. Norton

Karen joined the NAMI Board in September 2006 and lives in Lee with her husband, Gary, and 2 dogs.  She holds a Masters degree in Public Health from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and has worked for over 20 years as a manager in health and human services in western Massachusetts and New York's Capital District.  She is currently employed as a grant writer at One River Grants in Troy, NY, where she consults to hospitals and other health care organizations who seek private, state, and federal grant funding to support clinical services.  Ms. Norton was previously employed as Director of Divisional Services for Catholic Health East's Northeast Divison and as a health care planner with Berkshire and Baystate Medical Centers.  In addition to her membership on the NAMI-BC Board, she is an active member of the Zonta Club of Berkshire County, serving as Secretary and Service Committee Co-Chair, and the Lee Democratic Town Committee, serving as Treasurer.  She served on the Lee Board of Health for 18 years and was a founding member of the Lee Youth Association.

Having been an advocate her whole life, advocating for children, the elderly, and citizens in her community, it was natural for her to want to advocate for people with a mental illness when her son was diagnozed with schizoaffective disorder as a teenager.  Serving on the NAMI-BC Board allows her to help others as she was helped by NAMI. Being a member of NAMI and serving on the Board also helps her appreciate all the gifts in her life, despite having a family member with a mental illness, and helps her cope with the many challenges.  As a NAMI Board member, her hope is to reduce the stigma associated with mental illness in her own community; provide a better quality of life for people living with mental illness and their families; and strengthen the 'safety net' of services available to all those who are affected by mental illness. She has been able to contribute to the NAMI Board by helping with grant funding applications and promoting NAMI visibility.

 Sally Evans

Sally resides in Pittsfield with her elementary aged son, Ben and is a marketing and development professional. She is currently the Director of Development and Marketing for Gould Farm located in Monterery, MA. Gould Farm is a not for profit residential community that provides psychiatric rehabilitation for adults with mental illness. Sally's interest in NAMI-BC stems from her professional affiliation and because of her personal conviction that everyone deserves to live the best life they can for themselves despite any challenges and to receive the best possible support to do so in life. She is also actively involved with the autism support community because of her son.

Frank LaFrazia

Frank La Frazia resides in North Adams and is the director of the Playwright Mentoring Project for Barrington Stage Company which serves at-risk youth through out Berkshire County. Frank has been performing his solo theatrical piece entitled "Living with It" which chronicles his experience of living with a mother who suffered from Bi-PolarDisorder. Through the creation and performance of this piece Frank learned about NAMI and quickly developed a relationship with NAMI. There have been several performances that Frank has dedicated to NAMI in order to increase awareness and de-stigmatize the issues that surround mental illness. 

 Stuart Bartles, M.D.

Stuart is a doctor who spent more than 8 years as an internist working with heart surgery patients, doing catheterizations, evaluating people for surgery, and was the connection of the surgeons to the human beings we operated on. He finally realized he was much more interested in their lives and quit to take a residency in Psychiatry. Stuart never looked back. IHe loves working with people with special problems that keeps them unhappy, and has tried hard over the 42 years since then to find answers. What seems to him to be a major obstacle is the stigma attached, which incidentally also extends to workers in our field, certainly to psychiatrists among many other specialists. He learned this first while on a 2-year contract with the Zimbabwe Medical School, noticing the lack of stigma there (all illnesses are randomly give by ancestors and are nobody's fault) and then working in Berkshire Mental Health which he loved.

Stuart now works only 2-3 mornings a week for BMC in their day program which has 4-5 dedicated nurses who are a formidable team in helping people increase their self-esteem.  He publishes a quarterly newsletter about mental illness which goes to all the doctors, as well as, 5-600 others about advances in our field in an attempt to increase and thus unstigmatize mental illness. IHe believes NAMI is right on track because they treat people like people, de-emphasizing the illness and emphasizing the person. It does a wonderful unique job helping and Ihe is honored to join them on their board.

 

 Erin Forbush

 Michael Remillard