Staff
Deborah Hopkins
Deborah has worked extensively in Massachusetts with individuals with chronic and persistent psychiatric conditions. She has also worked in New Hampshire for an area agency, the state of New Hampshire, and now at CSNH as a private vendor providing services for individuals with developmental disabilities. In addition, she has worked in special education in a classroom setting.
Deborah’s specialty is in forensic issues, and she was employed with the state of New Hampshire as a Forensic Coordinator. She has also volunteered as a family mediator and a school board member, and has served as president of the board of directors for a community agency serving individuals who are homeless, and have substance abuse issues.
Deborah has a passion and commitment to housing all individuals and ensuring community involvement, regardless of their disability.
Leslie Nelson
In addition, she worked for the Developmental Disabilities Council as the Coordinator of Research and Planning and was intimately involved developing trainings for Direct Support Professionals, and statistical data collection for the state of New Hampshire.
Leslie has spent her life advocating for individuals with Developmental Disabilities and ensuring that to their fullest ability they are living independently and are active members of their community.
Nancy Cooper
Dr. Cooper has published papers and presented her research on Alzheimer disease in Down syndrome and on therapy for Vietnam veterans with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. The latter paper was based on her doctoral dissertation, a controlled treatment study of imaginal flooding as a supplemental technique to extinguish the intense emotional responses associated with traumatic experiences. When she conducts research, she prefers to pursue questions with direct relevance to the population being served.
Dr. Cooper values the full spectrum of adult individuals and enjoys utilizing a wide array of psychological tools, tailoring them to client needs. She has recently been trained in Abel techniques and added those to her assessment arsenal. She is delighted to join an organization geared toward maximizing the community inclusion and independence of individuals with developmental disabilities.
Tia Tallman
Anne Allgaier
Tony Meade
After his childhood experience, Tony furthered his career and attended Plymouth State University; graduating with his degree in Psychology. Tony then went on to work in a variety of different settings. These included food distribution, retail and special education classrooms. Throughout his career he has found creative ways to support human services. While employed at Super Value distributors, Tony spear headed the single most successful fundraising event in the company for their annual United Way campaign.
Tony continues to advocate and support individuals with developmental disabilities; both personally and professionally. It is only a natural step that his career evolved into a supervisory position.
Catherine Brown
Catherine started her career in human services as an intern at Rhode Island College. Since that time, as she expanded her knowledge and training in New Hampshire, Catherine discovered a passion for being a part of the delivery of high quality services that truly enhance the lives of people with developmental disabilities. Catherine is also an avid supporter of self-advocacy and active community participation for all citizens.
Catherine received her education in sociology at the University of New Hampshire and pursued ongoing training and education both in New England and Ontario, Canada. Catherine not only enjoys creating possibilities for people with disabilities to pursue their dreams and increase skills, but also, enjoys role modeling and encouraging staff, to “think outside the box” during service delivery and seek out opportunities for people to truly be active and contributing members of their own communities.
Pat Patnode
During her financial tenure Pat successfully completed many courses such as AIB (American Institute for Banking), and courses at Keene State College.
During a life changing period, including a career change, Pat was looking to try something different to give back to her community. After 4 years of DSP experience at another agency, Pat came to Community Strategies for New Hampshire. Pat enjoyed her work and role modeling for several consumers.
In 2006 Pat retired from DSP work completely. Currently Pat is Administrative Assistant working primarily in the Keene office, learning and refining the CSNH and CSMA payroll. Pat enjoys her reduced hours of working “retirement” doing various projects for the Director and the Assistant Director, as well as chairing a committee to improve our trainings. Pat says this is the prefect retirement job, drawing on her past work experiences, continuing to challenge her mind, and visiting with prior clients.
Director
Deborah has a Masters degree in Counseling Psychology from Cambridge College. She has worked in the field of human services for 26 years and has 20 years of management experience and supervision. She has supervised residential and day program staff, paraprofessionals and professional clinical staff in settings such as residential, day program, and ICF-MR.
Assistant Director
Leslie has her Masters Degree from Springfield College School of Human Services in Organizational Management and Leadership. She has been in the field of Human Services for the past 28 years and has 20 years of management experience. Leslie has worked in many different capacities including area agencies, the state, and now a private vendor serving individuals with developmental disabilities. Leslie has been intimately involved with program development and organizational management, with a specialty in regulatory compliance.
Senior Clinician
Dr. Cooper earned her PhD in Clinical Psychology at Virginia Tech and also has an MA in Experimental Psychology from Columbia University. She has a broad range of experience with a variety of clients including institutionalized developmentally disabled adults, outpatients in clinical practice (at mental health centers, emergency services, and private practice), veterans at VA Medical Centers, and students at Crotched Mountain School. She served as the unit psychologist for the Adult Brain Injury Center (Crotched Mountain Rehabilitation Center) for a decade. Most recently, Dr. Cooper has been conducting comprehensive assessments for Connery Psychological Services, Inc., in New Hampton, New Hampshire.
Program Coordinator
Although Tia knew she enjoyed spending time with children she had no idea she would end up dedicating her life to those with disabilities. Taking a job as a favor helping out a friend care for an elderly family member, Tia learned about her own commitment to the quality of a life. This experience helped her realize that each person in our community should have the opportunity to live up to their potential. With this in mind Tia took another position working with adults with disabilities and in 1998 Tia found her way to Mentor which was converted to CSNH the following year. While at CSNH Tia has been a Direct Care staff and for her last four years a Program Coordinator. While a Coordinator Tia has not only supported people we serve as well as their staff, but she participated in the merger and conversion of Mentor to CSNH. Tia has also played a key role in jump starting a Social Skills group as well functioning as the lead Program Coordinator for the state Certification process in our Keene office. Tia’s willingness to “do what it takes” and take on the most challenging situations is a real plus for CSNH.
Program Coordinator
Anne is a veteran of the New Hampshire Developmental Disability System with over twenty years of experience. In the past Anne has worked for two other vendor agencies and most recently worked for twelve years at Moore Center Services in Manchester NH as the Director of the Clinical Treatment. Anne has also actively participated in initiatives to support people with developmental disabilities that are involved with the law on a state wide level. Anne has also functioned as a Behavioral Specialist and Consultant in a variety of agencies. Anne comes to CSNH with additional expertise in group facilitation, and behavioral management strategies as a MOAB (Management of Aggressive Behavior) certified instructor. As a native granite stater Anne earned her Bachelors degree from University of New Hampshire in Social Work and is an active member of NH ATSA (Active Treatment for Sex Abusers). CSNH is fortunate to add Anne to their team and are truly looking forward to having Anne actively participate in development and implementation of future CSNH initiatives.
Program Coordinator
Tony has been employed by Community Strategies for New Hampshire since 2002. Tony began his employment as a part-time Direct Support Professional and was recently promoted to CSNH Program Coordinator in 2006. Both roles are natural for Tony as his youngest brother was born with mild Cerebral Palsy, and throughout his childhood, Tony advocated for his brother and assisted in his care.
Program Coordinator
Catherine Brown came to CSNH with over thirty years of experience in human services in both management and supervisory positions. She has worked with both adults and adolescents with challenging behaviors, survivors of both abuse and neglect, the New Hampshire court system and creating residential and day service programs that enhance the quality of life and increase community participation for adults with developmental disabilities.
Administrative Assistant
Upon coming to the CSNH Keene Office in 2002, Pat brought 25+ years of combined experience in banking and accounting, holding various supervisory and management positions in both fields. In her financial management service, Pat excelled at staff development, specializing in customer service resulting in branch development, tripling deposits and branch assets in a two year period.
Community Strategies is a department of Community Resources for Justice