Before his untimely death in 2001, David L. Taton was dedicated to ensuring that Fellowship Health Resources Inc.’s mental health workers and counselors had the best training and skills to treat their patients.
So is the mission of the David L. Taton Learning Institute, which opens Aug. 24 in Lincoln to provide educational opportunities and leadership courses primarily for employees of Fellowship Health Resources.
Beyond Cash Donations: How New Forms of Giving Are Transforming Not-for-Profit Accounting
Evolving Funding Landscape for Not-for-Profits Not-for-profit organizations are being asked to do more with less,…
Learn More
“Dave left in his estate some money for the Fellowship, and we felt (the learning institute) would be a great way to honor his memory,” said Joseph F. Dziobek, president and CEO of Fellowship Health, a Lincoln-based nonprofit with some 500 employees working at more than 50 locations in six states.
Taton, who was a retired human resources executive from Providence-based Textron Inc., served on Fellowship’s board of directors for 13 years, never missed a board meeting and played a key role in improving the 30-year-old nonprofit’s staffing issues, Dziobek recalled during a recent interview. Taton’s wife Judi, a vice president at Bank of America, remains an active board member.
It has become a nationwide challenge to find qualified human services workers to staff programs as fewer people enter the field, Dziobek noted.
“We’re in a field that demands a high degree of competency when working with people with mental health issues,” he said; “I think one way you can assure that is by having a standardized training program.”
The Taton Learning Institute will train mental health workers in two main areas: clinical techniques and leadership skills, said Elizabeth A. Folcarelli, the institute’s director.
Leadership training is “a real need because most of the (administrators) in health care rise through the ranks within their organizations, but may have had only clinical experience,” Folcarelli said.
Fellowship has invested $205,000 into the Taton Learning Institute, which is housed in an office suite in Fellowship’s Lincoln headquarters at 25 Blackstone Valley Place, Folcarelli said. Training will take place in a 34-seat classroom, a computer lab with seven terminals and a smaller room to facilitate classes with fewer participants.
The institute has partnered with the Community College of Rhode Island’s Institute for Leadership and Organizational Development as well as Coaching for Excellence – a Chicago-based management training group – to host courses available to Fellowship’s employees and mental health workers from other human services organizations.
Those who complete CCRI’s training will earn credits that could be applied toward an associate’s degree in human services at the community college, said Fred Colonies, executive director of the school’s Institute for Leadership and Organizational Development.
The credits may also be used for programs within CCRI’s network of community colleges in other states where Fellowship operates. The nonprofit has care centers in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maine, Delaware, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
“We really want to help (the Fellowship) build a standardized learning plan, so they can reach their goals,” said Colonies, who, along with his assistant, Jane King, assisted Fellowship to identify its training needs.
Much of that planning was done by a steering committee that consisted of representatives from Fellowship, CCRI and Providence’s Gilbane Building Co. The construction company’s Gilbane University, which offers its employees professional development courses at its five offices in the United States, served as a model for Fellowship’s learning institute, organizers said.
Beyond its name, the learning institute is a place where Taton’s legacy will endure.
“He was a board member who was very involved,” Dziobek said. “Dave was the kind of guy who was always saying, ‘What are we doing for our staff? What are we doing for staff training?”
