Please briefly describe your career.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I serve as the deputy chief executive officer of Mercy Care, an\nArizona not-for-profit managed-care health plan serving Medicaid and\nMedicare members. Mercy Care offers integrated physical and behavioral\nhealth benefits for Arizonans eligible for AHCCCS. Mercy Care also\nprovides direct support through community reinvestment, grant funding,\nsponsorships, and other financial investments. In addition, volunteer\nservice hours, board participation, and fundraising efforts assist\nnonprofit organizations and programs in addressing addiction recovery,\nhousing, school-based services, food insecurity, and COVID-19 pandemic\nsupport across Arizona.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I serve on the Maricopa County Continuum of Care Board, the\ncountywide entity that allocates housing funds. I am also on the board\nfor one\u2022n\u2022ten, a nonprofit that helps teens and families within the\nLGBTQ+ community with resources, support, and programs that provide\nself-expression and positive encouragement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I was an appointee of the State of Arizona Opioid Review Council and\nwas appointed to the Phoenix Police Review and Implementation Ad Hoc\nCommittee. I am the former president of the Arizona Counselors\nAssociation and former president of the Institute for Mental Health\nResearch EpiCenter, serving adolescents experiencing their first\nepisodes of psychosis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Were any faculty helpful in helping you move forward to meet\nyour goals during your time as an undergraduate at NAU?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes, two NAU professors were instrumental in my success at NAU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite her busy schedule, psychology professor Virginia Blankenship took the time to coach and support me, both professionally and personally. My parents did not go to college, so having someone who could problem-solve with me and help me figure out how to overcome barriers was very helpful. Dr. Blankenship supported me in building my research skills, conference presentations, and a range of other skills critical to my success as a student and, ultimately, a professional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The clarinet professor Michael Sullivan was also helpful. Dr.\nSullivan helped build my confidence as a person and a musician. Low\nself-esteem plagued me as a student, and he helped build that\nself-esteem through music, support, and guidance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What advice can you share with other first-gen\nstudents?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n What has been most challenging for you in your education or\ncareer? How did you handle it? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Behavioral health has only recently come to the forefront in terms of\nparity with physical health, maybe in the past decade or so. Advocacy\nfor that parity has been something that I and many of my peers and\ncolleagues in healthcare have been involved in for years. That advocacy\nhas led to advances in the delivery of integrated physical and\nbehavioral healthcare, especially here in Arizona. Now we\u2019re focused on\nensuring access to services that improve an individual\u2019s social\ndeterminants of health\u2014those factors aside from access to healthcare\nthat determine someone\u2019s overall well-being, such as stable housing,\nreliable transportation, and consistent access to healthy food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What do you find inspiring about your career? What keeps you\nmotivated in your work? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Helping members enrolled in our health plan live their healthiest\nlives and achieve their full potential is what keeps me motivated. We\nhad a Mercy Care member who experienced what is called a psychotic break\nin his late teens. He received a Serious Mental Illness (SMI)\ndesignation and got into treatment, including therapy and medication. He\nbecame a member of our Youth Leadership Council, graduated from high\nschool, and today he\u2019s an active-duty member of the United States Marine\nCorps. He\u2019s an inspiration to me because he\u2019s a tremendous example of\nhow recovery from mental illness is possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What did you find inspiring about your time at\nNAU? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n At NAU, I learned how to become independent and make good decisions\nfor myself. I loved living on campus and being part of the NAU\ncommunity. No offense to any other Arizona institute of higher learning,\nbut NAU\u2019s campus is the prettiest in the state, and I will die on this\nhill!<\/p>\n\n\n\n What makes you proud to be an alumnus of NAU? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n NAU was one of the first universities in Arizona to expand learning\nopportunities beyond the main campus. Finding alternative ways to help\nstudents learn and meet them where they are is so important to ensuring\npeople get the education they\u2019re seeking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Why should a student choose NAU?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I chose NAU because there was a smaller student population than the\nother public universities. I stayed at NAU because of the community that\nforms at a smaller university. I also had excellent professors and an\nopportunity to pursue a degree that has allowed me to help other people\nthroughout my career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I suppose a better question is, why wouldn\u2019t<\/em> a student\nchoose NAU?<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Headshot](\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/398\/2022\/01\/tad_gary01-1024x819.jpeg\")
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