Laurie Warnock joined the Makin’ It Happen Board of Directors as President in 2019
Laurie loves living and working in New Hampshire. A Hampstead, New Hampshire residence for the past 30 years. Laurie and her husband, and two daughters and her two pups whom she refers to as her ‘four-legged’ assistants’.
Laurie obtained a Masters of Public Health at UNH after being a stay at home mom for 10 years. She expressed ‘that getting the degree was a challenge but I did it’! After graduating with a MPH, Laurie began working as the NH Health Education Coordinator at Northern New England Poison Center. This job has enabled her to expand prevention efforts, and has taken her to all corners of the state. Laurie has really gotten to know all of the unique regions of the state as a result. Her favorite time of year to travel is in the fall especially in the northern part of the state along 93.
Laurie started getting involved in work along the Continuum of Care due to her role at the Northern New England Poison Center. In her role she both researches and educates in order to raise awareness among the public of the dangers of poisons. Her work ranges from investigating and educating on keeping a home child safe to opioid misuse awareness to vaping prevention. She mentions that her job has evolved over the years and has really gotten her involved in prevention work recently.
Which is what led her to meet the Executive Director of Makin’ It Happen. Ms. Mary Forsythe-Taber. Mary had this to say about Laurie “Laurie has just the right mix of experience, knowledge, humor and dedication to support collaborative prevention efforts and most importantly a willingness to lead”. Expanding prevention in this moment of history is tough and requires strong leadership, Laurie brings that to the coalition.
Laurie expressed how much she loves the diversity of the Greater Manchester region saying it “feels like you’re a part of the world’. When asked what her favorite parts of the Greater Manchester region are she expressed how she loves that region is both rural and urban but presents many challenges to those working in it.
What makes Makin’ It Happen’s work meaningful to Laurie is that the region is one of “the most challenging places to work in the state”. Manchester is a challenging place because it is both rural and city. The communities have different personalities. Laurie believes “Mary and her team do a great job, they work very collaboratively with partners”. She is especially excited about the peer to peer led empowerYOUTH! programming saying ‘the E empowerYOUTH! members are impressive and peer education is crucial’.
Laurie’s next challenge is running for state legislature to represent Hampstead and Kingston. Laurie saying she ‘decided to get off the bench and get in the game”.
Makin’ It Happen is lucky to have a leader like Laurie at the helm of our Board of Directors.
