Makin’ It Happen is pleased to welcome Debbie Baird to the Makin’ It Happen staff! We are welcoming Deb to the team to lead a micro-project which we expect to jumpstart our resiliency essentials (training plan) for 2021 and beyond.
Debbie is originally from Vermont but has been a resident of Concord, NH for over ten years. She says she loves living in New Hampshire because of the “friendly people and fact that it’s not so fast paced”.
Debbie has done many different things over the course of her professional career. She was a District Director for a national cosmetic company for twenty-three years. She was also a real estate broker in Vermont and New Hampshire.
In recent years Debbie has become a strong and sincere advocate for suicide prevention and helping loss survivors in their healing journey. After losing her son, Matthew to suicide, Debbie began volunteering her time to help educate NH communities in suicide prevention and support loss survivors and their families. She began working at NAMI NH in 2014. She has been on the NH Suicide Prevention Council for over six years, is a Survivor Voices Speaker, and a co-facilitator for the Concord Survivor of Suicide Loss Support Group. She is extremely passionate about reducing stigma and raising awareness for suicide prevention as well as bringing messages of hope and healing.
Debbie is a proud Mom and Grandma! Family is incredibly important to Debbie and she sees them as often as she can. Debbie believes in the importance of self-care! She loves to garden and visit nurseries all over the state. One of her favorite nurseries is Faulkner’s in Hooksett. Debbie says ‘gardening is very relaxing. She “loves seeing new growth and flowers make me happy’. Additionally, she incorporates mediation and mindfulness into her daily life!
Her role will be to assist with the coordination of suicide prevention trainings in the Greater Manchester Region. She is excited about “being able to continue my work in suicide prevention particularly working with youth and young adults”.
Makin’ It Happen is excited to welcome Debbie and we look forward to telling you more about her work! Stay tuned for updates!