The Friends of Yahara House Advisory Board, also known as the Friends Board, is a volunteer group of individuals who represent Yahara House and are committed to recovery. Yahara House is a certified Clubhouse where people with severe and persistent mental illness can come to recover by building relationships through meaningful work. Since 1986, the Friends Board has been working to raise funds, advocate, educate, and connect Yahara House to resources and opportunities that the Clubhouse needs. The Board meets once a month using conscious model, a Clubhouse standard, for decision-making. Furthermore, the Friends Board meets not only as a group, but also extends to working with the Clubhouse as colleagues. The Friends of Yahara House Advisory Board embrace the Clubhouse standards in order to carryout the board's mission. Mission:
* To attract private resources, to improve quality of member's lives as well as the Clubhouse overall effectiveness.
* To open doors at local businesses, advocate for Yahara House, educate the community, and to de-stigmatize mental illness.
* To keep the hope of recovery alive at Yahara House. Vision:
Our long-term vision is to help Yahara House become financially sustainable. Current Board Members:
Heidi Hastings is about to retire after teaching in the Madison schools for over 20 years. She is looking forward to spending more time with her family and pursuing her two favorite pastimes: planning the annual NAMIWalks Dane County and coaching Okinawan style Taiko Drumming at West High School. Mike Ivey has served on the Friends of Yahara House Advisory Council since 2001. Mike is a long-time Madisonian and UW graduate who worked as a reporter at the Capital Times for 30 years before retiring in 2015. Jerry Pasdo is a retired investment real estate broker but still active in investment properties. He loves remodeling older, traditional apartment buildings to bring back the character of the older Madison neighborhoods. Fishing and kayaking round out the extracurricular projects. He finds his time spent with the entire group at Yahara House very rewarding. Rick Petzke has been a member on the FAC board since 2020. "Yahara House has given me a sense of belonging and community. Colleagues have also supported and helped me in my 6 years of sobriety." He currently works at a TEP as a messenger for the assembly reps at the Wisconsin State Capitol building. Brad Schlough earned a master's debgree in Rehabilitation Psychology from UW-Madison in 1992. He has more than 29 years of experience in the behavioral health field, having held leadership positions at Journey for 27 years, the past 3 years as the Clubhouse Director/Program Manager of Yahara House. Brad is a lifetime resident of Dane County. Brad's wife Mary, and their children share a love for animals, traveling and the outdoors. Andreina Sainvilmar currently serves as the District Mental Health Coordinator for the Verona Area School District. She received her M.S. in Counseling Psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She formerly worked at Journey Mental Health Center in the GROW program as a Services Facilitator. Prior to her position, she was also an intern at JMHC in the Outpatient Services. Elissa Kinch has been a member since 2012. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Johns Hopkins University. She is active in several committees at Yahara House. She has served as the Co-Chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin's DisAbility Caucus and is currently its Vice Chair. Due to a situation with a stalker, her photo is not included here. Brad's wife Mary, and their three children share a love for animals, traveling and the outdoors. Renee Sutkay has been at Journey starting as a student in 2007. Renee has worked in Community Support Programs, Crisis Stabilization, First Episode Psychosis and Comprehensive Community Services. Renee's newest program is Yahara House and Renee's role at Yahara House is to collaborate between Yahara House. Nikki Roehl has been a Clubhouse Generalist at Yahara House for two years and enjoys working in the Biz department and being a member of Friends Advisory Council. Her favorite part of Yahara House is the community and how many relationships it has created not only for her but for others as well. In her free time, she loves to exercise, goes to concerts, and hangs out with her family and friends preferably near the water and lots of sunshine.
