The Nancy Wieman Award for Innovation

 

Since 2014, the Montgomery County Office of Mental Health/Developmental Disabilities/Early Intervention and Managed Care Solutions leadership teams have periodically recognized an individual whose passion for innovation and excellence in service delivery goes above and beyond the high standards that have     already been set by the Montgomery County mental health community.  This award will now be given annually.  This award is presented to an  individual who has engaged in incredible  trailblazing and community altering work, demonstrated ingenious use of creativity, and who continues to exemplify an enduring  spirit of hope and recovery.

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The 2022 winner of this esteemed award is:  Dave Eckert

 

Dave Eckert is a leader at Access Services in Montgomery County, PA. As an innovator in the area of mental health, he is a co-founding member of the Montgomery County Multi-Faith Coalition. He provides leadership to this organization as the Community Service Partner. He was a member of the team that established the mission and Core Principles of the Coalition. Dave recognizes the importance of mental health in relation to Body, Mind, and Spirit. It is this faith component that is so critical to mental health with the purpose of providing resources to the greater Montgomery County community. There is great value in connecting the faith communities to service providers to access real help and for the faith communities to articulate their needs for their faith community.

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With Dave Eckert's leadership, mental health has been a central focus of what wellness represents and the collaboration with Montgomery County, Faith communities and Service Partners. This is an innovative and collaborative approach of wellness for the county. He has also established a national presence with his work. The Montgomery County Multi-Faith Coalition model can be a national template example, and Dave Eckert has the vision, leadership ability, and compassion for the community good particularly when it comes to mental health to be a person of the finest examples of innovative, community stewardship. What Dave is doing is so innovative, that the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) awarded a grant. SAMHSA has recently asked Dave (and some others at Access Services) to facilitate an 8-week training for people across the country!

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Dave has given faith based communities the tools to cross walk crisis with their own beliefs in a way that centers grace and love, which goes a long way in destigmatizing help, saving lives, and providing meaningful support to loss survivors. For these reasons, Dave is the recipient of the 2022 Award for Innovation.

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