Honoring the 2022 winner:
Duane Casares, Directions for Youth and Families
Every year, MHAOhio awards one exceptional individual the prestigious Norman Guitry Award, named after our founder and first executive director. The award recognizes an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the community in the area of mental health.
This year, we are thrilled to honor Duane Casares, CEO of Directions for Youth and Families.
For over 100 years, Directions for Youth and Families (DFYF) has served thousands of kids and families through an outreach basis – meeting them in their homes, schools, and community.
They believe in a community restoration model, which is an approach that trusts that the community members know their needs best, and allows them to direct the process of determining what services are most important to families in the community.
At DFYF, everyone knows the clients are always priority number one, but Duane is emphatic in his belief that his frontline staff are in close second.
“Duane is a leader who cares deeply about his employees’ wellbeing,” said Kevin McDaniel, MHAOhio’s Executive Director. “Throughout his tenure at Directions for Youth and Families, Duane has implemented policies and procedures that truly allow for balance and self-care, which is often easier said than done in a community mental health setting.”
MHAOhio has completed two Occumetrics assessments at DFYF, employees report feeling valued and cared for by Duane and the leadership team at large.
Duane is accessible, compassionate, and innovative and is not afraid to change things if they aren’t working for his employees.
“Duane always says, ‘If we have to add new paperwork, I refuse to do so without taking old paperwork away.’” said Kevin.
While child service agencies were hit hard in the pandemic, within the first week of schools closing, Duane went to his board and committed to not cutting hours or laying off any employees during the pandemic.
Duane understands that we can’t take care of our clients if we don’t take care of our staff.
“If we want to give the best service to the people we serve, we have to take care of the people who are on the front lines on a regular basis,” Duane said.
If you’d like to learn more about Directions for Youth and Families, visit their website.
