Phil is the Chief Executive Officer and President of the Mental Health Association of Connecticut. The mission of this 100 year old institution is to advocate and work for everyone’s mental health; it is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities. As executive director, he oversees all leadership functions for the organization, and is accountable to a Board of Directors from the community.

Prior to this, Phil was the Senior Vice President of Operations at West Central Behavioral Health, a member of the Dartmouth Hitchcock Alliance in Lebanon until 2008 where he was responsible for providing mental health services to children through older adults. His duties involved program development and outcome performance, staff hiring training, and supervision, community and customer liaison, quality improvement and assurance and fiscal management.

He has provided consultation and training to numerous mental health centers across the country on topics about state of the art practices and outcome improvements. Prior to his 17 years of experience in New Hampshire, he was involved in mental health in Massachusetts for 8 years. He has experience in substance abuse treatment and secondary and adult education. His MA degree is from Assumption College in Worcester Ma.

Among his current professional interests is the challenge for leaders of providing high quality services in an increasingly regulated and resource-poor environment. He is a graduate of Leadership Upper Valley in May 2008.

Phil has been teaching healthcare management courses at Granite State College both online and as independent studies. Phil believes that online education presents a wonderful opportunity for both the student and the teacher alike. Just as the world wide web is changing much of society, it is also presenting new tools for education. In our changing times, adult learners have to be skilled at finding the information they need to succeed wherever it exists and they must take responsibility for their own ongoing education and career development without conventional structures like formal classrooms. The Online Interactive Courses really lend itself to this new culture.

For more information about this course contact Phil at: Pwyzik@mhact.org