Dear NADA members and friends,
After twelve years of service to NADA, I will be leaving the executive director role at the end of this year. The experience of working with NADA – from opening the office in Columbia, Missouri, in January 2010 and then moving it to Laramie, Wyoming, two years later where it still is today – has given me the privilege of friendships, collaborations and learning experiences that will stay with me forever.
I am grateful to all of my colleagues of the past 12 years whose support, humor, creativity and most of all, commitment to NADA’s vision of a barrier-free and accessible service, made it possible for NADA to grow and thrive.
Being an ADS myself, and training others in NADA, opened doors to help people in ways that I couldn’t have imagined twelve years ago. I am particularly grateful that the Laramie free stress-relief clinics are still going. The clinic at the Albany County Detention Center is also still active, with NADA services happening once a week, thanks to the pilot project that two NADA social work interns created and supported with my guidance. I intend to stay a NADA trainer, and spread the Spirit of NADA where it is welcomed as a tool for healing and resilience support.
In recent years I served as the chair of the legislative advocacy committee. I was able to support, both individually and through the committee, the evolution of processes that led to the passage of laws in seven states enabling greater access to the NADA protocol. This has been one of the most rewarding parts of my job as executive director.
I want to thank all of you for doing this work. It has been an honor to support you, develop resources for you, organize conferences and regional meetings for you, publish Guidepoints for you, and find creative ways to widen the space so that all who need to and want to can learn this healing technique.
I look forward to seeing some of you at the upcoming online events we have planned this year – Healing Inside Out on October 14, and the 4th History Series event on Nov 12. And I welcome hearing from you if you would like to reach out and connect.
Thank you,
Sara Bursać