A New Face At Blue Mt. Counseling

DAYTON - Blue Mountain Counseling's newest Prevention Coordinator Laura Tolman is get- ting paid to work with kids and families, and for Tolman, nothing could be better.

Tolman, who lives with her husband of 27 years in Waits- burg, has always worked with children. Her background lies primarily in volunteer work.

"I'm new in a way (as a pre- vention coordinator)," Tolman said. "(But) I've always found myself working with kids."

Tolman took on the position in early October to replace Peggy Gutierrez, who is working on the Drug Free Communities grant from the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

As the prevention coordinator, Tolman will assist in the develop- ment and implementation of all prevention and Community Mo- bility Against Substance Abuse activities and provide community information and education in the area of prevention, specifically in chemical dependency issues.

Tolman said she is excited to be a part of Blue Mountain Counseling as well as working with the Coalition for Youth and Families.

"Working in an office and actually getting paid, I've always been a volunteer, is exciting," Tolman said.

She will also be working on the Prevention Redesign Initia- tive, which is funded by the state Department of Social and Health Services' Division of Behavioral Health and Recovery. Dayton is one of 35 communities statewide participating in the initiative, ac- cording to a newsletter Tolman released.

As a volunteer, Tolman worked with Youth for Under- standing for a few years, placing children in homes for student exchange. Later, Tolman would go back and meet with the kids and families again to make sure their placement went well. Tol- man also volunteered to talk with children about joining exchange programs.

Tolman said she moved around a lot growing up and as an adult so she has experienced many different kinds of com- munities. Tolman said her family moved may times when she was younger, and as a result, she has lived in more than 50 different places.

Now, Tolman has been a resident of Waitsburg for 22 years and she said the supportive com- munities in Dayton and Waits- burg are a big draw for the area.

"The community has really been excellent at helping me find my feet," Tolman said. "It's a good community."

Dimita Warren, the Blue Mountain Counseling execu- tive director, was one of the staff members who helped interview Tolman for the posi- tion. Warren said while they can't release information about the interview, she could say that Tolman ultimately came out on top.

In her personal life, Tolman has four kids of her own and 10 grandkids.

And Tolman's growing fam- ily seems to care about helping people as much as she does. Three of Tolman's family mem- bers have geared their lives for work with the armed forces. Tolman's husband spent 25 years in the U.S. Navy, her daughter served in Iraq and her grandson is preparing to ship out with the Navy on Nov. 14.