Social worker gets mental health award

BANGOR – A school social worker in the SAD 41 (Milo area) was given the third annual Dorothea Dix Mental Health Advocacy Award on Tuesday at Acadia Hospital’s mental health care forum.

Amber Gahagan, who has worked in the Milo school system since 1996, was praised by Lynn Madden, Acadia’s vice president of operations, for her tireless commitment as an educator and advocate for mental health care.

“She has undoubtedly changed the lives of many, and we applaud her efforts,” Madden said. “Amber has had a profound impact on the children and families in the Milo area who deal with mental illness.”

Awards of achievement were given to the other Dix Award nominees: Rep. Joseph Brooks (D-Winterport); Community Health and Counseling Services Executive Director Joseph H. Pickering Jr.; and Bangor Area Homeless Shelter Program Manager Michael Andrick.

Certificates of appreciation also were given to 107.3 WBZN’s Mike Elliot and Mike Dow for their work in creating opiate abuse public service announcements for teen-agers.

Dorothea Dix was a Hampden native who became a nationally recognized reformer of mental health care services in the 1800s.