Proactive and person-centric. Those are two words you’ll hear often from SARAH, Inc.’s new executive director, Denise Henry.

Denise began her new role on Nov. 1, 2017, and already is advancing the organization’s goal of providing services, support, and advocacy to enrich the lives of people with differing abilities. The organization also supports the families of those people, and the communities in which they live.

SARAH, Inc., grew out of the efforts of three shoreline families who banded together back in 1957. The Reinhardsen, Spencer, and McNeil families founded SARAH to give their children with intellectual and other disabilities—and others’ children—important resources and advocacy that didn’t exist for them at that time. Today, the SARAH family of agencies includes SARAH Foundation, SARAH Tuxis, SARAH Seneca, and SARAH, Inc.

Locally, the agency runs the SARAH in Action work and life skills training in North Haven and also maintains its trademark recycling bins at the North Haven Recycle Center on Elm Street, the Town Green, the North Haven Athletic Complex at 222 Maple Avenue, North Haven Memorial Field, and at its 556 Washington Avenue headquarters.

“Every agency has their own culture and flavor,” says Denise, now in her fifth year with SARAH, Inc.

Denise says SARAH, Inc., has grown and become increasingly responsive in recent years, in large part due to retired executive director Patricia Bourne, who served from 2006 to Oct. 31, 2017. As associate director, Denise worked closely with Bourne, who is credited with helping SARAH, Inc., expand its reach to provide support and services to more than 600 children and adults with differing abilities across the Greater New Haven and shoreline area. SARAH, Inc., is best-known for its adult services, but helping infants through toddlers is another important piece of SARAH, Inc.’s services.

“I think it’s part of our history that we’re thought of more of an adult-centric agency, because our Birth to Three Early Intervention program came later, but it’s also huge part of who we are,” says Denise.

She wants to enhance SARAH’s digital marketing and social media presence to help open more channels of communication for SARAH, Inc.

“One of the things I’m looking at is to continue the good work of my predecessor, Pat Bourne. But while we are committed to our legacy, we’re also looking at digital marketing and social media and how that’s changing, because we want to connect with community wherever we’re located and beyond. For example, these are difficult times for funding. How do we connect with the broader community to let them know what we can do to assist them? We’ve really embraced what that means, and part of it is to make our digital marketing and social media presence more known.”

It’s an exciting time for SARAH, Inc., and Denise shares several new programs and opportunities now underway.

The Birth to Three Early Intervention program (also known as KIDSTEPS), which now serves 31 towns from southern to eastern Connecticut, has recently moved to a new facility to help meet growing needs.

“We are now the third-largest birth to three early intervention provider in the state,” says Denise. “We just moved in with the Clifford Beers [Autism Center] in Hamden. We’re very forward-thinking in our approaches to providing family and children services, programs, and support.”

When it comes to assisting adults, Denise is excited to be at the helm of SARAH, Inc., at an evolutionary point in its employment and enrichment offerings.

“We’re very well known for our employment services, such as our group supportive employee services at companies like Big Y and Honeywell, but we’re also taking some very new and positive directions,” says Denise. “There was a time that the group model/job crew was very much what was considered the model of the time and we did well with that, but we’re seeing it’s a culture change [for the better] of how people of different abilities are being viewed and what they can do. We are staying ahead of that with person-centered, customized support for competitive employment.”

The changing economy in Connecticut is also making it more difficult to find those crew jobs, Denise adds. SARAH, Inc.’s proactive response has been to create the Transitional Services Program, an entirely new program that’s been in development for about year and is now being piloted in the field.

“It addresses the breadth and depth of needs for adults looking for changes in careers, and really focuses on them becoming competitive employees,” says Denise.

In addition to job training experiences, the program offers evaluations for participants to help them find their ideal job and gives them tools to help build a résumé, dress for success, and navigate needs such as public transportation. The program relies on participation from a wide variety businesses, says Denise.

Another area of growth at SARAH, Inc., is enrichment services, also known as SARAH in Action. In three locations (the newest, in North Haven, joins Madison and Westbrook), the program model is evolving from facility-based day programming to bringing participants into communities as volunteers.

Denise notes SARAH, Inc., also offers “blended services” that can put together person-centered, customized skill-building and work experiences with enrichment opportunities to meet the needs of families and individuals. SARAH, Inc., is also there to assist families with navigating state and federal funding options.

“It’s about providing what you want and what you need; we work with you and your team,” says Denise. “If a family is unsure or uncertain what steps are to be taken, we are willing and able to work with them on that and come up with a package.”

In addition to her administrative and leadership skills, Denise brings the heart of a behavioral clinician who fell in love with the work after she earned her undergraduate and graduate degrees in psychology at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands. Throughout her administrative career, Denise has continued to carry with her the importance of connecting with people.

“What’s helped me to connect in leadership roles is that experience I had,” she says. “It has added to how I connect with people—by listening, taking a step back, and not rushing to judgment.”

Learn more about SARAH, Inc., at sarah-inc.org.