Avon Johnson, LCSW had intended to be a nurse. Nursing was her major when she enrolled at the University of Connecticut.
But in the late 1980s, her time as a mental health worker at Fairfield Hills Hospital, a now-closed state psychiatric institution, changed her career plans—and her major.
“I always enjoyed counseling and supporting others,” said Ms. Johnson. “I liked talking with people and hearing their stories.”
The Fairfield Hills job allowed her to deploy those skills and planted the seeds of desire to do something about the stigma that seemed to follow people living with mental illness. Johnson changed her major to social work, ultimately transferring from UCONN to finish her degree at Southern Connecticut State University.
And now the New Haven native, who grew up in the original Brookside public housing complex in the West Rock neighborhood, is the new Director of Clinical Services for the Connecticut Mental Health Center (CMHC) and Assistant Clinical Professor (Social Work) in the Yale Department of Psychiatry. Johnson, a gifted practitioner who previously served as the associate clinical director and director of the fourth floor inpatient unit, takes the reins following the retirement of Peggy Bailey. (Read about that here.)
“In addition to her years of experience managing very complex elements of CMHC, Ms. Johnson brings to all of her interactions a presence and caring that helps everyone do their best, especially during these very trying times,” said Michael J. Sernyak, MD, CEO of CMHC and Deputy Chair for Clinical Affairs and Program Development in the Yale Department of Psychiatry.
Johnson came to CMHC in 1992 as a social work student. Eventually, she was hired as a staff social worker and was able to advance her career.
While she was moving up the ranks, Johnson said the stigma that people faced when it comes to mental illness didn’t disappear. But something about the people working to help them did change. She said the approach became one that recognized that people with mental illness “are people, not just patients.”
“People in this field come into it because they really believe in recovery,” Johnson said. “They believe in the people they work with, and that people can get better and have a productive life.”
Johnson said that’s why she’s enjoyed working in social work, particularly at CMHC for nearly 30 years. That and the warm relationships she’s developed with colleagues and the Center’s administration.
“I’ve always felt comfortable and welcome,” she said. “I always felt like there was this professionalism here that you don’t always get at other places.”
Johnson said CMHC has cultivated an atmosphere that not only is committed to the wellbeing of clients, but also one that’s conducive to staff learning new things.
People in this field go into it because they really believe in recovery.
Avon Johnson, LCSW
“At CMHC you are allowed to be creative,” she said. “If you have an idea, you're allowed to try it out.”
That willingness to innovate is a characteristic that Johnson said is going to be very important as CMHC continues to navigate the ongoing global pandemic. With just two months under her belt in her new position, she’s been participating in numerous reopening committee meetings. She has been meeting with team leaders and program directors to hear their concerns and wishes, and to ask how she can support them.
She said staff members have been able to offer up ideas about what CMHC should look like when it reopens fully—or if it doesn’t. Johnson said she sees her role as one engineered to support staff and patients in a way that “makes CMHC stronger and increases staff morale.”
Johnson noted that many clinicians have reported that the pivot to tele-health has been good for a number of clients who are now better connected than they were before the pandemic. But they know that many patients don’t have the technology, and solutions will have to be developed to meet the digital divide.
Another area that Johnson said she’s happy to see CMHC tackle as it prepares for the future is around race, diversity and inclusion. She credits Maria Oliva, LCSW, Director of Social Work, for leading this charge with the support of the Center’s administration.
Johnson said she hopes it will help the community-at-large see that CMHC is committed to listening to the voices of the people inside and outside its buildings. And she said the Center is not just talking the talk, but is exhibiting a real commitment to becoming an antiracist organization.
“We have more psychiatric residents and psychology trainees of color coming into CMHC whose voices have also pushed for change as it relates to racial bias,” Johnson pointed out. And with the ongoing Dialogues on Difference meetings that are facilitated by her colleague Maria Oliva, Johnson observed that people have been much more open to discussing racism and discrimination.
She’s no stranger to an intense workload and values her time away from CMHC for self-care and family. When she’s not at work, Johnson enjoys scrapbooking, singing, photography, and working around her house. She also likes to spend as much time as she can with her family including her three children—20-year-old twins Michael II and Alexandria, and 17-year-old Jasmine—who are all in college.
Johnson said she’s proud to be part of the work that CMHC is doing and she is already enjoying the challenges of the new position. She said her door is always open for suggestions and ideas.
“I welcome those things from all the staff at CMHC,” she said. “I would like to see us continue to grow and move forward and be open to new challenges and new ideas.”