Our members play an essential role in advancing our work, and we’re launching a monthly series of member spotlights because their efforts deserve recognition! This December, we are excited to highlight Julie Lago, MSW, LICSW (she/her) of Seabrook, who has contributed her invaluable expertise to our efforts at the intersection of disability and mental health.
Julie is a lifelong disability advocate, a licensed social worker in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, and a mom of two future ABLE NH advocates. She is also the Owner/Lead Consultant at Connections All Ways, PLLC, home to Bookends Therapy™. Their mission is to use proven strategies to help individuals and teams identify opportunities, broaden their perspectives, and work together to achieve success by fostering a culture of collaboration, growth, accountability, and inclusion.
Julie’s passion for person-centered approaches is evident in her work co-developing the Continuum of Collaborative Care. This model was created while in her role at a NH community mental health center, born out of a critical need for continuity of care for those who experience intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and/or brain injuries in addition to mental health needs.
In 2010, Julie graduated from the NH-ME LEND Program and the NH Leadership Series, and also completed her Master of Social Work degree. She now works as an Adjunct Faculty and Field Liaison at the University of New Hampshire and enjoys challenging students in their experiential learning.
Julie joined ABLE NH’s Mental Health Task Force in 2024 to expand her advocacy efforts. She shared powerful insights on mental health awareness as a speaker at the 2024 Disability Justice Parade, and we were honored to have Connections All Ways as a sponsor of the 2024 Advocate NH Conference. Julie also played a vital role in facilitating a recent screening of the film Everything to Somebody, which follows the stories of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and highlights the importance of mental health services.
As an ABLE NH Member, Julie remains passionate about program development, training, and advocacy, fostering tools that allow for decreasing redundancy and improving efficiency in our systems of care.
Follow Julie’s work:
Instagram – @ConnectionsAllWays
Facebook – Connections All Ways, PLLC
LinkedIn – Connections All Ways, PLLC
Website – www.connectionsallways.com