Mary

My name is Mary Hanna.  I was born in Detroit, but now live in a tiny rural community called Laingsburg, MI  (about 25 minutes northeast of Lansing) - which I love.  I moved to the Lansing area in 1979 to pursue my bachelor's degrees at Michigan State University in Therapeutic Recreation and in Music Therapy.  After graduating, I worked for approximately 20 years for Community Mental Health (taking a 1-year break in 1988 to get my Master's degree in Behavior Disorders from Vanderbilt University).

I started out working with adults with developmental disabilities, and spent the vast majority of my later years with CMH working with people who were dually-diagnosed with severe mental illness and a concurrent substance abuse issue:  primarily people with schizophrenia and crack addiction, or bipolar disorder and alcoholism.  I also coordinated the Dialectical Behavior Therapy group for our unit.  Some of the skills I taught here (deescalating potentially violent people) have been very helpful in my peace team work.

In 2004 I began volunteering with MPT, coordinating their technology department, and in 2005 went with them as part of a peace team to the West Bank - a life-changing experience.  When CMH offered early retirement to anyone with 20+ years in, I took it.  The people I worked with at CMH - the clients - were never the issue.  But how the administration repeatedly handled budget cuts - by cutting services to these clients - was.  Within days of retiring, I began working part-time for Michigan Peace Team as a Project Manager, while also working part-time as the Coordinator for the Peace Education Center (PEC) in East Lansing.  Gradually, as my time & responsibilities at MPT increased, I phased out my paid work at the PEC (though I still sit on their board).  I now work full-time as MPT's Operations Manager, Internship Supervisor, and as a nonviolence training facilitator.  I've also served on innumerable domestic peace teams.

I love nature, camping, hiking, music, photography, reading, and my large family of pets.  I have an eclectic kind of spirituality that works well for me. My personal mission is to live life with a sense of gratitude.

What does all this mean?  It means I have the best job in the world, working with the best people I have ever known, doing something that gives me hope and convinces me daily of the innate goodness of all people.  I love what I do, where I am, and who I meet.  Who could possibly ask for more?