PRESS RELEASE – For Immediate Release
Friday, July 12th, 2013

2013 LMB Award Recipient: Ross L. Cunningham

County of Sullivan, NH – During a special reception hosted by West Central Behavioral Health (WCBH), at the Common Man Inn & Restaurant in Claremont, Monday, June 24th, WCBH Executive Director, Suellen Griffin MSN/FACHE, and WCBH Board of Directors Chair, David Evancich, presented Sullivan County Department of Correction’s Superintendent Ross L. Cunningham, with the Lilla McLane Bradley (LMB) Award. Cunningham joins Donna Stamper, Harriet Baldwin, Mimi MacNamee, Carl Bannon, Paul Gorman, and Laurie Harding, as recipients of this prestigious award.

WCBH established the Lilla McLane Bradley Award in December 2006 in honor of Lilla McLane Bradley, who served as the first chairman of WCBH’s Board of Directors in 1978. Heidi Postupack, Director of Marketing & Development at WCBH, indicated ‘The purpose of the LMB Award is three-fold:
1. to recognize members of our community who have made a significant contribution of time, energy and resources to the development of mental health care in the communities we serve,
2. to provide a forum for education of our community, and
3. to raise awareness of important mental health issues’.

Ms. Griffin, indicated ‘the program most relevant to WCBH is the new Community Corrections Center’, a 72-bed facility with programming that centers on an intensive treatment program with an aftercare component housing both male and female offenders. This unique program has been listed in both the Bureau of Justice Assistance and the National Institute of Corrections publication as a best-practice example for small jails.

Ross L. Cunningham has been the Superintendent of Sullivan County Department of Corrections for the past 5.5 years. His previous experience in corrections spans 17 years in line, mid-management, and command positions within the New Hampshire Department of Corrections involving supervision of 500 to 1200 inmates. He has also worked as a part-time police officer for Tilton Police Department, as well as a part-time Deputy Sheriff for Sullivan, Hillsborough and Coos Counties. Cunningham has a great deal of experience in the development of re-entry programs, experience working with the development and planning of criminal justice coordinating committees and expertise on a state and local level in working with the public on the development and planning of new facilities.

Press Release Contact:
Heidi Postupack
WSBH Director of Marketing & Development
Email: hpostupack@wcbh.org
T. 603.448-0126 Ext. 2100
or
Greg Chanis
County Manager, County of Sullivan NH
Email: manager@sullivancountynh.gov
T. 603.863-2560 Ext. 101