Sue Hearn joined BHN on April 6, 1994, and this year is celebrating her 30th work anniversary! Although she started working as an administrative professional in nonprofit behavioral health by chance, she has never looked back or considered doing anything else! 

Sue recalls business class in high school, where she was taught critical skills for success in the business world. Some of these skills were timeless such as organization, time management, attention to detail, critical thinking, problem-solving, and stakeholder engagement. Other skills she has had to adapt to as technology evolved, from using typewriters, keypunch coding, and manual bookkeeping to electronic health records, Microsoft 365, and swipe badge access.

Sue used her skills to start and manage her own businesses, running a home daycare during the day and doing office cleaning at night. She was quite happy with these roles and did not foresee a career change, however life had other plans for her. One of Sue’s evening clients was the Agawam Counseling Center (ACC) which is now a part of BHN. One day, the office manager approached her and asked if she could work as a receptionist one night per week to cover a parent education class. She accepted, found the work interesting and enjoyed interacting with the parents and clinicians. 

Nine months later, Sue was working at her home daycare when she received a panicked call from the ACC Director, "Can you come to work? I wouldn’t be asking you if it wasn’t an emergency." Because Sue is this kind of person, she called her backup daycare teacher who came right over and relieved her so she could go to ACC. The rest, as they say, is history. Sue transitioned out of her cleaning business and handed over her daycare work. 

Sue became the full-time office manager at ACC and loved it. "The clinic was bustling. Every office was full, and the clients came and went all day. I had never worked in a mental health agency before. I loved the work, and I loved the clients." 

In April 1996, Sue interviewed for and transitioned to the role of administrative assistant for Steve Winn at the Child Guidance Clinic, a place she loved coming to work for the next 19 years. "I loved being around the clinicians and their work. I believe in BHN's mission and see the hard work people put in. I would see and hear the improvements in lives as children and parents walked back and forth down the hallways." 

Sue and Steve moved to Liberty Street when the new Springfield campus opened. In 2020, Sue transitioned to the role of Executive Assistant when Steve became CEO. When asked about the role of administrative professional, Sue shared that the title is more appropriately “Chaos Coordinator.” “You have to know everything about everyone and everything about everything" she explained. "You are the first voice that most people hear when they call BHN. You have to be able to be able to pivot to fix things and help. Things can go wrong when admin don’t have enough information to do their job right.”   

While Sue acknowledged that this job is not for everyone, she indicated that it has been just right for her. "You either love it and you are going to do it forever, or it is a stepping stone to find a more specialized job. I love my job and don’t want to do anything else. It is the mission of this organization that keeps me here and I am very content to do my part. I will do anything to support people. It is my job to notice the things that need to get done and do them.”   

When giving advice to others in or considering the role of an administrative professional, Sue shares, “If you want to be on the ground floor, it is a wonderful thing to support the people who are doing the clinical work.” Clinicians are doing a hard job, and we are here to support them so that they can do their job well.”   

As a former sole proprietor, Sue had been used to working as her own boss. She recalls an incident early in her tenure at BHN when all 300 employees were called to a meeting on the second floor of 110 Maple Street in Springfield. " The CEO announced funding cuts which would require closing a program and laying off three people. Both the CEO and Vice President cried about the need to lay off three people and reduce services to the community. And I thought, this is a beautiful place to work, I’m staying. There is no one in leadership here at BHN that I don’t want to work for.”   

And for that, we are grateful! We thank Sue and all our Administrative Professionals at BHN for their expert ‘coordination of chaos’ and everything they do every day to ensure smooth operations, excellent support of our staff, and high-quality service to our communities.