 |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
For the past few years I have worked intensively with the Association of Ontario Health Centres (AOHC) to raise awareness about the values and benefits delivered by its member centres.
The Association represents the province’s growing number of Community Health Centres (CHCs) , as well as Aboriginal Health Access Centres and other types of non-profit, community-governed, inter-disciplinary primary health care organizations in Ontario.
Advocacy and communication efforts have been focused at provincial and regional policymakers, as well as members of the general public.
Mary is strategic, smart, passionate and a pleasure to work with. She is inspirational and practical at the same time.
Mary has made a wide range of contributions at AOHC. A very important one was the “Second Stage of Medicare initiative” that has help re-positioned our member centres as part of the larger health care debate in Ontario.
Mary has also helped us develop consistent messaging. When she arrived on the scene, she highlighted the potential of our members telling their shared success story with one unified voice. And in less than one year, she was able to work with them so they united around the launch of new shared brand identity. As a result, the Centres now have strong shared messages, as well as a new logo and tagline to communicate the values and benefits they deliver.
AOHC is also on firmer footing moving forward towards our advocacy objectives. Mary helped us develop a strong communication plan, plus a wide array of tools, templates and creative ideas to promote the Community Health Centre model of care throughout Ontario.
Up until recently AOHC did not have dedicated communication staff. During this time
Mary stepped in and provided AOHC with the full range of communication services – programming our conference plenaries, writing reports, delivering quick turn-around communications for advocacy campaigns plus oversight of media relations services.
Without Mary we would not be where we are today. I would highly recommend her to any organization who wants improve their communication capability.
Adrianna Tetley, Executive Director, Association of Ontario Health Centres
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
Following several unsuccessful attempts to implement a comprehensive, coordinated communication strategy, the Board of Directors of Country Roads CHC decided to hire Mary to guide us through the task of creating a communication plan for the organization. After completing a situational analysis, Mary spent a day working with Board and staff to develop short and long term objectives, profile our target audiences, tailor our messaging for those audiences , and identify the resources we would require to implement the plan. And to top it all off she continued to provide support to the communication committee as we began to make our plan come to life. We revamped our newsletter and annual report with positive community response. We have also connected with local media to enhance the frequency of press coverage of events at the centre.
Throughout the project Mary was professional, focused and energetic. She coached the board, staff and volunteers to take ownership of the plan, to “tell the story” in a way that made our message come alive –all of this on a limited budget.
Marsha Stephen, Executive Director, Country Roads Community Health Centre
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
In 2006, I provided on-going coaching and training to the staff of PEN Canada to improve their in-house capability delivering effective communications.
Mary MacNutt was extremely effective in implementing the project, planning the sessions and meeting deadlines. Her overall approach is hands-on and user-friendly. She did a lot of preparatory work and spoke with many PEN colleagues and constituents. The sessions with staff and board were free of jargon and very effectively tailored to the group’s demographic and background. From the beginning to the end, conversations and sessions produced positive results. People enjoyed working with her. She made the work fun. She was also flexible in accommodating our timelines and open to suggestions as to how we thought the project might work best by tweaking the sessions as we went along in order to maximize the experience and the results by really personalizing the project for PEN Canada’s specific needs.
I would highly recommend Mary MacNutt to any other organization undertaking this kind of project.
Isobel Harry, Executive Director, Pen Canada |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
"I first worked with Mary when she ran the
media department for Greenpeace Canada in the
early 90's. Even then Mary was a whirlwind of
energy and creativity that could hook the media
over and over. Our paths crossed again three
years ago when Mary provided media training for
our conservation staff, and helped us develop a
communication strategy to get an updated Parks
Act for Ontario into the public imagination.
Without a doubt, both sessions were a smart
investment that enabled us to make enormous
leaps forward in our conservation work. Mary is
absolutely joyful and inspiring to work with.
Don't miss the opportunity to benefit from her
extensive expertise!"
Nicole Thouard, Development Director,
CPAWS-Wildlands League
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Service Provided: Media Relations Training
In January, 2004 while still working at the
Institute for Media, Policy and Civil Society (IMPACS),
I traveled to Saskatoon to deliver media relations
training to environmental activists working
throughout the province. Many thanks to The
Sustainability Network for sponsoring the session.
During the day participants covered everything from
making a cold call to handling a hostile
interviewer.
Here is what the coordinator of the workshop said:
"The training you provided was practical,
relevant and applicable to workshop
participants, many of whom had limited exposure
to the subject of media skills. The hands-on
exercises were participatory in the truest sense
of the word, leaving everyone with a heightened
confidence and awareness.
I wish you well in your business endeavors. It
was a joy to meet you!”
Yvonne Hanson, Saskatchewan Eco-Network
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
In the
fall of 2004, the Board of Greenpeace USA asked for
a complete evaluation of its advocacy efforts for
the previous year: the extent to which Greenpeace
achieved its objectives and how campaigning could be
improved in the following year.
The evaluation covered two national campaigns, both
challenging environmental rollbacks by the Bush
administration: one to protect the United States’
national forests and the other to promote the Clean
Energy Policy. Here is what the client said:
"Mary MacNutt conducted an evaluation of
Greenpeace USA's program for 2004. As Campaigns
Director, I worked closely with Mary in agreeing
the scope of the evaluation, the methodology and
how the final report would be prepared. I found
Mary to be extremely professional, thoughtful
and easy to work with. The project was completed
on deadline, was thorough and Mary provided
excellent recommendations for how to strengthen
our campaigns in the future."
Lisa Finaldi, Greenpeace USA Campaigns
Director
|
|
|
|
|
