Board of Directors

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Wonlyn Chapman moved from Salem to Cottage Grove in 1990 and became involved in the mental health arena. She has served on the South Lane Mental Health Board of Directors for 15 years, the last five as president.

“Having a family member with a severe mental disorder, I became quickly immersed in the conditions, symptoms as well as the impact it has upon families,” says Wonlyn. “I wanted to learn all I could from a practical and humanitarian standpoint. In doing so, I can bear witness to those same scenarios playing out in families over and over.”

It was this larger picture of other families suffering, she says, that compelled her to become an advocate for community-based mental health services.

“I am proud of the work we do at South Lane Mental Health,” Wonlyn says. “This organization is a model agency run with great efficiency. If all agencies across America were run as cost effectively as South Lane Mental Health, the burden of providing for the mentally ill population would be cut to a surprisingly lower level.”

An artist and sculptor, Wonlyn was instrumental in obtaining the Opal Whitley sculpture by Ellen Tykeson that graces the entry of the Cottage Grove Library.

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Gail Hoelzle has been a member of the South Lane Mental Health board of directors for the past decade, most recently service as the vice president and currently as the secretary.

Though she trained and went to school to become an English teacher, Gail and her sister, Birdy, instead opened a plant and bookstore in Cottage Grove. The two have owned and operated The Bookmine in downtown for 34 years.

Over the years, Gail said, she has been struck by the community’s need for mental health services and by South Lane Mental Health’s incredible response. “It’s very touching to see how many people the agency helps,” she said. “What I really treasure is that they never turn anyone away.”

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Alan Baas has been a member of the board of directors for South Lane Mental Health for the past three years.

The scholarship administrator for the Oregon Student Assistance Commission, Alan graduated from Santa Clara University in 1966. He has worked as a high school English teacher and as a copy editor for the Wall Street Journal, in addition to writing and editing for other educational publications.

Alan supports South Lane Mental Health because of its vital role in the community.

“Through its dedicated staff and the commitment of its citizen advisory board, this agency articulates what I believe are some of the most important tenets of our society — that we are a government of the people, by the people and for the people; that neighbors are to take care of each other in appropriate and compassionate ways; that our local broad environment (city, county, state) should be respected and tended to as carefully as we tend to our immediate nests,” he says.

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Lauren Fuller, a retired family physician who moved to Cottage Grove from the Midwest in 2002, has served on the South Lane Mental Health Board of Directors for a little more than a year.

For the 18 years prior, Lauren lived in Wisconsin, where she worked as a family physician at a federally funded Community Health Center in an economically depressed town of 600. She and her husband, Dr. James Harrison, were the only physicians in a 20-mile radius and were thrilled to work in a facility that could offer a sliding fee scale to the many uninsured area residents.

Lauren and her family relocated six years ago so her husband could work at South Lane Medical Group, where he is now medical director.

Lauren says she was “thrilled” to find an agency like South Lane Mental Health in Cottage Grove because in her work as a physician in Wisconsin, “I was confronted on a daily basis with people in need of quality mental health services. Unfortunately, there were often no options for mental health services within 20 miles, and those further away were often unaffordable. I witnessed first hand the terrible toll untreated mental health issues had on individuals, their physical health and their families.”

The more she learned about South Lane Mental Health, the more impressed she became, Lauren says. “They manage to do so much with so little, in large part because of a dedicated and committed staff,” she says. “I wanted to help support them in any way possible and so when I was asked to join the board I readily agreed.”

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Jim Kness has been a member of the board of directors for South Lane Mental Health for about nine years.

Jim grew up in Portland, and attended Benson Tech High School. He graduated from Portland State University in 1965. He worked for his father, Henry V. Kness General Contractor, until the onset of his blindness.

Jim believes that mental health is critical to a stable economy and a community’s cultural well-being. To that end, he says, it is critical to provide mental health services for those in need. “This population is apt to be forgotten and bereft,” he says.

An historian and teacher, Jim is a past president of the Cottage Grove Habitat for Humanity and a former member of the City of Cottage Grove Planning Commission.

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Steve Lasky, a retired general contractor, has served on the South Lane Mental Health Board of Directors for the past three years.

He says he’s happy to help out an organization that does such important work in the community.

“After receiving services as a client, I was motivated to contribute my expertise and time to help South Lane Mental Health in its continuing efforts to better serve the communities of South Lane County,” says Steve. “As a member of the Board of Directors, I am able to help the agency become more vibrant and successful in fulfilling its mission to serve as many people in need of the many necessary services that South Lane Mental Health provides.”

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Virgil Miller is a retired Aerospace Inertial Guidance Systems Specialist and University Instructor. In addition to being the treasurer for the First Presbyterian Church, he is the church’s liaison to the South Lane Mental Health Board of Directors, on which he has served for the past seven years.

“The greater Cottage Grove community is providing professional mental health services in a convenient and affordable way. That is why I support the presence of South Lane Mental Health in Cottage Grove,” he says.

Virgil is also a board member and treasurer for Witherspoon Court (low-income senior housing). Previously he served as a member and treasurer of the Cottage Grove Community Foundation Board of Directors.

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Community volunteer Cathy Bellavita joined the South Lane Mental Health Board of Directors in November 2009.

Cathy holds a Bachelor of Science degree in social welfare from the University of California at Berkeley and a Masters degree in library science from Columbia University. She has held positions as a public health worker, congressional researcher and news librarian.

Cathy is a founding member and vice president of the board of directors for Friends of Mt. David, a community based non-profit organization that supports citizen involvement in community planning in Cottage Grove.

Most recently, Cathy helped organize and operate the Cottage Grove garden tour to benefit South Lane Mental Health. It was through this work that she learned about South Lane Mental Health and its impact on the community.

“Mental health is at the root of so many social issues, and it is finally being recognized as a critical component of health care services,” Cathy says. “Cottage Grove is fortunate to have such a robust agency offering these services to area residents. Through a combination of good will and a professional approach, South Lane Mental Health shows it’s possible to do good well. It is an honor to serve on this board."

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Colleen Valley joined the South Lane Mental Health Board of Directors in March 2010.

Colleen has an undergraduate degree in psychology and a master’s degree in organizational psychology. Her background includes retail management, training and development.

Before moving to Cottage Grove in June 2009, Colleen and her husband, Darby, owned and operated an alternative health care clinic for five years in Kirkwood, MO. They currently own and operate Cottage Grove Community Acupuncture and are raising two children. Colleen is a yoga student and teacher and became interested in serving on the South Lane Mental Health board after hearing about the agency from a friend.

"Mental health care — and especially care for those who can-t afford it — is close to my heart," she said. "It is satisfying to be involved with an organization helping serve the underserved in our community."