Outstanding Service Award recipients

(Click each recipient’s name to learn more)

Janet Bystrom

Brenda Mack

Carol Siegel

Janet Bystrom

Janet Bystrom, MSW, LICSW
A longtime champion for vulnerable youth, Janet Bystrom is the founder of RECLAIM, a nonprofit whose mission is to increase access to mental health support so that queer and transgender youth might reclaim their lives from oppression in all its forms. During her time serving as RECLAIM’s executive director and lead therapist, she changed the landscape of access to mental health care for queer and trans youth in our region. Driven by her passion for developing a network of professionals committed to this important work, Janet has trained insurance providers, clinical staff, and others in trans-competent care, and also founded a people-of-color cohort that instituted specialized training for practitioners of color seeking competency in working with LGBT youth. Beyond her service with RECLAIM, she has done street outreach; led out-patient therapy; and worked in residential settings, drop-in centers and school-based clinics. Janet is a trusted colleague in the small but growing circle of psychiatrists, social workers and other professionals who have made the Twin Cities a destination community for trans people and continues to use her vast expertise to create positive change in young people’s lives.

Brenda Mack

Brenda Mack, MSW, LICSW
A pioneer for children and families in the northwest region of the state, Brenda Mack served as Director of Children’s Services at Northwestern Mental Health Center in Crookston, Minnesota, for 21 years. Committed to breaking down the various barriers that remote communities often face in accessing quality mental health services, she built lasting relationships with professionals in the field to better meet children’s mental health needs throughout the organization’s rural six-county area. At Northwestern Mental Health Center, Brenda took a lead role in creating what now is a school-based mental health program that serves 21 school districts, including a Native American reservation. This program has bolstered accessibility to mental health services by providing therapy, assessments and skills-building classes for students free of cost to families who are uninsured or underinsured and who have limited access to transportation. A passionate and proven leader, Brenda excels at integrating theory and practice, bringing together children and service providers in mutual dialogue to deliver shared strategies that result in long-lasting change.

Carol Siegel

Carol Siegel, PhD, LP, IMH-E®(IV)
Over the course of her career, Carol Siegel has worked tirelessly on behalf of babies, young children and their families and caregivers. A long with Scott Harman and Susan Schultz, Carol is a founder of the Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Certificate Program at the University of Minnesota—an intensive training program designed to help professionals and students build the skills necessary to support healthy social-emotional development of children from birth to age five as well as their parents. In addition to her work at the University, Carol applies her knowledge of theory and research to educate new groups of infant and early childhood practitioners and provides clinical training and ongoing consultation to therapists, home visitors and agencies. Using her capacity as a trainer and mentor, along with creativity and case studies to help complex ideas come alive, Carol has been a key figure in the state, building clinicians’ competence in serving young children and their caregivers. Propelled by her commitment to supporting our youngest learners, Carol’s work has touched countless lives and her influence continues to be felt across Minnesota and beyond.