From left: Jeff Whitcomb, president of the Communicators Group, Inc., Dr. Rob Simpson,
president and chief executive officer of the Brattleboro Retreat, and Julia Sorensen, director
of Marketing and Communications at the Brattleboro Retreat accept the Lamplighter Award
at NESHCO's 2009 spring conference in Providence, RI.

BRATTLEBORO, Vermont—The Brattleboro Retreat was honored with the “Best in New England” Lamplighter Award at the spring conference of the New England Society for Healthcare Communications (NESHCO) held May 4-6 in Providence, RI.

The Lamplighter Award represents the top honor among Gold Award winners in more than 50 categories. It went to the Retreat for the organization’s six-minute DVD entitled “Helping People Find the Strength.” The DVD, which also won gold in the category for audio/visual presentations, was produced by Sunnyside Films. It was filmed on the Brattleboro Retreat campus and features interviews with many Retreat staff. The Retreat also received NESHCO awards for the following marketing and communications pieces:

• Gold Award: Design/Printed Pieces (for the 2009 wall calendar)
• Gold Award: Special Events Communications (for communications pieces in support of the December 2008 fund raising event featuring the Moscow Ballet performance of the Great Russian Nutcracker in Springfield, Mass.)
• Silver Award: Design/Logo (for the institution’s new clock tower logo)
• Silver Award: Publications/ Annual Report (for the “2007 Annual Report to Stakeholders and Friends”
• Award of Excellence: Overall Marketing Campaign (for the Retreat’s 2008 overall Marketing Campaign)

“We are extremely proud of this accomplishment,” said Julia Sorensen, director of Marketing and Communications. “The Retreat has a compelling story to tell, and this recognition is richly deserved by our entire staff—administrative, clinical and support staff—who work so hard to make us among the finest mental health and addiction treatment hospitals in the country.”

The Retreat owes much of its recent success in marketing and communications to the Communicators Group., Inc., of Keene, NH; the firm it hired in early 2008 to help the hospital with a major re-branding effort that has helped moved market share in a positive direction in spite of the current downward economic trend.

“Our colleagues at the Communicators Group are very professional and extremely creative,” said Sorensen. “They took the time understand what the Retreat is all about, and the results speak for themselves.”

For the past 15 months the Retreat has undertaken a major re-branding and philanthropic effort that has included a new logo, new print materials, a video, radio and print advertising and a special benefit performance last December by the Moscow to support children’s services.

“Being recognized with seven overall awards is a stellar achievement for any organization, but especially so for a specialty hospital like the Retreat,” said Robert E. Simpson, Jr., president and chief executive officer. “We were being judged next to the work of some of the most well-known hospitals in New England. I could not be more proud.”