NH-ME LEND Program

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NH-ME LEND Program NH-ME LEND is a Maternal and Child Health funded workforce development program that improves systems

Through a long-standing collaboration between Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth and the University of New Hampshire, the NH-ME LEND Program provides graduate level interdisciplinary training for students and professionals from diverse disciplines, including:
• Developmental Pediatrics
• Physical therapy
• Early Childhood Education
• Psychology
• Health Management & Policy
• Social work
• Nutrition
• Speech Language Pathology
• Occupational therapy
This rigorous 10-month curriculum follows the academic calendar and includes coursework and hands-on experiences with faculty, families, community partners, and legislators that support trainees’ abilities to:
1. Develop leadership skills that address the needs of children who have neurodevelopmental disabilities (NDD) and their families, and allow trainees to move into leadership roles in their communities.
2. Develop an understanding of public policy and evidence based care.
3. Participate in clinical training at Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth, community-based clinical settings, and the Seacoast Child Development Clinic at the University of New Hampshire. Traineeships require a minimum commitment of 300 hours over a 10-month period.

Today's Faculty Spotlight is on Jennifer Maeverde! Jennifer is a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor (LCPC) whose e...
10/16/2026

Today's Faculty Spotlight is on Jennifer Maeverde! Jennifer is a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor (LCPC) whose expertise is with children, adolescents, and families in inpatient and outpatient settings. She is a Coordinator of Early Childhood and School Age Education for UMaine Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies and is the Maine Clinical and Leadership Placement Coordinator and Faculty for NH-ME LEND. Other professional affiliations include Maine Roads to Quality – Professional Development Network. She also serves as a member of the Council for Exceptional Children Division for Early Childhood, Family Child Care Association of Maine, and the Maine Association for the Education of Young Children.

Jennifer is a 2013 graduate of LEND and has completed programs and/or credentialing with the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (Certified Facilitator 2025), Preschool PEERS (Certified Trainer 2026), the Hanley Center for Health Leadership Development (2022), the Maine Technical Assistance Credential (2021), and the Georgetown University Leadership Institute on Cultural and Linguistic Competence (2018).

It's that time! NH-ME LEND trainees kicked off the year at UNH to meet each other, meet their teams, and faculty. This y...
10/15/2026

It's that time! NH-ME LEND trainees kicked off the year at UNH to meet each other, meet their teams, and faculty. This year we have the Lending Hands, Spectacular Saavy Slime Shifters, and the Word Warriors! Remember creating your LEND team's name and logo? What was your LEND team's name?

It's fall which means kicking off the 2026-2027 NH-ME LEND cohort at ! Eighteen new trainees launched into LEND for the...
10/15/2026

It's fall which means kicking off the 2026-2027 NH-ME LEND cohort at ! Eighteen new trainees launched into LEND for the year on their journey of self-reflection, team development, and professional leadership development. Remember when you were at the Browne Center?

Today's Faculty Spotlight is on Tracey Miller! Tracey is a Research Associate with the Center for Community Inclusion an...
10/14/2026

Today's Faculty Spotlight is on Tracey Miller! Tracey is a Research Associate with the Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies at the University of Maine. She is a 2021 NH-ME LEND graduate and currently is faculty with our LEND program.

Her special areas of interest are inclusion in early care and school-age settings, and special education. Tracey holds an M.Ed. in Early Intervention/Early Childhood Special Education from University of Maine, Orono, and a B.A. in Art from Bates College.

Susannah joined the Institute on Disability in November 2024 as office coordinator for the NH-ME LEND program. She holds...
10/09/2026

Susannah joined the Institute on Disability in November 2024 as office coordinator for the NH-ME LEND program. She holds a B.A. in Communication Studies from Virginia Tech and brings a range of experience, including media relations, ghostwriting, event coordination, and property management. Susannah is passionate about the IOD mission and supporting the success of NH-ME LEND.

Today our Staff Spotlight is on NH-ME LEND's Amy Frechette! Amy provides program support to the NH-ME LEND Program at t...
10/07/2026

Today our Staff Spotlight is on NH-ME LEND's Amy Frechette! Amy provides program support to the NH-ME LEND Program at the Institute on Disability (IOD). For almost 20 years she has been in the field of disability. Some of her work includes giving guest lectures and presenting at national and state conferences. Most recently, she was a panelist for the Advocate New Hampshire Conference, held at the University of New Hampshire (UNH). Amy’s responsibilities also include teaching guest lectures and being on consumer advisory boards for other universities. Outside of UNH, Amy works for Ohio State University and University of Wisconsin-Madison on a project that focuses on older autistic adults. As a statewide leader in autism spectrum disorders (ASD), Amy is the governor-appointed self-advocate for the New Hampshire Council on ASD. Within UNH, Amy also is a member of the Center for Neurodiversity Taskforce within the Office of Community, Civil Rights and Compliance. Amy is a strong advocate for the disability community and has a service dog, Duri.
She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from UNH, and an associate degree in Criminal Justice from New Hampshire Technical Institute.

Today our Faculty Spotlight is on Maggie Dylewski Begis! Maggie is a Clinical Associate Professor and the Director of th...
10/02/2026

Today our Faculty Spotlight is on Maggie Dylewski Begis! Maggie is a Clinical Associate Professor and the Director of the Didactic Program in Dietetics at the University of New Hampshire. She earned a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in Nutrition Science from The Pennsylvania State University and a Doctoral degree in Medical Nutrition Sciences from Boston University. Maggie is a Registered and Licensed Dietitian with over 15 years of experience in pediatric nutrition, including working with pediatric burn and cleft lip and palate patients at Shriners Hospitals for Children in Boston. She has been a faculty member of the Leadership in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities Program (LEND) since 2017.

Today our Faculty Spotlight is on NH-ME LEND Training Director Melissa Diodati! Melissa holds dual roles within the Inst...
09/30/2026

Today our Faculty Spotlight is on NH-ME LEND Training Director Melissa Diodati! Melissa holds dual roles within the Institute on Disability at UNH -- as Training Director for the NH-ME LEND program and as Associate Director of the Bridges Training Series. She holds a B.A. in Early Childhood Education, an M.Ed. in Special Education, and an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership. She began her career as a special education teacher in Massachusetts public schools and later worked as a Special Education Program and Inclusion Coordinator. In 2024, Melissa began working at the UNH Institute on Disability. Her work focuses on inclusive practices and Universal Design for Learning across K–12 and postsecondary settings, with an emphasis on interdisciplinary collaboration.

Today's Faculty Spotlight is on Trish Cox! Trish Cox is an Associate Clinical Professor and the MSW Director in the Uni...
09/25/2026

Today's Faculty Spotlight is on Trish Cox! Trish Cox is an Associate Clinical Professor and the MSW Director in the University of New Hampshire’s Department of Social Work. Trish has a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from Trinity College in Connecticut, a MSEd (Early Childhood with a specialization in child life) from Bank Street College in New York, and a MSW from UNH. She has worked as a consultant in New Hampshire for a variety of different organizations and institutions. Prior to her time at UNH she was employed as a Social Worker, Out-of-District and Transition Special Education Coordinator for Portsmouth School District in New Hampshire. Trish worked as a child life specialist, and later as a child life coordinator, for Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York for nine years.

Trish has a strong history of leadership within the National Association of Social Work(NASW)-NH and the National Association of Child Life Professionals (ACLP). She he has served on the boards and various committees for NASW, NASW NH and ACLP. Her other volunteer leadership efforts include positions as Director and past VP of the Richie McFarland Children’s Center Board.

Today our Faculty Spotlight is on NH-ME LEND Co-Director Alan Cobo-Lewis! Alan received his BA in psychology from the Un...
09/23/2026

Today our Faculty Spotlight is on NH-ME LEND Co-Director Alan Cobo-Lewis! Alan received his BA in psychology from the University of Miami and his PhD in psychology from the University of Wisconsin, where he was a National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellow. In 1998 he joined the faculty at the University of Maine, where he is Associate Professor of Psychology and Director of the Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies (CCIDS), Maine’s University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD).

Dr. Cobo-Lewis has led funded research projects sponsored by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Jewish Guild for the Blind, the Administration for Children and Families, and the Maine Department of Health and Human Services.

As a parent of two young adults, one of whom has autism, Dr. Cobo-Lewis has been an active member of the disability community in Maine for years. He has served as a long-time member and leader of the Maine Developmental Disabilities Council and Maine Children’s Growth Council, has earned the respect of legislators and advocates alike for his work in disability policy, and has received a number of awards for his advocacy, including the University of Maine Presidential Public Service Award, Autism Society of Maine Service Award, Maine Children’s Alliance Giraffe Award (for people who “stick their neck out” for kids), Maine Down Syndrome Network Buddy Award, and Helen M. Bailey Advocacy Award from Disability Rights Maine. Dr. Cobo-Lewis’s approach to public policy is based in evidence and rooted in rights.

Address

55 College Road, 103 Pettee Hall
Durham, NH
03824

Opening Hours

Monday 8am - 5am
Tuesday 8am - 5pm
Wednesday 8am - 5pm
Thursday 8am - 5pm
Friday 8am - 5pm

Telephone

(603) 862-0561

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