NewBridge Services CEO Michelle Borden in June received the 2025 Outstanding Leadership Award from the New Jersey Association of Mental Health and Addiction Agencies (NJAMHAA).
“Michelle Borden is a leader for all times, whether she is managing everyday types of challenges or major crises,” NJAMHAA President and CEO Debra King said. “She has tremendous expertise as a clinician, and an amazing human dimension. It comes across immediately that she truly cares about people.”
Borden joined NewBridge in 1997 and has led the nonprofit since 2020.
In the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Borden co-founded the Morris County Human Services Response Network, which became a model statewide, and then helped New Jersey become one of the first states to certify disaster response crisis counselors. In 2011, she led efforts to provide psychological first aid in communities that lost homes to severe flooding, Wentz noted.
Borden guided NewBridge through the COVID-19 pandemic by expanding telehealth and online mental health resources. Under her leadership, NewBridge launched a gambling addiction treatment program for individuals with co-occurring disorders and expanded NewBridge@Home, which provides counseling to homebound older adults and caregivers.
