Janus of Santa Cruz New Board Members

COMMUNITY NEWS

Janus of Santa Cruz New Board Members

Janus of Santa Cruz announces three new board members who will help expand substance use disorder treatment services in Santa Cruz County. They are: Ana Ventura Phares, Freny Cooper, and Angela Chesnut.

The Santa Cruz County SheriffCoroner’s Office reported 57 acute drug-related deaths in 2019, then 61 in 2020 and 95 in 2021. This year, from January to September this year, there were 64 such deaths.

The increase is due to highly addictive methamphetamine and more recently poisonings, in which pills, often ordered online, are tainted by deadly fentanyl. Fentanyl deaths have risen from five in 2019 to 19 in 2020, then 42 in 2021. From January to September this year, there were 39.

Ventura Phares, an attorney, is a native to Santa Cruz County and the first Latina mayor of Watsonville in its over 100-year history. She is the executive director of Catholic Charities, development consultant for the Siena House (Maternity Home) of Santa Cruz, former Equal Employment Opportunity officer with the County of Santa Cruz for 22 years and is the human resources consultant and workplace trainer for Sloan, Sakai, Yeung and Wong, LLP. She has prior board experience with Dignity Health Foundation, O’Neill Sea Odyssey and the United Way. She will assist Janus with strategic resourcing .

Cooper is the former chief operating officer and broadband director at Monterey Bay Economic Partnership. Her background is in tech and Fortune 500 companies with a focus on growth strategies, revenue generation, customer acquisition /retention, brand building, and change management. She is a consultant at CTC technology and Energy. Her nonprofit board experience includes Community Foundation Santa Cruz County and Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History Santa Cruz. She will help lead the finance committee.

Chesnut, who has national fundraising expertise and a passion for social justice, is the former district director for Senator John Laird, supervising and directing staff in the Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Luis Obispo offices. She also has been an analyst for the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors. She will focus on strategic resourcing and fundraising at Janus.

Janus Board Chair Edison A. Jensen said the organization “is very fortunate to have such highly qualified and remarkable members of our community join us in fighting the war against addiction.” n

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Janus of Santa Cruz was founded in 1976 by Dr. Robert G O’Brient, who introduced a highly effective approach for treating alcoholism.

Janus became a private nonprofit and has expanded over the years to serve 2,500+ clients annually.

Care includes a medically supervised detox unit, inpatient and outpatient treatment, perinatal services, DUI education, medication-assisted treatment, mental health services and supervised “Sober Living Environment” housing.

Ana Ventura Phares Freny Cooper Angela Chesnut