Three new members have been appointed to the Community Counseling Center Foundation Board of Directors -- Laurel Adkisson, Laura Matlock-Hill and Marilyn Plaskie.

Laurel Adkisson

Adkisson is owner and agent with Laurel Adkisson American Family Insurance Agency in Cape Girardeau. She is a member of and has been affiliated with numerous current and past organizations and events, including the Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce, the SEMO Walk for Women, Special Olympics, March of Dimes and Riverfest/Musicfest.

Laura Matlock-Hill

Matlock-Hill is an agent with Coalter Insurance in Jackson. She has been involved with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and in 2011 started the first Out of the Darkness Suicide Walk in Cape Girardeau, an event she continues to co-chair.

Marilyn Plaskie

Plaskie, a sales executive with Horizon Screen Printing in Cape Girardeau, is an avid supporter of several local organizations. She has hosted numerous benefit trail rides as well as fundraisers for 4-H groups, booster clubs and Lutheran Family and Children Services and has served on the LFCS Holiday Home Tour board. She also serves on the board of the local American Advertising Federation chapter.

"The board supports the Community Counseling Center in its work to restore, bring hope, motivate, and inspire healing to regional mental health clients living with the challenges of mental illnesses and mental health disorders in our five-county service area," explained Michelle Ramsey, the foundation's executive director. "We strive to accomplish this through the support, education and services provided to our clients to move them toward a more productive life."

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Diedre Peters

Diedre Peters, a partner in the Sikeston, Missouri, law firm of Blanton, Nickell, Collins, Douglas and Hanschen LLC, has been recognized as one of the 2021 Up & Coming Missouri Lawyers by Missouri Lawyers Media. Her recognition took place during a reception last week at Hyatt Regency Hotel in St. Louis.

Peters' practice focuses on personal injury, commercial litigation and corporate and real estate transactions. She joined Blanton, Nickell, Collins, Douglas and Hanschen in 2017 after graduating magna cum laude from the University of Illinois College of Law, where she served as an associate editor of the school's law review. She is a graduate of Charleston (Missouri) High School and received an undergraduate degree in business administration from Columbia College in Columbia, Missouri.

She is a member of the Sikeston Lions Club and the House of Refuge Board of Directors in Sikeston.

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