NYAPRS Note: Noted nationally recognized peer leader Keris Myrick has been elected as the new President of the board of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Keris will be a keynote speaker at this fall’s NYAPRS Annual Conference (see http://www.nyaprs.org/conferences/annual-conference/documents/ConfAnnouncement2012.pdf).
Keris Jan Myrick Elected President of NAMI
Mad in America blogger Keris Jan Myrick has been elected President of NAMI by the NAMI board of directors.
Keris is the president and CEO of Project Return Peer Support Network, a peer run organization in Los Angeles County. On October 23, 2011 Keris was featured on the front page of The New York Times: A High-Profile Executive Job as Defense Against Mental Ills. She has been interviewed and designated a “Game Changer” by Canadian Broadcasting Centre’s radio show The Current: Changing the Face of Schizophrenia. She currently serves as the 1st Vice President on the National Alliance on Mental Illness’s board of directors and has consulted with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration on a number of initiatives, including Dialogues on Psychotropic Medications and BRSS-TACS (Bringing Recovery Supports to Scale-TA Center.) Keris Myrick has an MS in industrial-organizational psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology and a MBA from Case Western Reserve University.
In a special statement for Mad in America, Keris writes;
“It is very exciting to be elected by the board of directors to serve as the NAMI National Board president. Through our board’s commitment to succession planning and leadership development, I feel confident and supported in this new role. It is also an exciting time for NAMI as we strengthen our organization in many ways inclusive of diversification of our funding, increasing our focus on recovery and resiliency in policy, education and supports and building an inclusive organization based on our new Standards of Excellence.
“Our recent NAMI convention “Think Learn and Live: Wellness, Recovery and Resiliency” is a testament to NAMI’s commitment to focus on the whole person approach to living with and overcoming emotional distress. The highlight for me was attending the Hearing Voices Network seminar by Ron Coleman, from Wales, who wowed a room overflowing with NAMI members who embraced his message and Hearing Voices Network paradigm. It was also wonderful to look out at a crowd that is younger and more diverse! Many of our NAMI members and leaders throughout the country are engaged in really cool things such as traveling to Finland to learn about Open Dialogue!
“This is an opportunity to broaden the discussion about mental health treatment, advocacy and research. I am looking forward to doing what I do best which is to listen, learn and act from all perspectives as well as to bring my lived and leadership experience to continue to drive our organization forward.”