NYAPRS Note: The following comes to via the MHA of Westchester. They’re giving our own Edye Schwartz their highest honor, which Edye so well deserves! Please consider sharing this moment with Edye by attending this terrific event.
Edye Schwartz to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award from MHA Westchester
Tarrytown, NY– On Friday evening, October 24, 2014 at the CV Rich Mansion in White Plains, N.Y., The Mental Health Association of Westchester (MHA) will hold its fall benefit, Denim and Dreams, to support mental health services in Westchester. Mahopac resident, Edye Schwartz, DSW, LCSW-R, will receive the MHA Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of her almost four decades of leadership and unwavering commitment to promoting excellence and innovation in developing services for people recovering from mental health conditions.
Commenting on the honor, MHA CEO, Amy Kohn said, “Through Dr. Schwartz’s dedication, she has been instrumental in helping to move transformational ideas forward and make important systems changes which have benefited so many.”
In the years since Dr. Schwartz earned her Master’s in Social Work (MSW) from Hunter College School of Social Work, she has worked to advance recovery-based approaches through progressively more responsible management positions. During the early 1990’s, Dr. Schwartz was trained by Boston University’s Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation and was able to operationalize this technology while working as the Director of Community Support Services for Westchester County Department of Community Mental Health, where she spearheaded a shift in mental health delivery from a traditional illness-based model to a system focused on recovery. In Westchester, Dr. Schwartz also helped to develop the ICM/SCM program, the IPRTs, Supported Housing, Supported Employment Programs and Supported Education, and offered technical assistance to developing peer-run organizations so that they could grow and attain independence.
In 1997, Dr. Schwartz had the opportunity to take her philosophy of recovery ‘to the field’ as she became the first Executive Director of Putnam Family and Community Services (PFCS). Under the leadership of Dr. Schwartz, PFCS created services in a respectful atmosphere where people could feel empowered to partner in their treatment and the course of their lives.
In 2007, Dr. Schwartz received her Doctorate in Social Welfare (DSW) from the City University of New York Graduate Center. Dr. Schwartz has shared her expertise with the next generation of social workers by teaching courses at Lehman College and Hunter School of Social Work on leadership and management, recovery based mental health services and psychiatric rehabilitation. Capping her long and accomplished career, Dr. Schwartz joined NYAPRS in 2010 as the Director of System’s Transformation Initiatives.
At every turn, it has been Dr. Schwartz’s values, her commitment to human rights and her conviction that every life is worthy of dignity and respect which have informed her leadership. This award for lifetime achievement is an exclamation point for a life deeply dedicated to systemic change, improved care for those in the mental health system and a quicker route to recovery for all.
To purchase tickets, go to www.mhawestchester.org. For more information, contact Constance Moustakas at 914-265- 7511 or email development@mhawestchester.org.
A community-based mental health agency, MHA has been helping Westchester County residents for 68 years through direct services, professional and community education and advocacy. MHA supports more than 25,000 individuals annually through a comprehensive array of mental health services striving to help each individual to achieve their personal goals and to lead independent and healthy lives. For more about MHA, visit www.mhawestchester.org.
