NYAPRS Note: The NYAPRS community joins Community Access and our greater mental health community in mourning the passing of Brenda Fields.
Brenda was a wonderful and loving person whose bright smile and warm spirit touched so many within the greater NYAPRS community for so many years. She loved NYAPRS and was a mainstay at our NYC Regional Forums, Legislative Day and Annual Conference. And we all loved her back and will miss her dearly.
RIP Brenda and heartfelt condolences to all of your family and loved ones at Community Access and the greater NYC area.
Statements from our friends at Community Access
We are heartbroken to share the news that our dear friend Brenda Fields has passed away.
To know Brenda was to know that she cared about you, and wanted the best for you. A proud graduate of our Howie the Harp Advocacy Center, Brenda was a pillar of life at Community Access – a consistently life-affirming, joyous presence in our lives.
In recent years, she worked for Community Access as an Advocacy Specialist, a role she relished and in which she thrived. She was a passionate and thoughtful advocate for people living with mental health concerns, and was deeply committed to lifting up voices that too often go unheard.
Brenda loved NYAPRS and has led the Harlem bus on NYAPRS legislative day for the last 4 years. Brenda’s Harlem bus was the party bus from NYC to Albany, with food on the way up, music on the way back.
She was also a loving and attentive colleague, always eager to offer a kind word and a helping hand. We’ll miss her – and we’ll strive to emulate her enthusiasm, her care for others, and her love of life in all the work that we do.
Brenda is survived by her daughter, her son and one grandchild, who she loved dearly.