ZINMAN, MANDERSCHEID, BROOKS, PATE, KENT to be HONORED at NYAPRS CONFERENCE 2019
NYAPRS is thrilled to feature another inspiring awards ceremony honoring a stellar group of heroes whose dedication, heart and high level of extraordinary achievement has enriched our shared work and inspired and improved the lives of our entire national mental health community.
Please join us on Wednesday afternoon September 25th to share in this very special moments, to be held at the NYAPRS Conference at the Villa Roma Resort in Callicoon. See below for more about our stellar awardees and about the conference.
Sally Zinman Lifetime Achievement Award
Sally Zinman “has forged strength from a place of pain, emerging as a bright and unwavering beacon for the mental health consumer movement. Over more than three decades of activism, Sally has been a humble but eloquent voice for self-empowerment and self-determination…she has helped elevate and upend the concept of recovery; and planted the seeds for the peer-run programs now flourishing nationwide.
Sally helped launch the country’s first statewide consumer-run organization in the 1970’s; and today, as executive director of the California Association of Mental Health Peer Run Organizations, remains a potent force, working to shatter stigma, promote a community-based, holistic approach to mental wellness, and upholding the civil rights of people living with mental illness (Steinberg Institute).”
Ron Manderscheid Lifetime Achievement Award
Ron Manderscheid has made legendary contributions over the past 4 decades to the advancement of health care reform, recovery principles and practices, whole health policies and models of care, peer support and peer run services. Ron has humbly and tirelessly been a ‘worldbeater’ for our movement and our values, as a visionary, advocate, activist, academic, researcher, educator, speaker and commentator.
Ron currently serves as the executive director of the National Association of County Behavioral Health and Developmental Disability Directors and the National Association for Rural Mental Health and as an adjunct professor in the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Ron
He has previously acted as Chief, Survey and Analysis branch of the US Department of Health and Human Services and has received countless awards from every corner of our community and our field.
Teena Brooks Public Policy Leadership Award
Clarencetine ‘Teena’ Brooks has a long proud record of achievement as a dedicated laser-focused advocate, organizer, educator and public policy maker who has been resolute in advancing the values of recovery, human rights, criminal justice reform and cultural competence across New York City, New York State and the nation. Teena currently serves as Assistant Director of the Office of Consumer Affairs (OCA) at the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. In this role, she works to ensure that the consumer and peer perspective informs the Department’s work in mental health, substance use, and developmental disabilities.
She previously worked at the Urban Justice Center (UJC) for thirteen years to enforce the rights of low-income New Yorkers with mental illness and organized on issues including the improvement of relations between the NYPD and the mental health community, increased supportive housing, and the abolition of solitary confinement for inmates with psychiatric disabilities. Teena is a former President of the NYAPRS Board of Directors and a founding member of our Cultural Competence Committee. She has taught social welfare policy at Fordham University Graduate School of Social Service, is a doctoral candidate at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York and an inspiring roadrunner at New York City’s Annual Marathon.
Victor Pate Public Policy Leadership Award
Victor Pate is a passionate and tireless organizer for the New York Campaign for Alternatives to Isolated Confinement. His passion comes from the traumatic and transformative past experience as a formerly incarcerated New Yorker.
Victor’s commitment has led him to be involved in numerous campaigns to advance the health, safety, rights and community lives of vulnerable groups, including Drop The Rock, Raise The Age, Domestic Violence, Parole, Release Aging People In Prison as well as being an active member and volunteer with The New York State Prisoner Justice Network, Challenging Incarceration, and The National Action Network NYC Chapter where he is a founding member of The Second Chance Committee.
Robert Kent Public Policy Leadership Award
As the General Counsel for the New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services, Rob has been a powerful advocate for recovery from addictions and for recovering people across New York. He has been a champion, co-designer and major implementer of New York’s landmark reforms in taking on the opioid epidemic and our various Medicaid Redesign initiatives and has been at the center of the development and roll out of our historic access-to-care behavioral health parity protections. Most notably, Rob’s personal efforts to promote recovery in communities across the state, crisscrossing communities whether it be a day, evening or weekend have been both heartwarming and breathtaking.
Rob’s exemplary efforts work have been recognized by the Caron Foundation’s Legal Professional Public Service Award and the Coalition of Behavioral Health Agencies’ Annual Leadership Award.
ALL REGISTRATIONS ARE BEING HANDLED DIRECTLY BY THE VILLA ROMA at
https://reservations.travelclick.com/2864?groupID=2511205#/guestsandrooms.
RATES ARE THE SAME AS LAST YEAR’S: REGISTER 5 AND GET ONE FREE!
Question? Contact us at eileenc@nyaprs.org