Our Team

Harvey Rosenthal serves as the Chief Executive Officer of the Alliance for Rights and Recovery (formerly NYAPRS) a peer-provider partnership that has been a leading state and national change agent for over three decades. Harvey Rosenthal has dedicated the last 45 to the promotion of public mental health policies and practices that advance the recovery, rehabilitation, rights, and full community inclusion of individuals with psychiatric disabilities and diagnoses. 

Under his leadership, the Alliance advocacy has helped to transform state and national mental health systems; increase access to rehabilitation, employment, and peer support services; and promote criminal justice-related mental health reforms. Harvey has helped to create several nationally acclaimed and replicated peer support, employment, and transformational training innovations.

He has worked to fight discrimination and human rights violations and to advance informed choice protections, self-directed care, and racial equity.  Harvey’s efforts have received the highest honors from Mental Health America and the College for Behavioral Health Leadership, Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association, National Coalition for Mental Health Recovery and National Association of Peer Supporters. 

He has served on the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law’s Board of Trustees for well over a decade. His interest in his work is personal, dating back to a psychiatric hospitalization at age 19.

Len Statham is the Chief Operating Officer of the Alliance for Rights and Recovery (formerly NYAPRS). He has worked with people in recovery for over 25 years, promoting recovery-focused services and service provision. Currently, Len serves on the board of the New York Peer Specialist Certification Board, as well as the Advisory Board of the Academy of Peer Services. He has worked nationally with SAMHSA’s Bringing Recovery Supports to Scale Technical Assistance Center (BRSS TACS) to help peer-run organizations from across the country develop and operationalize programs and policies that increase their sustainability.

Additionally, Len has worked with the National Development and Research Institutes Addiction Technology Transfer Center (NDRI-ATTC) and The Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation at Boston University, offering training and technical assistance to organizations across the country and providing employment services to people in mental health recovery. Len holds a master’s degree in organizational management from SUNY Empire State College and is a Certified Psychiatric Rehabilitation Practitioner (CPRP). Importantly, Len is a person with lived experience in the mental health system, and this experience informs and strengthens his work in the field.

Shannon Higbee is the Chief Strategy Officer at The Alliance for Rights and Recovery. She has been working in the non-profit field for over 20 years, having started her career at a private school in Western New York eventually both teaching secondary English and working as the Director of Development there. Shannon transitioned into working in the mental health field with Recovery Options Made Easy, formerly Housing Options Made Easy in 2016. She began working with Recovery Options in their Housing Department and grew with the organization in several roles including Chief Executive Officer. In January of 2025, Shannon transitioned into a new role as the Chief Strategy Officer for The Alliance for Rights and Recovery utilizing her passion for peer services, community building, and mental health advocacy in a new capacity. Shannon continues to have a passion for teaching as well and has trained, presented, and served as a panelist or keynote speaker on several peer services topics across New York State and nationally with organizations such as the New York State Academy of Peer Services, The Alliance for Rights and Recovery, and The National Council for Mental Wellbeing. Her areas of specialty include peer-run crisis services and peer integration in clinical models. Her belief in the efficacy and necessity of high quality and accessible peer services is the driving force behind her work.

Daniella Labate Covelli is the Director of Recovery and Rehabilitation. She has worked in the field of recovery services for over 20 years. She is a trained Cognitive Remediation Specialist and received her master’s degree in social work from Hunter College in NYC before joining The Alliance team in 2016. 

Daniella began her career working in a Continuing Day Treatment program in NYC and quickly became interested in rehabilitation and recovery. Her belief in recovery led her to a degree in social work, which resulted in positions overseeing operations at both an IPRT and PROS. She was also instrumental in transitioning that organization’s PROS to a managed care reimbursement model. In her roles at The Alliance, Daniella has supported organizations throughout NYS to prepare for the transition to Medicaid Managed Care reimbursement and continues to work with organizations across the State in this environment, providing training and technical assistance through a recovery-focused lens. She also leads a Statewide training initiative, The New York Psychiatric Rehabilitation Training Academy, supporting rehabilitation practitioners to gain and hone skills in supporting people towards personalized recovery through psychiatric rehabilitation interventions and practices.

Daniella has expertise in training and program development and has provided training and technical assistance on topics including infrastructure development and capacity building, providing national technical assistance in this area. She is an experienced strategic planning facilitator, skilled at creating impact statements, and problem-solving. Daniella also provides coaching to behavioral health organization managers and directors, supporting them in developing and enhancing leadership skills. She has presented at conferences on topics including program development and cognitive remediation and managed care business best practices. Daniella’s ultimate goal is to provide quality training and technical assistance to providers that meet community needs, maintain the highest standards in practice, and, most importantly, support a person’s recovery.

Eileen Crosby joined the Alliance in 2017 as the Office Manager.  Prior to the Alliance for Rights and Recovery, she was the Administrative Coordinator at The Arc New York (formerly known as NYSARC).  During her tenure at Alliance, she has become a national subject matter expert in conference planning (whether virtual or in person) and is sought out by other organizations to offer her assistance, including the NYC Peer Specialist Conference, National Association of Peer Supporters Conference, and SUD/MH Peer Conference in New York state.

Eileen now works as the Chief Administrative Officer at the Alliance where she is an invaluable team member, priding herself on her organizational skills, and strives every day to further the mission of the Alliance.  When Eileen is not at work, you can find her in her kayak on the river or traveling anywhere a car, ship, or plane takes her.

Ellen M. Healion began her career in the field of education until her own experience with the mental health service system.  She has been a well-respected peer services consultant within mental health systems, agencies, and programs for over 30 years.  During that time, she has provided executive leadership to one of the leading Peer Run organizations in NYS. That experience has given Ms. Healion extraordinary expertise in the many nuances of Mental Health Systems and the infusion of recovery, peer services; creating system change within local, state and federal policy.

Currently, she is proudly working with the Alliance for Rights and Recovery (formerly NYAPRS), as the Director of Peer Bridger Services.

Through the Alliance and other consulting engagements, Ms. Healion has provided technical assistance in peer programs and services to State Departments of Mental Health in Arizona, Mississippi and Washington State, in addition to peer run agencies in New York.  Ellen continues to present at conferences and trainings on a wide variety of topics that effect individuals in recovery.

During 2019, Ms. Healion earned a Certificate in Social Impact Strategy from the University of Pennsylvania, providing her with a wealth of tools and practices to bring Peer Recovery Services to the next level. 

Committed to the importance of giving a platform for peers’ perspectives to be heard in the shaping of programs and policies, Ms. Healion continues to participate with boards and committees of numerous related organizations throughout Long Island, New York State, and the Nation to bring the voice of recovery to the ever-changing landscape of Mental Health Services, Medicaid and Managed Care.

Luke Sikinyi is a first generation American born to Kenyan immigrants. He credits his mother for instilling in him a sense of justice and a desire to help others. He grew up in Georgia before going to New York University to study Psychology with a minor in American Sign Language. Upon graduating he began working for a Clubhouse in New York City, where he started advocating for mental health rights and a more equitable, person-centered system. Mr. Sikinyi went on to study public health at Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health with a focus on Health Education and Health Communication. He is now the Director of Public Policy at the Alliance for Rights and Recovery (formerly NYAPRS).