MHA-NYC GALA RAISES FUNDS IN
SUPPORT OF THE MANY FACES OF MENTAL HEALTH
WABC Eyewitness News
Anchor Bill Ritter hosts emotional evening
honoring Patrick J. Kennedy and focused on
the personal stories of those challenged and
the need for early detection and greater
awareness.
NEW YORK, N.Y. (April 14,
2016)- On Tuesday night the Mental Health
Association of New York City (MHA-NYC)
brought together over 300 supporters, guests
and business leaders to call for greater
awareness and support for the many faces of
Mental Health.
WABC
Eyewitness News Anchor Bill Ritter hosted
the
emotional evening honoring Patrick J.
Kennedy and focused on the personal stories
of those challenged and the need for early
detection and greater awareness.
Every speaker on stage spoke
about why they too were one of the many
faces of mental health or a part of the vast
support system connected in some way to the
cause. Host Bill Ritter talked about the
huge disparity between the numbers- one in
four adults in this country has had a mental
health challenge- and the resources devoted
to mental wellness.
Longtime MHA-NYC CEO and
President Giselle Stolper highlighted the
organization as a force for mental wellness
as exemplified by such programs as the
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline,
Veterans Crisis Hotline, NFL Lifeline and
164 network crisis centers. “In 2015 alone,”
she said “these programs provided life
saving assistance to 1.5 million people
people across the country. And locally, in
partnership with New York City, we answered
up to 12,000 calls a month from people in
crisis.”
Sarah Vander Schaaff, a
writer and blogger, whose honesty and
courage about her own obsessive compulsive
disorder in the Washington Post received
international acclaim, urged the audience to
talk openly with their children and friends
and embrace “the wisdom and help, medical
and behavioral, that can lessen the pain and
anxiety or depression and limit our mental
well-being.”
Antigone Davis, the head of
Global Safety at Facebook, talked about
their moving work with the National Suicide
Prevention Lifeline to enable “compassionate
connections on Facebook and our efforts to
provide support for those dealing with
depression and thoughts of self harm.”
Working collaboratively with experts in the
field, Facebook has developed enhanced tools
and resources for when people encounter this
kind of content. Davis added that this work
was a labor of love for her, having lost
someone she knew well to suicide while in
college.
It was 21-year-old D.J.
Wilkerson, who brought the audience to its
feet with his story of survival and
ultimately triumph. Wilkerson, said he he
had been called a “nothing” for much of his
life. He began a self described “decline”,
faced trouble with the law, dropped out of
school and was hospitalized in a psychiatric
ward of a hospital. He turned his life
around, with the help of MHA-NYC’s
Adolescent Skills Centers and beamed as he
described his GED, two internships,
successful job at GAMESTOP and educational
and career dreams.
The night came to a perfect
close when Amy Kennedy, Education Director
of the Kennedy Forum and wife of former
Rhode Island representative Patrick J.
Kennedy accepted the night’s award as a
champion of mental health on her husband’s
behalf. Kennedy said the lessons learned
from Wilkerson’s story, and all those shared
throughout the night, were a perfect example
of the need for more education and early
intervention to help all those struggling
with mental health challenges.
Event Chairs for the MHA-NYC
2016 Gala included: Jennifer Ashley, Ph. D.,
Global Director of Human Resources for CBRE,
RIc Clark, Senior Managing Partner and
Global Head of Real Estate at Brookfield,
and CEO of Brookfield Property Partners,
Charles P. Fitzgerald, founder and and
Senior Managing Partner of of V3 Capital
Management, L.P.
Other notable guests
included: Rebecca Jarvis, Chief National
Correspondent ABC News, Tamsen Fidel anchor
at WPIX TV, former New York Rangers
defensemen Tom Laidlaw, former New York
Giants tight end Mark Bavaro and former New
York Jets defensive back and broadcaster
John Dockery.
Sponsors for the MHA-NYC 2016
Gala included: Brookfield, CBRE Group,
Inc., Cynthia Eckes, V3 Capital Management
L.P., Cynthia Zirinsky, Jennifer Ashley, Ric
Clark, Sheri & Kevin Danehy, Charles
Fitzgerald, Diana Gaines, Alison Lewis &
Newmark Grubb Knight, Frank, Alaina
Melichar, Morgan Stanley, Alston & Bird,
Balyasny Asset Management, EY, Facebook,
Inc., Gracie Square Hospital, Bernie
Groveman, Robert Gottesman, Haynes and
Boone, LLP, Kelly Drye & Warren LLP, Meyer
Mintz & Berdon LLP, Montefiore Medical
Center, National Football league, Joseph F.
Peyronnin, III and Susan Zirinsky, Ellen and
Alan Rutsky, Anderson, McCoy & Orta, Beacon
Health Solutions, Lawrence Calcano, Johnson
&Johnson, Magellan Health, Paul Massey,
Michael Nissan, Otsuka Pharmaceutical
Development & Commercialization, Inc.,
Corbett Price, Lynn Sherman, S. Donald
Sussman for Paloma Partners, Kenneth and
Anna Zankel.
About the Mental Health
Association of New York City (MHA-NYC):
MHA-NYC is
a non-profit organization that addresses
mental health needs in New York City and
across the nation. Through our three-part
mission of service, advocacy and education,
we identify unmet needs and develop
culturally sensitive programs to improve the
lives of individuals and families impacted
by mental illness while promoting the
importance of mental health. Our subsidiary, Link2HealthSolutions,
is a leading innovator developing technology
and communications infrastructure critical
for supporting the emotional wellness of
individuals and communities in need.
Together MHA-NYC and Link2Health Solutions
provide high-quality services that reach
more than one million people every year. www.mhaofnyc.org
To learn more about the MHA-NYC gala “The
Many Faces of Mental Health” go to: http://www.mhaofnyc.org/gala2016