2006 National Council Awards of Excellence Honorees

• Service Delivery
• Community Collaboration
• Community Crisis Response
• Consumer and Family Support
• Mental Health and Substance Abuse Awareness
• Service to the Behavioral Healthcare Industry
• Media and Journalism
• Public Policy
• Grassroots Advocacy
• Lifetime Achievement
• Public Service
• Harold C. Piepenbrink Award for Excellence in Behavioral Healthcare Management and Service

Excellence in Service Delivery

This award recognizes provider organizations that are operating innovative and effective programs and services to meet the mental health and substance use treatment needs of the communities they serve, with an emphasis on demonstrating outcomes and serving the most vulnerable populations.

The Center for Health Care Services
San Antonio, Texas

Too often, individuals with mental illnesses are placed in our nation's jails and detention centers for nonviolent, victimless crimes. Once incarcerated, these individuals still do not receive adequate treatment and remain in the system simply because there is nowhere else for them to go.

Since its inception in 2002, the Center for Health Care Services' Bexar County Jail Diversion Program has brought together 22 city, county and state law enforcement, judicial and healthcare entities to streamline the process of jail diversion at all points of entry. Today, jail diversion for persons with mental illness is an active daily occurrence, which includes a broad range of comprehensive screening, increased access, continuity of care and cost savings to the community.

Launching innovative programs such as the Crisis Intervention Training Program for local law enforcement, a 60-bed "step-down" program, and an Involuntary Outpatient Commitment program, the Bexar County Jail Diversion Program has diverted 3764 individuals to treatment and is estimated to save the justice system up to five million dollars annually.

Stars Behavioral Health Group
Oakland, CA

In many communities, young adults are a forgotten and overlooked population. Having aged out of traditional youth services, young adults with mental health and addictions problems suddenly find themselves alone and without support. STARS Behavioral Health Group is being honored for two outstanding programs serving the youth of northern California.

Built on a foundation of choice and personal responsibility, the Transition Age Youth Program provides young adults aged 17-1/2 to 23 with an individualized blend of mental health support, intensive case management, medication support and crisis intervention services. TAYP recognizes and respects clients as whole persons helping them deal not only with mental health challenges but also with life challenges, such as education, employment, housing and family relationships. The success of TAYP is evident in the level of client satisfaction, measured at 83%. Individuals in the program report increased stability at home, significant improvement in managing their symptoms and reduced hospitalization and utilization of high-end services.

The ART/EQUIP Program is designed to support the transformation of agency services toward promoting resiliency and skill-building among youth and young adults using peer help approaches, the application of promising empirical practices and a focus on outcomes. EQUIP groups incorporate Aggression Replacement Training into residential, day treatment and outpatient programs throughout California to help individuals reduce aggressive behaviors while increasing their capacity for compassion and caring.

Excellence in Community Collaboration

This award recognizes an organization or group of organizations that has demonstrated effective and innovative partnership to promote community collaboration and integration on mental health and substance use treatment issues. Collaboration might be focused on fighting stigma and educating key stakeholders, improving access to services and supports, delivering services and programs or obtaining and implementing new community resources.

Durham System of Care
Durham, North Carolina

In 2002, family members, providers and community leaders in greater Durham identified a need to fundamentally restructure their human service delivery system. Like many others, the Durham system had become fragmented, with children and families entering the system through many doors and with groups providing overlapping and uncoordinated services.

Key system and community leaders committed to creating a sustainable, community-wide system of care. Teamwork was the key word from the beginning and the program cut across traditional system boundaries to truly focus on the needs of children and families, build upon their strengths and provide services and supports when and where they are most needed.

Today, the Durham System of Care has significantly improved the availability of appropriate services, with a six-fold increase in the number of children and families accessing services. In addition, the community has seen a dramatic decrease in unnecessary out-of-home placements, reinvestment of county funds saved through improved service delivery and the creation of Child and Family Teams across all child-serving agencies.

The Durham System of Care has set the model for" the way business is done" in Durham and families are regaining faith in the system's ability to truly help their children succeed at home, at school and in the community.

The Durham System of Care comprises the following partners:

• The Durham Center
• Durham County Department of Social Services
• Durham Department of Public Health
• Durham Public Schools
• Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
• Durham District Court
• Duke University, Center for Child and Family Policy
• Durham County Government

Wraparound Services of Livingston County
Livingston County, Michigan

It's often easy to collaborate with community partners on shared goals, from designing complementary service programs to establishing long-term coalitions around those goals. The true challenge, however, comes in funding and finding innovative ways to resource programs and services that are truly integrated.

Wraparound Services of Livingston County developed an innovative approach to integrating mental health, addictions treatment, child welfare, juvenile justice and special education services for children. And, the group is pooling funds from eleven local, state and federal sources to support wraparound services for children and their families.

Partner agencies pool funds to provide a comprehensive array of services for children. This pooled funding allows child and family teams the ability to flexibly and creatively design services to meet the individual needs of children and their families. The results - enhanced collaboration between direct service providers, fewer costly out-of-home placements, better service coordination and improved quality of life for children and their families.

Wraparound Services of Livingston County comprises the following partners:

• Livingston County Community Mental Health Authority
• Livingston County Department of Public Health
• Livingston County Juvenile Court
• Livingston Educational Service Agency
• Livingston County Department of Human Services
• Livingston/Washtenaw Substance Abuse Coordinating Agency

Excellence in Community Crisis Response

This award is presented to a provider organization that has made a significant contribution to meeting a community's special mental health and substance use treatment needs in a time of community crisis or disaster. This award recognizes organizations that have provided significant, sustained service to communities in crisis, delivering such services in a manner that underscores the critical role played by behavioral healthcare providers and the exceptional value they bring to supporting communities in times of crisis.

Capital Area Human Services District
Baton Rouge, LA

On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall in Louisiana and Mississippi. As a result of the storm, many out of a vulnerable population with pre-existing serious mental illnesses lost their access to the treatment and support they were receiving and were re-traumatized as a result of the disaster and dislocation. Capital Area Human Services District represents the courage and commitment of hundreds of community mental health providers across the country that responded immediately to answer the needs of Hurricane Katrina victims in need of mental health treatment and support.

After the storm, the nearly 350,000 evacuees from the New Orleans and Lake Charles areas who came to Baton Rouge were struggling to find housing and services, while trying to ascertain how much of their lives needed rebuilding. CAHSD started to reach out to those with mental illnesses in this evacuee population. The agency provided much-needed clinical assessments, medications, referrals and follow-up services to thousands of evacuees - adults, children and adolescents - in special needs shelters throughout the 7-parish area that CAHSD regularly serves. The agency also extended walk-in access to evacuees for their treatment services in their community-based clinics throughout the region.

In addition, CAHSD hosted daily meetings of service providers, advocates and concerned citizens to focus on the emerging behavioral health and primary care needs of the evacuees and to deploy volunteers in areas of greatest need.

CAHSD attributes its successful crisis response to the fact it is an agency strongly rooted in the community and was able to use a broad base of community stakeholders willing to collaborate to answer the spectrum of disaster relief needs.

Excellence in Consumer and Family Support

This award honors individuals or family members who have overcome incredible odds in their own journey to recovery from mental health and substance use problems or have helped others on this journey. The award recognizes those who have fought to ensure that consumers and their families are treated with respect and dignity.

Mildred Smiley, Susan Smiley and Tina Kotulski

Millie, Susan and Tina serve as an inspiration for families that struggle with serious mental illness. Millie, Susan and Tina's mother, was diagnosed with schizophrenia in her early twenties and spent years in and out of the public mental health system. Her daughters encountered many barriers while seeking the best care for Millie. But through family support, tenacity and good community based services, Millie is now living a full life in recovery.

The Smiley family has channeled their experience into their dedicated work as advocates, lobbying federal and state legislators and raising public awareness about serious mental illness. They fight for needed resources to improve the public mental health system, expand community based care and ensure access to treatment for those who cannot afford care.

Susan has shared Millie's story through a documentary film Out of the Shadow, which will be broadcast on public television stations nationwide beginning in May 2006. Tina will share her story in a forthcoming book, Saving Millie: A Daughter's Story of Surviving Schizophrenia.

Judy G. Reeves
Centerstone Community Mental Health Centers, Inc.
Nashville, TN

Known as a "compassionate champion" for individuals with mental illness, Judy Reeves is a role model and advocate who works tirelessly to erase stigma and educate others about mental health issues.

As a child, Ms. Reeves saw her mother battle mental illness and endure harsh, debilitating treatments. As she grew older, she too struggled with mental illness and was diagnosed in 1997 with depression. With diagnosis and resulting treatment, Ms. Reeves found relief from her symptoms and a new calling in life: using her experience to help others understand mental illness and find the strength to seek treatment.

Today, Ms. Reeves serves as the Consumer Affairs Representative at Centerstone, after earning her college degree at the age of 48. She works to ensure consumer choice, to elevate the voice of consumers and to ensure that consumer needs are met and respected throughout Centerstone's 41 county service area. But her work extends beyond Centerstone's boundaries: she also helped to initiate the Mental Health Memorial Project to honor more than 2,300 individuals who lived and died with mental illness on the grounds of the former Central State Psychiatric Hospital - the same hospital where her mother had been a patient more than 40 years earlier.

Excellence in Mental Health and Substance Abuse Awareness

This award recognizes an individual or organization that has advanced awareness and understanding of mental health and substance use problems with an emphasis on encouraging treatment. The nominee shall have worked to educate the public about a mental health or substance use problem, to encourage quality improvement in treatment and service delivery or to promote effective and culturally competent community-based services.

The Kent Center for Human & Organizational Development
Warwick, RI

A well-informed community respects and understands individuals with mental health and addictions problems, recognizes basic symptoms of such disorders and knows where help is available. Central Rhode Island is becoming such a community thanks to the creativity and reach of the Kent Center for Human and Organizational Development.

In 2005, the Kent Center launched an aggressive public service campaign featuring radio, television and print announcements promoting the message Seek Treatment; It Works. Reaching more than a half million Rhode Island households, the media campaign was supported by community engagement such as health fairs, educational events and town gatherings.

But reaching broad audiences was not enough for the Kent Center. They also targeted Warwick's business community through a partnership with the local Chamber of Commerce, helping the region's business leaders better understand the impact of untreated mental illness in the workforce and the importance of providing appropriate support to employees.

Excellence in Service to the Behavioral Healthcare Industry

This award honors outstanding service and partnership by organizations that support mental health and substance use treatment providers. Such organizations may include technology companies, business service providers (such as staffing firms or consultants) and product or service vendors.

ProtoCall Services
Portland, OR

ProtoCall Services, Inc., a division of Metro Crisis Intervention Service, contracts with public and private treatment providers to ensure 24/7 telephone access to urgent and crisis services in behavioral health.

Providing intake and assessment, crisis response and triage services, ProtoCall blends clinical expertise with seamless telephone access using state-of-the-art technology, allowing behavioral health providers to expand and improve their services without expanding staff, cost and operations. With an emphasis on true partnerships in service delivery, ProtoCall's Masters and Ph.D. level clinicians answer more than 400,000 calls annually on behalf of 72 community partners in 16 states. ProtoCall's services allow individuals in need to gain ready access to care while relieving partner agencies' staff of the burden of ensuring access to crisis services 24 hours a day.

ProtoCall's mission is "Providing timely, effective assessment and intervention to people in times of crisis, and ensuring continuous, quality access to professional behavioral health and wellness services." This mission is fulfilled one call at a time through its behavioral health partnerships across the nation.

ProtoCall is a National Council affiliate member and was nominated for this award by the Northern Arizona Regional Behavioral Health Authority.

Excellence in Media and Journalism

This award honors journalists and media outlets that excel in covering and reporting on behavioral healthcare issues. This award recognizes the importance of the media in informing public opinion, educating about mental health and substance use issues, illustrating the need for system change and demonstrating the effectiveness of treatment and support services.

Robert Pear, The New York Times
Washington, DC

Mr. Robert Pear's attention to mental health issues and accurate and compassionate coverage of those issues is truly exemplary. He always finds a compelling way to blend the field's policy issues with the real impact of those policies on individuals and families. His portrayal of the issues is always comprehensive, balanced and informative, whether he is writing about managed care or Medicare.

The Daily Dispatch of Henderson
Five County Mental Health Authority
Henderson, NC

In July 2005, the Daily Dispatch of Henderson partnered with the Five County Mental Health Authority to produce Positive Change, a 40-page publication featuring information on mental health, developmental disabilities and addictions treatment services. The newspaper insert was distributed to nearly 46,000 homes and businesses in Franklin, Granville, Halifax, Vance and Warren counties in rural north central North Carolina.

In addition to helping residents better understand mental illnesses and addictions, the piece provided information on the treatments, services and supports available throughout the five-county area. It also emphasized the activities of family organizations, support groups and related programs.

The response to Positive Change was tremendous. Outcomes including improved access to services and increased advocacy support as well as greater community awareness, understanding and involvement. Demand for information was so great that the partners also produced a comprehensive resource directory for the region.

Building upon this success, work is already underway for the 2006 edition of Positive Change.

Excellence in Public Policy

The Excellence in Public Policy Award recognizes policy leaders and legislators who champion mental health and addictions treatment issues in Congress and in state legislatures. These awards recognize significant contributions in the public policy/advocacy arena that advance opportunities for access to behavioral healthcare, especially by populations least able to access or pay for such care.

Senator Trent Lott (R-MS)
Senator Lott supported the strengthening of the mental health safety net in the United States Gulf Coast region in the wake of the devastation and trauma caused by Hurricane Katrina. Senator Lott helped to ensure that community mental health centers in the hurricane-affected states were eligible to receive funding from the emergency Social Services Block Grant appropriation. He also supported 100% Medicaid match funding for Mississippi to ensure adequate compensation for behavioral health safety net providers who provided emergency psychiatric assistance to storm survivors.

Senator Jack Reed (D-RI)
Senator Reed has shown exemplary commitment to strengthening the mental health safety net. A recent example is his efforts to protect the essential Targeted Case Management services in the FY 2006 budget reconciliation bill. These services represent the foundation of the comprehensive treatment and support for mental illnesses available through community mental health centers. Senator Reed also introduced S. 1801, the Community Partnership to End Homelessness Act of 2005 and has played a significant role during the SAMHSA reauthorization process in 2000.

Representative Steve Buyer (R-IN)
Representative Buyer is being recognized for his proposal, in the FY 2006 budget reconciliation bill, to authorize new quality improvement initiatives in prescribing psychotropic medications for Medicaid recipients with severe and persistent mental illnesses. The initiatives he proposed are designed to increase the effectiveness of therapy, improve patient adherence to medication regimes, and provide stability to Medicaid medication budgets.

Representative Nancy Johnson (R-CT)
Representative Johnson worked to ensure continuing access to necessary medication for Medicaid beneficiaries as they transitioned to the new Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit. As chair of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health, she has been very involved in oversight of Medicare Part D implementation, ensuring that thousands of low-income individuals with mental illnesses could get comprehensive prescription drug coverage.

Representative Patrick Kennedy (D-RI)
Representative Kennedy has advocated extensively to eliminate the stigma attached to persons who suffer from mental illnesses and addictions disorders and to allow such persons to access quality care. He has sponsored and introduced numerous pieces of mental health legislation including the Paul Wellstone Equitable Treatment Act to end discrimination against those with mental illnesses, the Child Healthcare Crisis Relief Act to help alleviate the critical shortage of child mental health providers, and the Positive Aging Act to improve mental health services for seniors. The story of his own struggles with depression and addictions disorders have helped to personalize his efforts to make behavioral healthcare a priority in the country.

Representative Grace Napolitano (D-CA)
Representative Napolitano's has exemplified enduring commitment to strengthening the mental health safety net. Her efforts as co-founder and co-chair of the Congressional Mental Health Caucus have brought continued attention to the most important mental health issues, particularly the need for early intervention for children and adolescents with behavioral health problems.

State of Michigan-Executive and Legislative Branches, Department of Community Health
Nominated by the Michigan Association of Community Mental Health Boards

In 1996, Michigan's Mental Health code was rewritten to drive person-centered treatment planning based on choices made by individuals receiving treatment. Since then, the efforts of the State of Michigan's legislative and executive branches, including the Department of Community Health, over a successful "decade of transformation" have helped to ensure that the state's mental health system is equipped to provide efficient mental health services that prioritize the needs of individuals receiving services. The services have maximized consumer choice through person-centered practices, self determination programs, vouchers, and self directed care. Today, the mental health system in Michigan also emphasizes the implementation of evidence based practices and provides "community benefit" through value added services to schools, local law enforcement, and other community partners.

Excellence in Grassroots Advocacy

This award recognizes provider organizations, individuals and state associations that promote constructive engagement between behavioral healthcare proponents and government leaders for the purpose of delivering high quality mental health and substance use treatment services to those most in need.

New Jersey Association of Mental Health Agencies
Mercerville, NJ

The New Jersey Association of Mental Health Agencies is the premier voice on state policy issues affecting New Jersey's community mental health system. NJAMHA has played a key role in helping the 125 community mental health agencies that comprise its membership ensure full wellness and recovery for the consumers and family members who rely on them.

Several members of NJAMHA were on Governor Richard Codey's Task Force on Mental Health, which proposed an expansion of community mental health services in the state at a cost of $40 million. NJAMHA set out to have the Governor's Task Force's recommendations enacted into the FY 2006 state budget through an intensive grassroots advocacy campaign. The campaign featured paid newspaper advertisements and editorial press coverage. NJAMHA also provided members with a powerful advocacy document, The Courageous Individuals Who Face Mental Illness and the Compassionate Workers Who Serve Them, to use in lobbying efforts. Lobbying visits led by NJAHMA's staff were supplemented by the efforts of NJAMHA's Grassroots Advocacy Network, comprising teams of three NJAMHA members in each of New Jersey's 21 counties. These advocacy teams took individuals with mental illnesses and their family members to meet with members of the state legislature from their counties.

NJAMHA's grassroots mobilization resulted in all of the Governor's Task Force priorities being included in the state's final budget for FY 2006. NJAMHA has truly helped to shape the direction of mental health policy in New Jersey and regularly continues to introduce major reform efforts and funding initiatives.

Lifetime Achievement Award

This award is presented to an individual whose staff or volunteer career in the behavioral healthcare field exemplifies the values and ideals embraced by the National Council.

Helen M. Dylag
Far West Center
Westlake, OH

Helen M. (Kelly) Dylag's nearly 30 years of experience in behavioral healthcare demonstrate a career of accomplishments, innovations and outstanding work to improve the lives of persons and families with mental illness. She is a powerful driving force for advancing the care of people with mental illness, using compassion and skill in raising standards of care. With creativity and conviction, she has launched many unique programs that resonate for clients, families and the community.

Ms. Dylag has served as a staff nurse and instructor as well as a program manager and center director. Her work is regarded as exemplary, both in the clarity of her leadership and her ability to inspire the best performance from those around her. She turned around a struggling mental health center, tangibly strengthened its core services and focused its work toward client and family recovery. During her nearly ten-year tenure at the Far West Center, Ms. Dylag has introduced several unique prevention and recovery programs, including the Help for Mom postpartum program, the Connections Program addressing the emotional impact of job loss and the Family Program, a psychoeducation group program for individuals and families.

Each day, Ms. Dylag demonstrates her commitment to improving the lives and the quality of life for individuals and families experiencing mental illness.

Marilyn LaCelle
Valley Cities Counseling and Consultation
Auburn, WA

During Ms. LaCelle's varied and successful career, she has served as a provider, educator, advocate, leader, and role model to countless consumers, providers, and community leaders. A significant part of her career has been Ms. LaCelle's tireless effort to collaborate and partner with many persons, committees and organizations, impacting communities nationwide.

Ms. LaCelle's leadership helped to transform Valley Cities Counseling and Consultation, increasing its size tenfold. Valley Cities now serves over 12,000 individuals annually through a comprehensive continuum of behavioral health services. Ms. LaCelle also led the group to become the first freestanding community mental health center in the Pacific Northwest to achieve JCAHO accreditation.

Ms. LaCelle's effort to improve the quality of services for persons in Washington and elsewhere has resulted in many improved lives, reduced symptoms and suffering, and greater productivity and meaning for individuals with mental health and addictions problems.

Peter W. Zevenbergen, Jr.
Wyandot Center for Community Behavioral Healthcare
Kansas City, KS

Peter Zevenbergen has spent more than 25 years leading mental health centers and has focused his career on addressing the needs of consumers, families and communities. His business and management skill allow him to build the programmatic and financial infrastructures that support what is needed in the community and what is right for consumers.

Mr. Zevenbergen is known as "A wise mentor and a CEO who anticipates trends and empowers his staff to respond through innovative programs."Mr. Zevenbergen has spoken widely on mental health issues, has consulted with both nonprofit and public entities and has coauthored multiple articles on mental health and aging. He is a collaborator and a consensus builder who tirelessly advocates to improve the delivery of mental health services.

Excellence in Public Service

The Excellence in Public Service Award is presented to administrators and public health leaders who are championing mental health and addictions issues, demonstrating knowledge, passion and commitment to strengthening America's mental health system.

Ronald W. Manderscheid
Bethesda, MD

Dr. Ronald Manderscheid dedicated his career to public service, working to ensure that individuals with mental health and addictions problems have access to the prevention, early intervention and treatment services that they need.

Spending more than 30 years in government service, Dr. Manderscheid is perhaps best known for his 14 years as Branch Chief of the Survey and Analysis Branch at SAMHSA's Center for Mental Health Services, where he infused his commitment to consumers and families in all of the Branch's activities. He has worked to transform America's behavioral health system, in part, by focusing on how to adapt funding, performance measures and information technology to better support and encourage a comprehensive public health system.

During the National Health Care Reform debate, Dr. Manderscheid served as the policy advisor at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. He also was a member of the Mental Health and Substance Abuse Work Group of the President's Task Force on Health Care Reform. After joining the Constella Group earlier this year, Dr. Manderscheid is developing new demonstration and research projects around behavioral health services, programs and systems.

Harold C. Piepenbrink Award for Excellence in Behavioral Healthcare Management and Service

This award is presented by the Association of Behavioral Healthcare Management (ABHM). Named in honor of a former ABHM president, this award recognizes an individual ABHM member for outstanding service to the behavioral healthcare field.

F. Jerome (Jerry) Doyle
EMQ Children & Family Services
Campbell, CA

Jerome Doyle is well known for his innovative management, vision and strong advocacy on behalf of children, youth and families.

As the chief executive at EMQ, Mr. Doyle has tripled the size of the organization, growing its programs and services into one of Northern California's largest nonprofit organizations. Bringing wraparound and other innovative services to EMQ reflects Mr. Doyle's commitment to helping parents help their kids - a philosophy that has served him well as a manager and that has driven his advocacy work on behalf of children and families.

Jerome Doyle is truly an advocate at heart. In 1993, he led the charge to pass legislation funding wraparound services in Santa Clara County and just a few years later, successfully lobbied to make the program available statewide. Most recently, he helped shepherd the launch and implementation of California's Mental Health Services Act, which dramatically impacts the state's mental health funding for children and adults.

David C. Schimmel
David Lawrence Mental Health Center, Inc.
Naples, FL

David Schimmel is more than your typical CEO. His staff also view him as a mentor who leads by example and compels mental health professionals to see the world through the lives of the individuals and families they serve.

During his 35-year career, Mr. Schimmel has worked to transform the mental health system, to fight stigma and to help those in need of treatment access the services they need. He has worked across Florida to reengineer systems of care to accommodate new funding methodologies and policy reform. He has also significantly expanded the offerings of the David Lawrence Center, more than tripling the budget while reducing the Center's dependency on state funding.

Mr. Schimmel is a strong "systems" thinker who has held leadership posts with the Southwest Florida Behavioral Healthcare Network, the Florida Council for Community Mental Health and Action for Behavioral Health.