Since becoming our chief executive in 1980, Richard Van Horn has built MHA into one of California’s leading nonprofit mental health organizations. He has been at the forefront of improving services for people with mental illness through service innovation, systems design and replication, and public policy change.

As one of the designers of the MHA Village, Mr. Van Horn is a key member of our consulting team. He assists service delivery and government systems who are interested in adapting the integrated services approach to their communities. He helps build consensus among stakeholders, analyze service systems and funding structures, and design implementation strategies.

To create opportunities to make systems change possible, Mr. Van Horn is a leading mental health advocate. He has testified before Congress and California’s legislature. He serves on the California Mental Health Department’s Adult System of Care committee and is a founding member of the California Coalition for Mental Health.

David Pilon, Ph.D., is MHA’s first full-time research director. His work builds on his talents as designer of our MHA Village, founding director of our training division and developer of our “quality of life” outcomes system. He helps increase the capacity of organizations to measure their effectiveness and helps policy makers gauge the system-wide results of programs.

Dr. Pilon’s outcomes studies focus on “quality of life” areas such as living, work, education, finance and social goals, the areas that often form the core of an individual’s role in the community. He developed a computerized system to collect, analyze and report real-time data.

Currently, Dr. Pilon is conducting an evaluation, commissioned by California’s Mental Health Department, for the AB 34 programs, which serve individuals with mental illness who are homeless and/or at risk of jail. His study covers 5,000 individuals served by 55 programs in 34 California counties. Since 1996, he also has measured results of 15 local programs for the Los Angeles County Mental Health Department. He was selected by our state to design research and evaluation in the area of employment for people with mental illness.

Dr. Pilon was honored as 2004 Researcher of the Year by the United States Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association.

Martha Long is the MHA Village’s founding director and has guided its growth from pilot project to national model. She is the force behind making the Village a “living laboratory,” which encourages new ideas and new practices that lead to positive outcomes for the people we serve.

Recognized nationally for her expertise in integrated services, Ms. Long is a consultant, trainer and presenter who works with public systems and organizations. For the SAMHSA Community Action Grants, she assisted mental health leaders in five states, and she has consulted with systems in numerous other states. She has made presentations to the American Psychiatric Association, National Alliance for the Mentally Ill state conferences and the International Association of Psychosocial Rehabilitation Services.

Among her honors, Ms. Long received the International Association of Psychiatric Social Rehabilitation Services’ lifetime achievement award, given to an individual who “has made the most outstanding contributions to the field of psychosocial rehabilitation.”

Paul Barry, M.Ed., specializes in innovations and issues about employment for people with mental illness. Over the past two dozen years, he has created programs that help people with disabilities integrate into their communities and develop identities as workers. He established the Village’s employment services, which have received acclaim for providing “some of the best employment outcomes” for people with mental illness.

As employment has become an increasingly integral part of mental health recovery, Mr. Barry is often requested as a trainer and consultant to organizations. In California, he is a specialist for the Departments of Mental Health and Rehabilitation’s training program. Along with instructing in the Village’s “menu approach” to job development, coaching and retention, he is part of the Departments’/Riverside Community College’s Employment Partnership Training Series, specializing in “employment supports.” He has consulted with systems in New York, Colorado, Alaska and for the five SAMHSA-funded states.

In 1999, Mr. Barry received a first place Eli Lilly Reintegration Award for designing effective services and training others in his field of expertise.

Another founding MHA Village manager, Wayne Munchel, L.C.S.W., designed our Transition Age Youth Program for young people with mental illness and developed an immersion training to help others learn about service to this age group.

Previously, Mr. Munchel was our training director, combining his experiences as a presenter with his expertise in managing a wide range of services for people with mental illness. He has been a regular part of Village “immersions” for 13 years, specializing in topics such as ethics, dual recovery (mental illness and substance abuse) issues and community integration.

As a service director, Mr. Munchel directed our Homeless Assistance Program, and he developed our AB 2034 program for people with mental illness who are homeless or at risk of jail.

The Village’s founding psychiatrist and medical director, Mark Ragins, M.D., has had a leading role in developing our philosophy, treatment strategy and service culture. As a “psychosocial psychiatrist” who believes in recovery, collaboration –among staff and between staff and consumers – and hope, Dr. Ragins is sought after as a speaker. He has become a prolific lecturer, speaking to consumers, community, family and professional groups.

Dr. Ragins is an expert on the role of a psychiatrist in a recovery program. He designed and trains in the Village’s “collaborative psychiatry” approach to providing treatment, built on the belief that people with mental illness will accept help more readily if they are treated as equal and active partners in finding solutions to their needs.

For his own trainings and the Village’s web site, Dr. Ragins has written essays such as “Training Psychosocial Rehabilitation Psychiatrists” and “Medication Collaboration Strategies.” In his newest training, the “Four Stages of Recovery,” he identifies four concepts – hope, empowerment, self-responsibility and a meaningful role in life – that form a framework for helping individuals achieve their goals. “A Road to Recovery,” his new book, grew out of a decade of writings and workshops.

Catherine Bond is one of Project Return Peer Support Network primary trainers. She conducts workshops for people with mental illness in self-advocacy and a variety of recovery approaches. She has been a trainer for the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health, covering topics such as advance directives, which are documents for communicating choices about treatment when individuals are unable to make decisions.

Ms. Bond was instrumental in developing the core values and goals that led to PRPSN selection as a “Partners in CARE” model of the National Mental Health Association, which seeks to recognize and replicate exceptional service approaches. Among her own honors, she received the 2004 Consumer of the Year Award from the Los Angeles County Mental Health Commission.

Prior to PRPSN, Ms. Bond, who is a marriage and family therapist, worked as a trainer and teacher. She has served on the board of the California Network of Mental Health Clients and is active in advocating for the rights of people who, like herself, have struggled with mental illness.

In conference workshops, Gustavo Loera, Ed.D., shares MHA’s lessons as sponsor of the Human Services Academy, Los Angeles’ only nonprofit-school district partnership to guide low-income minority high school students toward careers in mental health and other human services.

Mr. Loera joined MHA in 1997 as the Academy’s director and manages MHA involvement as Academy sponsor at two high schools. In his presentations, he covers key Academy components such as teacher involvement, student recruitment and scheduling courses to maintain the Academy’s “school within a school” learning environment. He discusses parent involvement, work-based learning and college planning components.