To honor his “30 years of exemplary service,” MHA’s Board has named Richard Van Horn as our organization’s first President Emeritus.

After serving as Board chair in the late 1970s, Richard was chosen in 1980 to lead our organization. He built our organization into one of Los Angeles’ leading nonprofit mental health organizations.

Richard led our development of recovery-focused services and programs run by and for people with mental illness – called “consumer-run” programs – which reflect our belief in the power and potential of the people we serve. As an advocate, Richard is a leader in systems change at the local, state and national levels.

At the TAY Academy, we are transforming our MHA Village model of mental health care to meet the needs of young adults, ages 18 to 25, with emotional and behavioral difficulties. We serve youth who are aging out of foster care and struggling on the streets. With the Academy’s four service areas – education/employment, housing options, community living and wellness – we help them transition to life in the mainstream community.

With a theme of “Get Connected,” our Antelope Valley Services and Education division held community activities for this year’s Mental Health Month.

We emphasized the important role that social support has in helping people maintain their well-being and in reducing depression and other illnesses.  A national survey showed that while many people feel routinely overwhelmed by stress, most view their relationships with family, friends and others as important sources of emotional support and stress relief.

We have graduated the third session of students from “Jump Start,” part of our workforce development pipeline to mental health careers.  Jump Start is an intensive 10-week program to train individuals with bachelor’s degrees in recovery-focused services.

This year, Jump Start and its 70 graduates benefited from the help of our 20 nonprofit and public service agencies that provided internships to our students.  

With generous support from The California Endowment and Los Angeles County’s Mental Health Department, MHA is designing and disseminating an approach to attract bilingual and bicultural young people to work in California’s public and nonprofit mental health system.

Dr. Gustavo Loera, who directs our Center for Educational Research and Development, was selected to present his study, “Learning and Motivational Characteristics of Urban High School Students” at the 2010 American Education Research Association conference.
 
As another project, Gustavo conducted research on “Preparing Health Science Teachers for a World in Networking” for the California Department of Education. He and colleagues from the University of Southern California and West Ed research group studied networking among health career teachers.

As a co-leader of the Homeless Connections Initiative, MHA is working with fellow service providers, the faith community, business, city services and schools to find solutions to homelessness in Long Beach, California.

Together, we reach out to the most vulnerable among those who are homeless. Thanks to Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe and the City of Long Beach, the coalition received funds to support 24 people in housing. It has already helped 10 people – including one who was homeless for 38 years – move into homes.

At its eighth annual Golden Bell Awards, our Antelope Valley Services honored more than 80 people we serve for their mental health recovery accomplishments of the past year.

We handed out bells to individuals who worked in local businesses, reached an education goal and volunteered their time. Others were honored for reaching an independent living goal or a year’s sobriety.

Our Antelope Valley executive director calls the day a time to “to validate, motivate and educate. We validate the success of people who set high goals for themselves and worked hard to achieve them. And, it’s a way for them to motivate others on the road to recovery.

“It’s a time to educate the public about the abilities of people we serve, and we’re fortunate to have community supporters and volunteers help us do that.” Our event was attended by 300 people and sponsored by Lancaster West Rotary and High Desert Medical Group.

The Long Beach Library Foundation has chosen The Soloist by Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez for its community-wide Long Beach Reads One Book, set for March 2010. As an organization mentioned in the book and a member of the Long Beach community, we’re honored to be a part of the activities.

The book chronicles Lopez’ relationship with Nathaniel Ayers, a Julliard-trained musician who was homeless and struggling with mental illness a few blocks from the Times building.

As part of his research, Lopez visited our MHA Village and met with Mark Ragins, M.D., the Village’s founding psychiatrist. Lopez called Mark “my on-call adviser” and said Mark’s book, A Road to Recovery, was “an invaluable part of my ongoing education.”

During the event, we hope to raise awareness about homelessness and mental health needs. For more information about Long Beach Reads One Book activities, please visit www.lbplfoundation.org/programs_lbrob.html.

Almost 50 students make up the latest class of “Jump Start,” part of our workforce development pipeline to mental health careers. Jump Start is an intensive 10-week program to train individuals with bachelor’s degrees in recovery-focused services.

The book chronicles Lopez’ relationship with Nathaniel Ayers, a Julliard-trained musician who was homeless and struggling with mental illness a few blocks from the Times building.

For information on Jump Start, visit its web page at http://mhajumpstart.googlepages.com.

Clifford Beers Housing – the nonprofit development organization we started – has launched a website of its own – www.cbeershousing.org.

Visitors to the site can see photos of Clifford Beers’ two completed projects – Elm Avenue Apartments in Long Beach and Arbor Fields, a partnership with a for-profit developer, in Lancaster, California.

With three more projects in development, Clifford Beers continues to move ahead with its goal to create supportive housing that brings individuals, especially those who have been homeless, into greater participation in community life.