Psychiatric News March 18, 2005
Volume 40 Number 6
© 2005 American Psychiatric Association
p. 3
Psychiatric Foundation Honors Minority MH Achievers
Tara Burkholder
Tara Burkholder is the marketing communications manager of the American
Psychiatric Foundation.
The winners have undertaken a variety of activities to ensure that
minorities receive mental health care—and care that is culturally
sensitive.
The American Psychiatric Foundation (APF) has named a California
psychiatrist and organizations in Pennsylvania, Idaho, and California as the
recipients of the second annual APF Awards for the Advancement of Minority
Mental Health.
The awards, formerly known as the Minority Mental Health Awards, will be
presented at the foundation's 2005 annual benefit, "Georgia on My
Mind," which will take place in Atlanta on Saturday, May 21 (see
page 41).
Each recipient will receive a $5,000 award. The awards are made possible
through an unrestricted educational grant from Otsuka America
Pharmaceutical.
Alejandro (Alex) Kopelowicz, M.D., of Granada Hills, Calif., is being
honored for his work developing and testing cultural adaptations of
psychiatric rehabilitation modalities for Latinos with serious mental illness.
Kopelowicz is a bilingual, bicultural psychiatrist who was born in Buenos
Aires, Argentina. As medical director of the San Fernando Mental Health
Center, a community mental health center operated by the Los Angeles County
Department of Mental Health, he has spearheaded the effort to provide
evidence-based, culturally competent psychiatric services to more than 200
Mexican Americans and their families. He is also an associate professor of
psychiatry at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
The organizations being honored are the Family Practice and Counseling
Network Behavioral Health Department of Philadelphia, Terry Reilly Health
Services Farmworker Mental Health Program in Nampa, Idaho, and United Indian
Health Services of Arcata, Calif.
The Family Practice and Counseling Network Behavioral Health Department
operates four nurse-managed community health centers that provide
comprehensive primary and behavioral health care services to occupants of
public-housing projects in Philadelphia. Its innovative program facilitates
the identification, initial treatment, and referral of patients who would
ordinarily lack access to quality mental health care.
Terry Reilly Health Services is being honored for its Farm Worker Mental
Health Program, which works to increase bilingual mental health services for
Hispanic farm workers and their families in rural Idaho. As part of a
community health clinic that has provided comprehensive care for 33 years, the
program has filled a need for culturally and linguistically appropriate mental
health services.
United Indian Health Services, a tribally owned and operated nonprofit
agency, provides health care for American Indian residents in Humboldt and Del
Norte counties in northern California. It administers mental health care,
including substance abuse treatment; community outreach; and preventative
health programs that reach more than 16,000 Native Americans and their
families.
"This year's recipients serve diverse populations and act as examples
to others in advancing the mental health of underserved minority
populations," said Altha J. Stewart, M.D., president of the foundation.
"We are very proud to honor such deserving work."
The APF Awards for the Advancement of Minority Mental Health honor
psychiatrists and mental health programs that are undertaking special efforts
to increase public awareness of mental health care for underserved minorities,
increasing access to mental health services for minorities, and enhancing the
quality of care for minorities, especially those who suffer from severe mental
illness.
More information about the awards and the foundation is posted
online at
<www.psychfoundation.org>.
Related Article:
-
Foundation's Atlanta Benefit To Raise Awareness, Money
- Michele Werner and Mary Claire Leftwich
Psychiatr News 2005 40: 41.
[Full Text]
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