October 5, 2006

TOP TEN REASONS WHY YOU DON’T WANT TO MISS THE MENTAL HEALTH ASSOCIATION IN NEW YORK STATE’S ANNUAL AWARDS DINNER AND CONFERENCE ON OCTOBER 26TH AND 27TH:

1) Wonderful keynote speaker!

Joshua Wolf Shenk, the best selling author of Lincoln’s Melancholy: How Depression Challenged A President And Fueled His Greatness has been well received in presentations throughout the country. This will be a great opportunity to here from a man whose book has received acclaim from The New York Times, Rosalynn Carter, Mike Wallace, Atlantic Monthly and many other media sources. Friday, October 27th, 12:15 - 2:00 p.m.

2) Fantastic Entertainment!

Paul E. Jones, widely regarded as one of the funniest, topical and most inspiring speaker nationwide on the topic of mental illness and recovery, will take a “A Humorous Look . . . at a Serious Life". Thursday, October 26th, Immediately Following the Awards Dinner

3) Lots of Informative Workshops!

The conference offers workshops on seven areas of great interest to our members and colleagues in the mental health community including:
- Employment and Recovery
- PROS
- Community Based Mental Health Services for Returning Vets
- Impact of Inspector General Work Plan for Mental Health Providers
- Criminal Justice and Interface with Mental Health System
- Welcoming Gays and Bisexuals and Transgender Clients in the Mental Health System
- Transition Issues for Adolescents Aging out of the Children’s Mental Health System

4) Exciting awards dinner (Thursday, October 26th, 6:00 p.m.) honoring the great work of the MHAs in New York, our friends in the legislature and well deserved recognition for our colleagues in the community, including:

- Michael B. Friedman, Director of the Center for Policy and Advocacy of the Mental Health Associations of NYC and Westchester
- NYS Senate Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Committee Chair, Thomas Morahan
- NYS Assembly Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Committee Chair, Peter Rivera
- Eric Weaver, developer of “A Law Enforcement Perspective on Mental Health, Mental Illness and Policy Suicide”
- Cara Matthews, Reporter for Gannett News Service
- Kasha Morgan, Parent of the Year Award Recipient
- Fran Sabatini, Parent of the Year Award Recipient
- Ida Thonnessen, Volunteer of the Year for Community Service
- AND TWO SURPRISE AWARD WINNERS!

5) Wonderful hotel accommodations with great food at the Albany Marriott on Wolf Road!

6) Reasonable prices for all events! – see www.mhanys.org

7) Wonderful opportunity to network and learn about issues in a relaxing and comfortable atmosphere.

8) Great way to get updates on pertinent mental health issues such as Timothy’s Law, PROS, Housing, Medication Accessibility and Adolescent Transition Issues and many other issues of significance to our community!

9) Prime leaf watching season in and around the Capital Region!

10) Minutes away from some of the best apple orchards and cider mills in the state!

INFORMATION AND REGISTRATION AVAILABLE AT WWW.MHANYS.ORG