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April 28, 2008On Saturday morning, the mental health community lost a wonderful advocate in Ralph Blackshear. He was a man of quiet dignity, respect and compassion. Ralph served as an Advocacy Specialist in the Bureau of Recipient Affairs at OMH. Personally, I got to know Ralph more then a decade ago when he served on the Board of Directors of NAMI when I was director. He was the kind of man who engendered respect from all who knew him. He was a quiet man but when he spoke, everyone listened, because what he said was always intelligent, relevant and heartfelt. His humor, decency and relentless passion for helping people with psychiatric disabilities will be greatly missed. Listed below are several reflections from those who worked closely with Ralph over the years (Thanks to NYAPRS for sharing this information). Glenn -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As many of you know, several years ago I was very pleased to recruit Ralph Blackshear to come to Albany after his many years of working at Hutchings Psychiatric Center as a peer specialist. His work with Recipient Affairs as an Advocacy Specialist had him traveling the state training, speaking and educating people about recovery. He was most recently promoted to an Advocacy Specialist II to work with Multicultural Affairs, a post he truly loved. I am very sad to share with you that on Thursday, Ralph suffered a stroke at work and was taken to Albany Medical Center. Saturday morning Ralph passed away. His wife is planning a memorial service for the Syracuse area later this week with another for his Albany friends likely next week. We will let you know those plans as they are finalized. She has asked that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to honor Ralph's work at the state or local Mental Health Associations. Cards can be sent to the family at:
Mrs. Roselyn Blackshear The family asks that you keep them in your thoughts and prayers. Ralph's kind soft spoken manner would have us all looking out for each other in this difficult time. Take care, John Allen, Special Assistant to the Commissioner; Director, Bureau of Recipient Affairs NYS Office of Mental Health ----------------------- Remembering Ralph Blackshear Jr. In the early 1990’s Syracuse was a community of contradictions – Transitional Living Services was pioneering residential, social and vocational supports in the community, the Onondaga County Department of Mental Health was continuing its policy of not funding advocacy, ECT was relatively easy to find, Hutchings Psychiatric Center admitted hundreds and hundreds of adults and the Mental Patients Liberation Alliance was protesting most State and County actions. Enter an unlikely force for change – a tall, African-American man who had experienced involuntary hospitalization for a psychiatric disability and had raged against the formal treatment system as a patient. He had experienced addiction, poverty and violence. This is a man who could have been labeled and rejected by his community. That was not to be for Ralph. I first met Ralph in his role as patient advocate at Hutchings Psychiatric Center. Ralph entered the scene with a quiet, humble confidence. He was willing to meet providers and policymakers where they were at with a message of recovery and partnership towards change. Ralph endured. He never once said a negative thing about other advocates, or claimed that his way was better. He just kept working for the betterment of people who experience a psychiatric disability. In 1994, the Onondaga County Department of Mental Health decided to form our local Mental Health Subcommittee, in keeping with Reinvestment law. All eyes were on this Subcommittee. The peer community wanted to see if it would be real. To add even more pressure, it would be the job of this Subcommittee to recommend how hundreds of thousands of dollars in Reinvestment funds were to be allocated. Ralph Blackshear was the very first Chair of the Mental Health Subcommittee. Under Ralph’s calm yet deliberate leadership several years of creative and effective Reinvestment Plans were developed and implemented. A peer run drop in center was established, peer advocacy positions at Hutchings Psychiatric Center were expanded. Hospital-based mental health services in the community became recovery oriented. A local case management agency began a Peer Mentor program and Ralph provided support, encouragement and guidance to help others rise to leadership positions. Ralph led by example and his example was more consistent that would seem possible given human nature. I never saw Ralph lose his temper or lose hope. Any person in need was always treated with respect. Ralph was a great example of patience. Force, pressure and frustration were out of the question. His winning smile, compassionate ear and kind words could win over anyone –eventually. Personal success was never Ralph’s goal. Advocacy was a calling to this man of Faith, and service was all that mattered. Those who met Ralph after he moved to Albany to work in the Office of Mental Health may not have any sense of the dark days that he overcame. Ralph was the epitome of recovery. He was thrilled to be working with OMH. Ralph would hang picture around the office for me with precision while he would give me ideas for how to make Clinic-Plus more relevant to people of various cultures. He brightened my day by saying “good morning and have a wonderful day” EVERYDAY that we were both in the office. He would tell of how he loved his wife and how proud he was of his daughter who was beginning to work in the mental health field. Last Thursday evening Ralph was working late on an important project. After experiencing a stroke, Ralph was helped by a wonderful co-worker who lovingly cared for him and saw that he made it to the hospital. His words at the time were again characteristic in his gracious nature….he said that his family needed him and asked that his co-worker tell his wife that he loved her. In Ralph’s office there is a bumper sticker that says “Anticipate Miracles”. Let his life of downs and ups be a reminder to us all about the innate goodness that can be found in people. It is worth it to support mental health services, to advocate with a landlord to give a tenant another chance, to promote access to good jobs and careers for people pursuing recovery, to try a different approach to treatment to see if it will work when nothing else has, to sit quietly with a person and listen when they are in crisis, to stay late to help a mother calling desperately for help and above all to never, never lose hope. Rest well dear friend, you have left us with an example of what we all can be. Kristin Riley NYS Office of Mental Health Deputy Director Division of Children and Family Services ----------------- I knew Ralph for more than 15 years, and he was a very sweet, gentle man who was a firm believer in our rights. Right after the outpatient commitment law was passed in NY, Ralph was hired to help educate peers about their rights under the law and how to protect themselves from getting caught up in it. Sarah Rose generously gave him office space at Mohawk Valley, and he visited peer groups across the state with a brochure that a coalition of c/s/x had put together… Ralph served his peers in a number of different roles over the years – early on, he taught computer classes at a drop-in center on the grounds of Hutchings Psychiatric Center, later he was an internal peer advocate at Hutchings for a while, then he and his late wife Karen ran the Alliance’s building in Utica for a while, and he was a Recipient Affairs Specialist at OMH Central Office. Ralph was someone who listened to people, empathized with them, and was very supportive. He lived through a lot of tragedy – his own horrific experiences as a mental patient, the illness and death of his wife Karen – but he was not bitter. He was a deeply caring person. Darby Penney |
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