Mental Health America award recipients

MHA’s 2021 Media Award recognizes television shows, journalists, and filmmakers that tackle the issues of mental illness and addiction – and in doing so, educate, inform, and break down stigma around these issues.

Sheri Jones is an award-winning journalist who currently anchors the 6 and 11 o’clock news for CBS Affiliate WLNS TV6 in Lansing, Michigan. She received the 2021 Media Award for three in-depth features, four to five times longer than the typical television news segment, highlighting the lived experiences of notable Michiganders and evoking great emotion in the process.

MHA’s 2022 Media Award recognizes journalists, authors, digital platforms, media outlets, television shows and filmmakers that have tackled the issues of mental illness and addiction – and in doing so, have educated, informed, and broken down stigma and shame around these issues.

MHA is awarding the Media Award to journalists Lindsay Holmes and Catherine Pearson for their article, “If You Have A Mood Disorder, You May Now Be Eligible For A COVID Booster” for the HuffPost.

Catherine Pearson is a reporter for the Well section at The New York Times. Previously she was a senior reporter at HuffPost, where she spent 11 years covering health and parenting. Catherine grew up in West Hartford, Connecticut, and received her B.A. in English from N.Y.U. and a M.A. in journalism from Columbia. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband, two sons and a pandemic puppy, Annie.

Lindsay Holmes is the Senior Wellness & Travel Editor at HuffPost, where she oversees the health and travel content for HuffPost Life. She was selected for a National Press Foundation mental health fellowship in 2016 and has moderated multiple panels on mental health. She’s passionate about how the media can responsibly cover mental illness and has consulted on professional guidelines for reporting on suicide.

The 2022 Joseph de Raismes, III Policy Award was created to honor the service and legacy of Joseph de Raismes, III who worked on the MHA Board of Directors, gave advice as MHA General Counsel, and provided leadership on the MHA Public Policy Committee. Each year going forward, the Joseph de Raismes, III Policy Award will honor an individual who – like Joe – makes outstanding contributions to furthering mental health policy. This year’s recipient is Cynthia Wainscott.

Cynthia Wainscott was a member of the Institute of Medicine committee that released the landmark report, Improving the Quality of Health Care for Mental and Substance Use Conditions. She was nominated by President Georgia W. Bush and confirmed by the United Sates Senate as a member of the National Council on Disability. She has served as the Vice President for North America and the Caribbean of the World Federation for Mental Health.

MHA’s 2022 Innovation in Programming Award, which recognizes the continuing innovation and creativity of the MHA affiliate network in program development and implementation, goes to Mental Health Association in New Jersey for the New Jersey Mental Health Players.

The NJ Mental Health Players is a highly successful, interactive community education program. These presentations provide audiences with a dynamic way to receive basic education about mental illness, addiction, and other relevant challenges. The mission of this art and advocacy program is to increase education and awareness, decrease stigma and break the silence often associated with mental health. Audience’s include community and corporate conferences, non-profit, seminars, elementary, high school, colleges/universities, social service agencies, hospitals, state, and federal agencies.

The 2022 Betty Humphrey Equity Champion Award goes to Open Paths Counseling Center.

Open Paths Counseling Center has been at the forefront of serving low-income clients and communities in Los Angeles for over forty years. They assert that access to high-quality, culturally-affirmative, trauma-informed mental health care should be available to people from all walks of life.

MHA’s 2022 Clifford W. Beers Award will be presented to mental health advocate Sally Zinman. The Clifford W. Beers Award is presented annually to an individual with the lived experience of mental illness who best reflects the example set by MHA founder Clifford W. Beers in their efforts to improve conditions for and attitudes toward people living with mental health conditions.

Sally Zinman has been a pioneer of the mental health peer movement since the mid 1970’s. Sally’s commitment to the rights of people with mental health challenges came from her own horrendous experience in the mental health system. After this experience, she connected with the burgeoning ex-mental patient movement and found a community of people like herself, a family, who inspired and supported her for the next 45 years.

MHA’s 2022 mPower Award goes to Sam Gerry. Sam is a 20-year-old rising junior at Bates College in Lewiston, ME. He’s the co-founder of Kick It for a Cause, Inc., a charity kickball tournament turned nonprofit organization supporting suicide prevention. Additionally, Sam is an undergraduate research assistant at The Hamilton Lab, researching teen mental health, including social media, sleep, and suicide prevention. He is also the Council Lead at Unsinkable Youth, a member of the National Center for the Prevention of Youth Suicide’s Youth Advisory Board, and is a Telosity Youth Ambassador.

MHA’s 2022 George Goodman and Ruth P. Brudney Social Work Award goes to Stacey Freedenthal.

Stacey Freedenthal, PhD, LCSW, is a psychotherapist and consultant in private practice in Denver, CO, and an associate professor at the University of Denver Graduate School of Social Work. She focuses her work on helping people who experience suicidal thoughts or behaviors. Her first book, Helping the Suicidal Person: Tips and Techniques for Professionals, was published in 2017. Her second book, Loving Someone with Suicidal Thoughts: What Family, Friends, and Partners Can Say and Do, is scheduled to be released by New Harbinger Publications in spring 2023.

MHA’s 2022 Media Award recognizes journalists, authors, digital platforms, media outlets, television shows and filmmakers that have tackled the issues of mental illness and addiction – and in doing so, have educated, informed, and broken down stigma and shame around these issues.

MHA is awarding the Media Award to the WBIR Newsroom & Production Team for WBIR’s Mental Health Monday, which was born out of seeing a need that has always been in existence but abruptly took a front seat in so many people’s lives in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. WBIR partnered with the Mental Health Association of East Tennessee to produce a series of Mental Health Monday segments that aired within their evening newscasts and developed a multi-platform cross discipline campaign. All content and messaging focused on removing stigma, educating on how to manage mental health issues and encouraging free screenings.

MHA’s 2022 Media Award recognizes journalists, authors, digital platforms, media outlets, television shows and filmmakers that have tackled the issues of mental illness and addiction – and in doing so, have educated, informed, and broken down stigma and shame around these issues.

MHA is awarding the Media Award to Well Beings & Hiding in Plain Sight: Youth Mental Illness (executive producer Ken Burns, directors and co-producers Erik Ewers and Christopher Loren Ewers, WETA SVP and chief national content officer John Wilson, and WETA executive producer, special projects, Tom Chiodo) for their two-part, four-hour film. The film is part of Well Beings, a national campaign from public media to demystify and destigmatize physical and mental health through storytelling.

It’s time to have real conversations about our mental health. ABC30 presents “A Critical State of Mind,” a five-part documentary series taking a deep look at the state of mental health in California, inside the lives of those who suffer, the stigma associated with mental illness, organizations making a difference and those standing up to give hope.

Aliza Lopez is a 17-year-old healthcare advocate, mental health activist, and researcher. With many multidisciplinary interests in this field, she intersects her work with education and cultural competence. Aliza currently directs the 501(c)(3) organization, Medicine Encompassed — fostering a space that combines STEAM and health literacy to push out experiential learning platforms. Within her nonprofit, she is also a founder of The Astrocyte Initiative, a mental health project focused on increasing accessibility to resources and toolkits for student groups. She also works at the company Neolth as the Outreach Subcommittee Leader of their national ambassador program — arranging educational mental health presentations and wellness workshops for different institutions. Aliza has collaborated with Hopelab in California to launch a research study, analyzing how sociocultural factors impact minority groups’ accessibility to mental health services. She pairs her hands-on work with her authorship on research publications, including one with a Dartmouth College laboratory about SSRI usage in patients. Additionally, Aliza is a member of IDONTMIND’s “Our Future in Mind” community and YOUNGA’s network as a previous Mental Health Working Group Leader.