Advancing Minority Mental Health Awards Presented by APA Foundation

Farha Abbasi, M.D., has publicly addressed the barriers that stigmatize and silence discussion of mental health issues within the Islamic community. She is a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Michigan State University, a staff psychiatrist at the University’s Olin Student Health Center, and a former APA/APAF SAMHSA Minority Fellow. She established the Muslim Mental Health Conference, now in its ninth year, which brings together faith leaders, health care providers, and researchers to examine topics related to mental health across the American Muslim community. She is the managing editor of the Journal of Muslim Mental Health and works directly with the Muslim-American community to encourage integration into, rather than isolation from, mainstream society. She has trained more than 50 Imans from southeast Michigan, who are now partners in these initiatives.

Lianne Smith, M.D., has been involved in advancing mental health of minorities in multiple arenas both locally in the Harlem and Brownsville communities in New York City, where she was engaged in research on the social determinants of health, and internationally, where she was instrumental in establishing an international rotation for New York University (NYU) psychiatry residents in a hospital in Ghana. Smith, a former APA Diversity Fellow, is a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at NYU and attending psychiatrist at the Manhattan Psychiatric Center Outpatient Clinic.

Susan Peterson is a nationally certified school psychologist in Las Vegas, a former board-certified teacher, and an award-winning parenting author. She has spent the majority of her career working to promote and advance the early childhood education of young minority students and to educate parents about the early childhood assessment process for special education services.

The Trevor Project in West Hollywood, Calif., is the leading national organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning youth (LGBTQ). The goal of the Trevor Project is to save lives by providing support through free and confidential crisis programs, targeting LGBTQ youth aged 13 to 24. ■