Psychiatric Foundation Honors Minority MH Achievers

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>.▪