2011 Conference
Patrick Kennedy's Speech
Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 42011 NAMI-NYS Educational Conference
New Challenges, New Hopes, New Frontiers
November 4-6, 2011
Desmond Hotel and Conference Center, Albany, NY
Keynote Speaker: Former U.S. Congressman Patrick Kennedy
Thank you to all the attendees, speakers, sponsors, exhibitors and advertisers who helped make New Challenges, New Hopes, New Frontiers the biggest and most successful Educational Conference in NAMI-NYS’s history. Please check back soon as we will be putting up pictures, videos and presentations slides on the site shortly.
NAMI-NYS would like to once again thank our esteemed plenary speakers:
Plenary Speaker Phillip Wang, MD DrPH  Deputy Director |
Plenary Speaker John M. Oldham, MD  President |
Featured Speaker Michael F. Hogan, PhD  Commissioner NYS Office of Mental Health |
Keynote Speaker Jeffrey A. Lieberman, MD  Director NYS Psychiatric Institute |
Keynote Speaker Lloyd I Sederer, MD  Medical Director NYS Office of Mental Health |
2011 AWARDS
NAMI-NYS wants to once again congratulate the 2011 award winners and thank them for their work and dedication to better the lives of those living with psychiatric disabilities and their families.
LEGISLATIVE CHAMPION AWARD
NAMI-NYS is also honored to present our first Legislative Champion Award to United States Congressman Paul Tonko.
Representative Tonko has been a tremendous advocate for improving the lives of those with mental illness and their families from his time in the NYS Assembly, where he was a driving force in the passage of “Timothy’s Law” to his current role representing New York’s 21st District where he continues to promote fair and equitable health care policies that strengthen our communities and protect our most vulnerable citizens. Representative Tonko will join us on Saturday evening to accept his much deserved award.
VETERANS APPRECIATION GOLDEN HEART AWARD
Senator Roy McDonald, Chair, New York State Senate Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Committee and Assemblyman Felix Ortiz, Chair, New York State Assembly Mental Health Committee, will join us on Friday evening to present the Veterans Appreciation Golden Heart Award.
NAMI-NYS is honored to present the first Veterans Appreciation Golden Heart Award to a genuine American hero, Max A. Gabriel. Max is a highly decorated Vietnam veteran with three purple hearts and the Gold V for Valor from the US Navy. His courage, commitment, and loyalty to our country and his meaningful contribution to our movement have made a positive difference in the lives of many.
Max is Chair of the Veterans Committee for NAMI-NYS and is a board member of NAMI Buffalo. Max counsels at three correctional facilities. He is on call in Western New York for the counseling of pre-release veterans. Max conducts one on one sessions with veterans and promotes outside counseling and the need for military families to participate in the Family to Family program. Max designed a pin for PTSD awareness for our nation’s veterans. The pin is now being worn from Alaska to California thru the mid west, Texas, and Florida. Several military people wear this pin in the Middle Eastern theater of war. Max also works with the Police Mental Health Task Force in Buffalo, NY. He assisted in making a Roll Call film for mental health awareness to train police in the proper procedure when arresting people with mental health issues.
VISIONARY AWARD
NAMI-NYS is proud to present our first visionary award to Ralph Fasano. He is a true visionary. The programs he has developed to assist the homeless and create beautiful new homes and supportive housing for those with mental illness serve as an inspiration and a shining model of what can be done to address the housing crisis in New York State. Mr. Fasano has spent over 23 years developing and operating residences for formerly homeless individuals and families and has been the Executive Director of Concern for Independent Living since 1993.
Concern for Independent Living currently serves approximately 550 individuals and families in over 200 locations. Mr. Fasano makes sure to take the time to create deep rooted relationships with the people benefitting from his programs to ensure he knows them as people not clients. Mr. Fasano is a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor and holds a Masters Degree in Counseling Psychology from Columbia University and a Bachelors Degree in Business Administration from New York University.”
CONNIE LIEBER RESEARCH AWARD
NAMI-NYS is proud to present the 2011 Connie Lieber Research Award to Alice Medalia, Ph.D. Dr. Medalia ia a true pioneer and an international leader in the field of psychiatric rehabilitation, who focuses on the treatment of neuropsychological disorders in psychiatric illness. She developed the widely used NEAR (Neuropsychological and Educational Approach to Remediation) model to help people with mental illness improve their thinking skills in such areas as attention, memory, processing speed and problem solving. She lectures and consults to agencies worldwide and conducts training workshops for clinicians who want to learn how to provide cognitive remediation to psychiatric patients.
Dr. Medalia works with policy makers, researchers, clinicians, families, and patients to bring awareness about the impact of cognitive dysfunction on recovery. In order to facilitate greater awareness about cognition in the rehabilitation field, she started the largest conference on this topic.
THE NAMI-NYS JUSTICE AWARD
NAMI-NYS is delighted to begin the criminal justice portion of the conference by presenting Judge Sol Wachtler, Chief Judge, New York State Court of Appeals (ret) with the NAMI-NYS Justice Award.
Judge Wactler is responsible for many landmark decisions advancing the rights of those with both mental and physical disabilities during his two decades in New York State’s highest court. During his retirement, Judge Wachtler has remained a staunch advocate for those with mental illness. He helped establish the Mental Health Court in Suffolk County and is currently advocating for the creation of a Veteran’s Mental Health Court in Suffolk County. Judge Wachtler will share his experiences presiding over New York’s top court, recount his own battle with and triumph over mental illness and detail the importance of comprehending mental illness in the criminal justice system and the unique needs of veterans in the system.
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