Laurel Ann Bogen is the author of ten books of poetry and short fiction including Washing a Language; Fission; The Last Girl in the Land of the Butterflies; The Burning; Do Iguanas Dance Under the Moonlight? and Rag Tag We Kiss. From 1996 until 2002 she was literary curator at the Los Angeles County Museum […]
Alfredo Aquirre, MSW, is the Director of Behavioral Health Services for San Diego County. He received his Master’s Degree in Social Welfare in 1978 from UC Berkeley and was Director of the Children’s System of Care for Mental Health in San Mateo County, before becoming Assistant Director for Children’s Mental Health in San Diego in […]
Judy Cooperberg is Executive Director of Mental Health America Antelope Valley Enrichment Services in Lancaster, California. She became an MHA volunteer in 1981, when in recovery from depression, and was hired the following year as MHA Regional Director for the San Fernando Valley. In 1989, she became aware of the need for mental health services […]
Catherine Camp is the former Executive Director of the California Mental Health Directors Association (CMHDA), serving the organization from its founding in 1989 through 2000. During her time with CMHDA, she worked on the restructuring of the way public mental health services in California were funded. She was also one of California’s leading advocates for […]
Dr. Harry Brickman was the founding Director of the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health in 1960 and served in that position until 1976. He received his medical degree from NYU, interned at the Menninger Clinic, and completed his residency in psychiatry at UCSF. For the next few years, he gained a variety of […]
A Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude honors graduate of Ohio State University, Barbara Demming Lurie continued her graduate studies in clinical psychology at the University of Wisconsin. She spent the next two decades heading the Patients’ Rights Bureau for LAC-DMH on weekdays and on weekends, penning a restaurant review column for a daily Los […]
Catherine Bond, MFT, was one of the leading consumer advocates in California. She worked as a therapist and an English instructor, and also spent time teaching in South Korea and Thailand, before becoming involved in peer support and training. Among her many accomplishments in the mental health field, she served as the Training Coordinator for […]
Dolores Encinas grew up in Missouri, later moving to Iowa and then to Los Angeles. She became involved with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) when her sons became ill. Ms. Encinas helped organize NAMI East San Gabriel Valley, and she served as President of the group. During this time, she developed educational panels […]
Dr. J. R. Elpers was Director of the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health 1978-84. He received his medical degree from Indiana University and completed his residency in psychiatry at Columbia-Presbyterian in New York. After working as Deputy Director of Mental Health in Orange County, he was appointed Director of the Los Angeles County […]
Wendy Douglas, LCSW, is a social worker at Edelman Mental Health Center in West Los Angeles. Transcript