On April 17, 2008, I was honored to receive the Diversity Champion Award from the Race Relations & Diversity Task Force at the Birmingham Community House.  What was really important about this honor was that it was for my advocacy of people with severe and persistent mental illness.  It's not often that this kind of advocacy is recognized in the broader community.  This award was really in recognition of New Passages’ work in helping people with mental illness on their Road to Recovery. 

New Passages employs over 700 people who embody the belief that people with mental illness deserve lives that are fully integrated into the broader community.  So often we think of diversity in a very narrow sense.  The nice thing about this award was that it recognized the degree of discrimination that people with severe mental illness live with every day in their lives.  People with mental illness are some of the most discriminated against and marginalized people in our society.  They are also some of the most misunderstood. 

We at New Passages spend our days working to educate the broader community about this illness and its ramifications.  People with mental illness are sensitive to the fact that when you have a mental illness, your options narrow dramatically.  Often times, you lose your job, your home and your family.  But most unfortunately, you lose your self identity.  Our job in the recovery process is to help people reconnect with their loved ones, see themselves as worthy individuals who have a right to live self-fulfilled lives.  I think it will help greatly when mental illness is given the same attention that primary care is given.  Probably the biggest breakthrough will come when there is parity between primary health care and behavioral healthcare.  Why is it that when you have diabetes, your insurance pays for your treatment but, when you have schizophrenia, you only have limited coverage, if any?  

These are real problems in our society that New Passages is dedicated to overcoming.  It was nice to get public recognition for our efforts.