ASCEND Mental Wellness Annual Community Awards

Join us on Thursday, May 9th for our Annual Community Awards event at Heritage Hall at the Cool Insuring Arena from 4PM to 5PM to celebrate Mental Health Month. This year, we are expanding our Annual Community Awards event to be a fundraiser, all ticket sales will help support our programs and services.

Our guest speaker will be Glenn Liebman, CEO of the Mental Health Association in New York State, Inc. For the past five years, he has been named by City and State as one of the 100 Most Influential Health Care Leaders. He has also recently been named one of New York State’s Most Influential Health Care Leaders by Politico. He serves as the Chair of the New York State Behavioral Health Advisory Council and as a member of the New York State Justice Center Advisory Council. Listen as he helps inspires a call to action while shining a light on youth mental health and wellness.

We will honor our award recipients for the Dorothea Dix Community Service Award, Warren County Board of Supervisors, and for the Walter P. Reichert Award, Wait House, and Amy Carpenter Scholarship Award, Brittany Archambault student at SUNY Adirondack.

The Dorothea Dix Community Service Award was established in 2001 to recognize an individual or organization not part of the mental health system, but whose efforts have contributed to improving mental health in our community. Ms. Dix lived in the mid-19th century and almost single-handedly influenced reforms that drastically changed the cruel “treatment” of the “insane” during this time. This year’s award will go to the Warren County Board of Supervisors for their devotion of 1 million dollars from the Warren County ARPA (American Rescue Plan Recovery Act) funds to go towards Mental Health in Warren County.

The Walter P. Reichert Award was established in 1986 and named after the first Board President of the “Glens Falls Mental Hygiene Association” now ASCEND Mental Wellness. This award formally recognizes an individual, group or agency within the local mental health community that has significantly contributed to the promotion, development and/or betterment of mental health within Warren and Washington counties. This year’s award will go to WAIT House for their introduction of clinical social work services embedded in their services serving the homeless youth in Warren and Washington Counties.

The Amy Carpenter Scholarship Award, established in 1989 in honor of a residential counselor at ASCEND Mental Wellness, full tuition is awarded annually to a second-year student enrolled in community mental health, criminal justice, or nursing at SUNY Adirondack/Adirondack Community College.

This year, we are expanding our Annual Community Awards event to be a fundraiser, and all ticket sales will directly support our programs and services. Thank you to our sponsors for making that possible! Light Refreshments will be served

Event Underwriters:

SUNY Adirondack, Hudson Headwaters Health Network, and Seeley Office Systems

We hope you will kick off Mental Health Awareness Month with us celebrating the importance of mental well-being for all!