Since October 1924 (the October 27, 1924, issue of Time magazine hailed Sigmund Freud on its cover that very month: Time itself was started in 1923 by philanthropist Henry Luce and Briton Hadden (at first to be named “Fact” magazine), The American Mental Health Foundation (AMHF) has endeavored to advocate for and to advance mental health and well-being in society. As a research organization, it is dedicated to the welfare of people suffering from emotional problems and mental illness, with a particular concern for individuals of all ages with special needs as well as elders. The Foundation advocates improving the quality of treatment, developing more effective methods of research, and making professional treatment available to lower-wage individuals. To this end, AMHF conducts research, organizes educational seminars and Webinars (for CEU with APT, NASW, and NBCC), and publishes books, some available free on the website. Purchase of any AMHF title supports the mission of The American Mental Health Foundation.
The Mission Statement:
The American Mental Health Foundation (AMHF) is an association of distinguished international researchers, scientists, psychiatrists, psychologists, and educators dedicated to understanding and promoting treatments for improved mental health—a major challenge of the 21st century. AMHF focuses on the welfare of people suffering from emotional problems, with a particular concern for at-risk youth, individuals of any age with special needs, and elders.
The mission includes publication of a 2-year research project with Astor Services
Dr. Stefan de Schill, long-time AMHF Director of Research, photographed in Vienna circa 1938
“There are three basic factors in daily existence that are utterly incomprehensible to us: time, because it is eternal; space, because it is infinite; and our consciousness, because it defies all explanation.”—Dr. Stefan de Schill, whose life and work are celebrated in 2022, a year of healing, the 105th anniversary year of his birth
- At least fifty percent of all people seeking medical treatment are suffering from emotional disturbances, but only three cents of every medical dollar is spent on emotional illness.
- “The anxiety and problems other people suffer when caught up in a major crisis, we have to face day by day.”—a patient
- Millions of Americans will be victims of emotional breakdown and spend at least a part of their lives in an institution.
- Less than two percent of those suffering from deep-rooted emotional problems such as anxiety, depression, and phobias will ever obtain competent professional help bringing about lasting results.
2022 AMHF Board of Directors and Executives
- Sister Joan M. Curtin, CND (vice president), is former long-time director of the Catechetical Office of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York. A graduate of Saint Jean Baptiste High School, she received her BA in English from Notre Dame College, an MA in Religion from Manhattanville College, and holds certificates both in Spirituality and Spiritual Direction. She has served on the boards of the National Catholic Education Association, the American Bible Society, the Catholic Education Institute, and the Museum of Biblical Art (MOBiA). Sister Joan was named Vicar for Religious, by Timothy Cardinal Dolan, on September 1, 2021. This appointment runs through August 31, 2024.
- Raymond B. Flannery Jr., Ph.D., FACLP (member) is a licensed clinical psychologist and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School. He has also served on the faculties of Harvard Medical School and Boston College. For 10 years, he was Director of Training for the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health. He is the author of 10 books and over 180 peer-reviewed papers in the medical and scientific journals on the topics of stress, psychological trauma, and violence. Dr. Flannery designed and directs the Assaulted Staff Action Program (ASAP), a crisis-intervention program that has treated 10,650 employee victims of assault.
- John P. Fowler (former chairman and treasurer; special consultant at-large) was long-time publisher and vice president National Review, an influential magazine of political opinion, as well as trustee of NRI. An alumnus of Regis High School and the College of the Holy Cross, he also has served on the Milford, Connecticut, Board of Aldermen and is former Republican Town Committee Chairman. On May 1, 2016, Mr. Fowler relinquished his position on the AMHF Board, continuing as nonvoting-member treasurer and financial consultant in 2017-18; and as of July 1, 2019, Mr. Fowler, today senior philanthropy consultant and director of the Center for Civil Society, is no longer AMHF treasurer. (The role of acting treasurer is currently filled, on a temporary basis, by Evander Lomke [see below].)
- Michelle Harrison, MD (secretary), began her career in rural South Carolina as part of the LBJ War on Poverty. She is the author of the first book on PMS (Self-help for Premenstrual Syndrome). Dr. Harrison is a Fellow in Psychopharmacology at the New England Medical Center Hospital, Tufts University. In 2006 she founded in Calcutta (Kolkata), and since directs, Childlife Preserve Shishur Sevay, for orphan girls, many with profound disabilities.
- Evander Lomke (president & executive director; acting treasurer, 2022) is a former publishing executive, acquiring or editing more than 1,500 books by authors as diverse as David Bianculli, Donald Bogle, William F. Buckley Jr., President George W. Bush, Lucy Freeman, Paulo Freire, Erich Fromm, Martin Burgess Green, Hans Kueng, Dick Weissman, and Mason Williams. He is on the board of directors of AHRC of New York, an alumnus of the Bronx High School of Science, CCNY, and the University of Toronto, and has directed The American Mental Health Foundation since 2005.
- Emma Thea Lucas (member emerita) was an executive with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. She has a law degree from Utrecht University.
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Maureen McKew (member). Until her retirement in June 2021, McKew spent 27 years with the Catechetical Office of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, first as a volunteer, then as a consultant, and, for almost 15 years as a full-time staff member. She was Director of Catechist Formation, the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd (a Montessori-based method of religious education), and Communication. Before joining the Catechetical Office of New York full-time, for 12 years she was Assistant Director of Public Relations for Villanova University. Earlier, she was a copywriter for several prestigious cosmetics companies. A native of Manhattan, she received a bachelor’s degree in political science from Marymount Manhattan College and in 2008 earned a master’s degree in religious education from Felician University. McKew currently serves as Eastern Lieutenancy Secretary for the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, a pontifical order that aids Christians and other needy persons in the Holy Lands. She also belongs to a British-American organization whose mission is assistance to elders.
2022 AMHF Professional Advisory Board
- Dr. Pamela C. Alexander
- Dr. Joanne H. Gavin
- Eric J. Green
- Michelle Harrison, MD
- Dr. Henry Kellerman
- Gail Kinn, LCSW
- Dr. Gregory K. Popcak
- Dr. James Campbell Quick
- Dr. Paul Quinnett
- Dr. Jeanine Lee Skorinko
- Alexis Tomarken, MSW, PhD
- William Van Ornum, PhD, FAPA
2022 Committee on Public Education
To learn more about the history of AMHF, click here.
From June 1, 2018, to December 31, 2019, The American Mental Health Foundation was recognized as an accredited charity by the Better Business Bureau (BBB). Fiscal-and-governance transparency in support of the Mission (see above) continue as this organization had under the BBB. The Donate page of this site lists (scroll down) the latest federal and New York State Charities Bureau filings.
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