About the American Mental Health Foundation

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. (For other important books available free on this site, also see Books and scroll down. 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 2021, a year of healing, the 104th 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.

2021 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.
• 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, and since directs, Childlife Preserve Shishur Sevay, for orphan girls, many with profound disabilities.
• Evander Lomke (president & executive director; acting treasurer, 2021) 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, and Hans Kueng. 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.
• Thea Lucas (member emerita) was an executive with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. She has a law degree from Utrecht University.
• Maureen McKew (member) was associated with the Catechetical Office of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York for 27 years. She is director of catechist formation, the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd (a Montessori-based method of religious education) and spent 12 years as assistant director of public relations for Villanova University. Earlier, she was a copywriter for several cosmetics companies. She has degrees from Marymount Manhattan College and Felician University.

2021 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

To learn more about the history of AMHF, click here.

From 2018 to December 2019, The American Mental Health Foundation was proudly recognized as an accredited charity by the Better Business Bureau. On reapplication, this standing was mutually reconsidered For Review in January 2020 running to February 2022. Fiscal-and-governance transparency in support of the Mission (see above) continue. The Donate page of this site lists (scroll down) the latest federal and New York State Charities Bureau filings.