Media Release

ALACHUA COUNTY, FL – The public is invited to attend, “Illness to Wellness:  A Community Forum on Mental Health.”  This community forum is the second in a series sponsored by The Gainesville Sun.  The forum is Wednesday May 28, 2014, from 7 p.m. to 8:45 p.m. at the Thelma Bolton Center (516 NE 2nd Ave., Gainesville).

This forum is focusing on local mental health issues.  It is timely in light of two important developments:

1.     The GRACE Marketplace, also known as the Empowerment Center or the Homeless Shelter, has begun operations and, 

2.      Alachua County just received a $1.2 million “Criminal Justice, Mental Health, and Substance Abuse” grant to provide alternatives to incarceration

The forum features four experts with different perspectives on what the community is doing well and where it needs to improve. 

Speakers include:

·         Mr. Nathan Crabbe, Moderator

Opinions Editor – The Gainesville Sun 

·         Ms. Terri Mullin, President

National Alliance on Mental Illness, Gainesville 

·         Judge Denise Ferrero, County Court

Mental Health Court 

·         Dr. Dawn Bruijnzell, M.D., Psychiatrist UF

Health and Veterans Hospital 

·         Reverend Richard Reedy, PhD , President

Florida Peer Support Coalition

The forum is sponsored by The Gainesville Sun, the Gainesville Chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Health (NAMI), Alachua County, and the City of Gainesville.

For more information, please call Nathan Crabbe at 352-374-5075.