Alternatives 2022 awards are listed on a new website page. Click here.

Alternatives 2021 award recipients

Click here for the recording of the 2021 awards ceremony.

Lifetime achievement award

The lifetime achievement award is given to someone who has made an outstanding contribution to the peer recovery/liberation movement throughout the course of their career. This year the Alternatives conference committee and NCMHR Board of Directors chose to honor four deserving nominees with the Lifetime Achievement Award: Paolo del Vecchio, Gayle Bluebird, David Oaks and Waldon Adams.

Paolo del Vecchio

Paolo del Vecchio has spent his decades-long career working to improve the lives of his peers. This was especially true in his long tenure at the Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS), where he rose through the ranks until he was the CMHS director. During his many years at CMHS, he could be counted on to stand up for the rights of people diagnosed with mental health conditions. His support of the values of the movement for social justice continues to make a difference in people’s lives. For much more about Paolo, click here.

Gayle Bluebird

Gayle Bluebird is a nationally known crusader and pioneer in the movement for social justice of people with psychiatric histories. She is known for her unwavering activism in supporting the arts as a medium not only for self-healing but as a means of social consciousness-raising, and she co-founded Altered States of the Arts to celebrate the creativity of people with psychiatric diagnoses. She was known for many years as "Henrietta" as she emceed the Open Mic at some of the Alternatives conferences. Bluebird also worked in training and in promoting alternatives to seclusion and restraint, where she advocated for converting seclusion rooms into comfort rooms. She combined her nursing background with her peer background to become a consultant to many state hospitals to develop peer roles. She is the author of “Paving New Ground: Peers Working in In-patient Settings.” Before retirement, she helped develop peer-run alternatives, including a peer-operated arts center. She helped organized the Alternatives 2021 Virtual Art Exhibit, which can be found here.

David W. Oaks

David W. Oaks, a psychiatric survivor and co-founder and former executive director of MindFreedom International, has been a human rights activist and community organizer since 1976. As well as his advocacy in the mental health system, David has also worked in the environmental, peace, and social justice movements. After a fall from a ladder in 2012 in which David broke his neck, he has become a determined advocate for change in the disability system. David launched and directs a consulting business: Aciu! Institute, LLC, which supports the independence and empowerment of businesses, nonprofits, and individuals concerned about disability, mental health, and environmental sustainability. He writes: “Our specialty is green disability revolutionary consulting, with a focus on community organizing of people with physical and/or mental disabilities.” Despite his injury, David has an indomitable spirit. “Because of my decades working with great leaders in the disability community, my new identity of extreme disability is a new chapter for my activism,” he writes. David also blogs as PsychoQuad, focusing on the intersections of mental health justice, disability, and global warming.

Waldon Adams

Waldon Adams is a posthumous recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award. Pathways to Housing DC meant so much to Waldon, who was a peer specialist and pillar of the community and of homeless services in Washington, DC. Waldon, who (along with a friend and colleague) lost his life this year in a tragic hit-and-run accident, had beaten the odds of addiction, homelessness, mental health issues, and physical obstacles. In addition to making sure his clients received housing, Waldon relentlessly advocated for systemic change, and was a respected voice in the District. As part of his recovery, Waldon became an avid marathon runner.

judi chamberlin joy in advocacy award

Judi was a tireless advocate for mental health systems change and fought to make “Nothing About Us Without Us!” a reality. This award is joyfully dedicated to recognizing an individual who has made enormous achievements in bringing hope into the lives of persons with lived experience and advancing the field of disability rights advocacy. This year Alternatives 2021 is proud to present two Judi Chamberlin Joy in Advocacy Awards to: Annette Diaz and Kevin Fitts

Annette Diaz

Annette Diaz is a leader in the field of recovery, reentry, and peer support; she has lived experience of recovery from addictions, mental health challenges, and incarceration. Annette has been advocating for people with mental health and addiction issues and with history within the criminal justice system for over 10 years, and is a mobility manager at Amplify in Hartford, Connecticut. Amplify’s mission is “to strengthen the ability of our region to assess needs, develop plans, and advocate for strategies and resources to advance healthy communities.”

Kevin Fitts

Kevin Fitts has been a leader in promoting a place at the table for people who would otherwise have been passed over for influence and recognition. In addition to his responsibilities as executive director of the Oregon Mental Health Consumers Association (OMHCA), Kevin serves on the Oregon Consumer Advisory Council, where he has established solid working relationships with legislators on both sides of the aisle and in both the House and Senate. He has been the key advocate for a bill likely to pass and be funded to establish four peer respite programs. Kevin directs his energy towards policy to promote state-of-the-art rehabilitation, peer support, peer mentoring, and the role of technology for empowering individuals living with disabilities and different abilities. 

Esperanza Isaac Memorial Award

Esperanza Isaac-Perez was a nationally and internationally recognized Latina leader who often attended Alternatives. She is credited with starting Casa La Esperanza, the first clubhouse for Latinx peers in New York City. Alternatives presents the Esperanza Hope Memorial Award to a peer of color who has expanded the idea of cultural competency and has done exceptional work within the mental health and peer support community. This award is given in the spirit of Esperanza’s leadership and perseverance in advancing cultural diversity issues for people of color who are peers. 

LaVerne D. Miller

LaVerne D. Miller is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and Northeastern University School of Law and is admitted to the New York State Bar. She has worked as an Assistant District Attorney in New York County and as a community organizer and community-based landlord/tenant attorney, and was former director of the Howie the Harp Peer Advocacy Center. LaVerne has provided coordination and direction for all peer-related activities for SAMHSA’s GAINS Center, including the Early Diversion initiative, the Behavioral Health Treatment Court Collaborative initiative, and the Mental Health Transformation Grant program. She has combined her education, work experience, areas of expertise, and interest in building a career focusing on promoting and developing systems that are grounded in achieving racial and social justice. She is committed to addressing disparities and ensuring that individuals from underserved communities are partners in the design, planning, and implementation of services in their communities. LaVerne is a speaker and trainer who has received several awards for her work, including a 2010 SAMHSA Voice Award and a Commendation from the New York City Office of the Comptroller in 2007.

cookie gant and bill compton lgbtqia+ Leadership award

The Cookie Gant and Bill Compton LGBT Leadership Award is rooted in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) participants caucusing at Alternatives conferences since 1985. From secret to official, people proclaimed their place of competence and prominence in the mental health peer community. The award recognizes leadership in a journey of coming out to make it safe to be out proud and diverse. It was first given at Alternatives 2007 in St. Louis, in memory of Bill Compton of California and Cookie Gant of Michigan, who led by example when it wasn’t safe to be “out.” 

Jonathan P. Edwards

Jonathan P. Edwards is a program consultant and licensed clinical social worker for the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Bureau of Alcohol and Drug Use Prevention, Care, and Treatment. Through his advocacy and involvement in the behavioral health field, and driven by his personal experience with the mental health system, Jonathan has played an integral role in facilitating individual and systemic change through programming and planning, clinical practice, training, and supervision. He has been instrumental in developing and facilitating multi-family groups to support the relatives and friends of individuals who used inpatient services. He is also involved with the Community Access—Howie the Harp Advocacy Center as a peer training program instructor. Jonathan has presented nationally and internationally on supervision, culture change, and recovery-oriented practice. He is a NYS Licensed Master Social Worker and a doctoral candidate in the social welfare program at Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College.Jonathan proudly embraces his identity as a Black gay man who challenges the notion of being called an “exception.”

Young Adult Peer Leadership Award

Alternatives honors an emerging young adult leader who has excelled in providing leadership to engage their peers, and who is working on changing the system to be person-centered and recovery, health, and wellness-focused.

Robbie Lettieri

Robbie Lettieri is a national public speaker and advocate who is passionate about creating a more inclusive and supportive society. Robbie, who has lived with a debilitating case of Tourette Syndrome from a very young age, has also experienced depression, and he knows what feeling hopeless and helpless is like. His passion is to help others believe that there is hope. Robbie, a program manager at Families Together in New York State, is a registered yoga therapist and meditation practitioner who integrates his holistic practices with every opportunity he gets. Growing up in both the health care and mental health systems,  he  is dedicated to advocating for others who have endured both similar and abstract hardships. Being a part of multiple boards and committees on state and local levels, Robbie consistently strives to advocate for the larger voice. With years of experience coordinating and facilitating trainings and events, managing a statewide workforce, offering individual and group support, and advocating on a system, peer, and individual level, he takes his lived experience and holistic approaches to new levels. 

howie the harp award

Howie the Harp (1953-1995), a leader of the consumer/survivor community, created peace with his music, playing his harmonica wherever he went. Howie was a longtime advocate for the arts in the consumer community. We honor the work he did by presenting an award in his memory to a person or organization that has carried on that tradition of using art for personal recovery or social change. 

Corinna West

Corinna West, who competed in the 1996 Olympics as a member of the U.S. Judo team and in 1995 was named Outstanding Female Competitor in the U.S. Judo Association’s Hall of Fame, is an entrepreneur, mental health civil rights worker, bicyclist, poet, and chemist, with a master’s degree in pharmaceutical chemistry. Corinna was a catalyst for Kansas City's lead role in the National Dialogue on Mental Health, launched by the White House in 2013 as a nationwide effort to reduce prejudice and discrimination and encourage those with mental health issues to reach out for help; her work helped make Kansas City the only city out of more than 300 cities to include psychiatric survivors substantially in their steering committee. She was also a Cohort VIII fellow of the Kansas Health Foundation. Corinna is a social change agent: she has trained 39 Peer Recovery coaches and nine Certified Peer Specialists, helped coordinate 345 Resilience Messaging events. She is a spoken word poet, and founded Poetry for Personal Power, whose mission is “Using art to show that emotional distress is temporary and transformative.”