Awards
Mental Health Consumer Award
Professional Award
Program Award
Volunteer/Advocate Award
PHILIP P. ARDERY PROGRAM AWARD
The Philip P. Ardery Program Award was established by the Mental Health Association of Kentucky to honor a program or organization that provides a significant service to the local or statewide community regarding the promotion of mental health, prevention of mental illnesses, and the improvement in diagnosis and treatment for people with mental illnesses.
Philip Ardery was born in Lexington, KY. He attended the University of KY and received a degree in law from Harvard University. He is now a retired partner in the law firm of Frost Brown Todd. Mr. Ardery has admirably and ably served non-profit organizations on a "pro bono" basis for many years and served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Mental Health Association of Kentucky.
Mr. Ardery was instrumental in the development of Wellspring House and the Schizophrenia Foundation of KY. In 1984, he was one of three "gentlemen" from Louisville, KY who approached the National Institute of Mental Health about creating a national philanthropic organization devoted to research of major mental illnesses. The National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression (NARSAD) was born and dedicated to the promotion of scientific research to prevent, combat and cure schizophrenia and other serious mental illnesses.
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CLIFFORD W. BEERS MENTAL HEALTH CONSUMER AWARD
The Mental Health Association of Kentucky presents the Clifford W. Beers Award to honor a consumer of mental health services who best fits the image of Clifford W. Beers in efforts to improve conditions for and attitudes toward people with mental illnesses. Ideally, the recipient is an individual who emulates Mr. Beers's example of "telling it like it is."
The Clifford W. Beers Award is named in honor of the founder of the mental health citizens' advocacy movement in the United States. Clifford Beers, a former mental patient and the author of A Mind That Found Itself, organized the National Committee for Mental Hygiene in 1909. In 1950 Beers's committee merged with two other organizations, The National Mental Health Foundation and The Psychiatric Foundation, to form a united front as the National Association for Mental Health, now known as the National Mental Health Association.
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JACK B. STITH VOLUNTEER/ADVOCATE AWARD
The Stith Volunteer/Advocate Award was established to honor an individual with an outstanding record of personal volunteer advocacy activity for persons with mental illnesses and an ongoing commitment to the promotion of mental health, prevention of mental illnesses and the improvement in diagnosis and treatment for people with mental illnesses.
Jack Stith was a citizen of Danville, Kentucky, and a lifelong civic volunteer. Mr. Stith was a charter member of the Mental Health Association of Kentucky and an active member of the Board of Directors for nearly 30 years, that included serving two separate terms as its President. With the assistance of Barry Bingham, Sr. and Dr. Frank Gaines, Jack Stith started a Danville Chapter of the MHAKY. In addition to being a full time funeral director, he was a primary founder and charter member of the Bluegrass Regional Mental Health/Mental Retardation Board and served as its first chairman. He served on the Governor's Advisory Council for Mental Health and on the Commission for Aging in addition to serving on the Blue Cross/Blue Shield Consumer Advisory Council and the Board of Trustees of Ephraim McDowell Hospital in Lexington, KY. According to his widow, Mrs. Betty Stith, "These things he did were a joy to him, never a chore."
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FRANK M. GAINES PROFESSIONAL AWARD
The Frank M. Gaines Professional Award was established to honor an active or retired professional with a record of significant contribution made to the promotion of mental health, prevention of mental illnesses and the improvement in diagnosis and treatment of people with mental illnesses.
Dr. Gaines received a B.S. degree from the University of Kentucky and his M.D. from the University of Louisville School of Medicine. He is most renown as the Commonwealth's first Commissioner of the Department of Mental Health from July 1952 through January 15, 1957. He has been an active member of the Board of Directors of the Mental Health Association of Kentucky for several years and has served as a committee chair on many occasions. Dr. Gaines is also a member of the Board of Wellspring. During his long career, Dr. Gaines has served as Clinical Director of Norton Psychiatric Clinic; Director, Division of Hospitals and Mental Hygiene, Commonwealth of Kentucky; and Chairman, Council on Mental Health Training and Research of the Southern Regional Education Board.
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