NAMI Gets Global Recognition for Building Better Lives

Jun 24, 2014

International Innovation, a global publication focused on scientific research and policy trends, features an interview with NAMI Medical Director Ken Duckworth and former NAMI Board President Keris Jän Myrick in its current issue.

The interview, titled “A Lifelong Commitment to Building Better Lives,” offers a wide-ranging discussion about NAMI’s vision and programs, as well as their personal commitments to NAMI’s grassroots movement.

At the time of interview, Myrick’s term as board president was scheduled to end in September 2014. She stepped down early in June in order to accept a position with the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) in Washington, D.C.

Known for an inclusive, collaborative and innovative leadership style, Myrick noted in the interview that she first learned about NAMI in a hospital when it was selected as the community support group on her discharge papers.

“I have lived the experience of mental illness and that of many NAMI members first-hand,” she said.

Duckworth said his contributions to the NAMI movement were inspired by his father. “I became a doctor to help him and people like him,” he explained. “He was a lovely man who unfortunately lived with a very difficult mental illness.”

One of Duckworth’s most recent contributions was co-authoring an international report, Schizophrenia: Time to Commitment to Change” which has fueled discussions in both in the United States and Europe.

To read the full interview, visit Research Media, Ltd. A short article appears on the magazine’s website, which then links to the full interview in a PDF copy of the magazine (the article appears on pages 66-69).