NEWS & EVENTS

"Dave's House" Project Becoming Reality

An exciting project is about to become reality at Lakeside. A supportive housing project called Dave's House will be opening later in the near future. This project came about when a Lakeside board member, Lin Wilensky, and her husband, Ron, approached the executive staff about making a significant donation to open a project to provide permanent housing for people with a serious mental illness. The project is modeled after a well-known and successful program in Virginia called Pathway Homes. This program was very important to both  Mr. and Mrs. Wilensky as it provided a stable and comfortable living environment for Mrs. Wilensky's brother, Dave Jeffreys, for 15 years of his life. Dave passed away suddenly last spring and in his honor the donation will open this house to provide a stable living environment for up to six men.

 

With the help of the Wilensky's generous donation, Lakeside is honored to have purchased this lovely house, situated on nearly an acre, to provide a safe and affordable home for mentally ill men. Plans are in the works to seek additional gifts, donations and grants to purchase more homes for this purpose.

October 9, 2008

Celebrating Mental Illness Awareness Week 2008

Mark your calendars for October 9th to attend Lakeside Behavioral Healthcare's 2nd Annual Mental Illness Awareness Luncheon at the Wyndham Orlando Resort.

 

The event's special keynote speaker this year is Peter Earley, Journalist and Author.

 

Dealing with his son's serious mental illness and consequent arrest led Earley to write, CRAZY: A Father's Search Through America's Mental Health Madness, which earned him a nomination for the 2007 Pulitzer Prize. Earley also received the Outstanding Media Award for Advocacy by the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) at its 2007 convention, as well as several other prestigious awards for his writings and advocacy for the mentally ill.

 

Following is an excerpt from the Preface of Crazy: A Father's Search Through America's Mental Health Madness.

 

"I had no idea. I've been a journalist for more than thirty years, a reporter for the Washington Post, and the author of several nonfiction books about crime and punishment and society, some of them award-winning, even two bestsellers. I've interviewed murderers and spies, judges and prosecutors, always seeking the truth and attempting to convey it so that readers can see the people and the events for themselves - can understand not only what happened, but why.

 

But I was always on the outside looking in. I had no idea what it was like to be on the inside looking out. Until my son Mike was declared mentally ill.

 

If my son had broken his leg, most doctors would have agreed on the diagnosis and treatment. 'Sir, your son's leg is broken in two places, the bone needs to be reattached, the wound closed, and the body allowed to heal.'  But that wasn't what happened with Mike.  One psychiatrist said he had bipolar disorder, another said he showed early stages of schizophrenia, a third said he had schizo-affective disorder. They prescribed a dizzying range of different drugs, different therapies and, even worse, because he was an adult, I couldn't simply swoop in and make medical decisions for him. An array of incompatible laws about patient rights stood in my way, like a row of trees.

 

But even that was nothing compared to what happened when Mike, suffering delusions, committed a crime and was arrested. Suddenly, the line of trees became a forest. The contradictions, the Catch-22s, multiplied until I began to despair."

 

Watch for more information about this luncheon in the coming months.

Lakeside Raises Approximately $20,000

at 5th Annual Links for Lakeside Golf Tournament

Monday, April 21, 2008

Lakeside Behavioral Healthcare is proud to announce that the organization’s Foundation helped to raise nearly $20,000 during its Fifth Annual “Links for Lakeside” Golf Tournament. The tournament, which was held on April 21^st at the Timacuan Golf Club in Lake Mary, included nearly 100 golfers and increased its net proceeds by 33 percent over last year’s tournament.

The net proceeds from the tournament were designated to be used for funding a new Lakeside program, ‘Ali’s Hope- Outreach for Success,’ named in memory of Alyson Gallagher. Alyson is the daughter of Lakeside Behavioral Healthcare Foundation board member, Joe Gallagher. Alyson suffered from a brain disorder known as schizoaffective disorder, and she took her own life in 2007.

Her family and the Lakeside Foundation Board have established this program in her memory to help other young adults who are also afflicted with brain disorders commonly known as mental illness. The purpose of the funding is to provide services to these individuals upon discharge from a hospital setting. The needed services are not normally covered or paid for by government sources or insurance carriers. These are services that many people cannot afford, but desperately need.

(From left to right) The winning team from Orlando Utilities

Commission, Doug Spencer, Greg Rodeghier and Bobby Collins

"Thank You!" to all our sponsors:

Title Sponsor