Michael Alan Schwartz, M.D. – Medical Director

Michael Alan Schwartz, M.D., a psychiatrist, is Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry and Adjunct Professor of Philosophy at the University of Louisville in Louisville, Kentucky. Dr. Schwartz is a graduate of Princeton University and the Cornell University School of Medicine. Following residency training in psychiatry at Cornell Medical Center, Dr. Schwartz has been associated with NIMH and Cornell Medical School and has served as psychiatric residency training director and Vice Chair for Psychiatric Education at New York Medical College and at Case Western Reserve School of Medicine.

Dr. Schwartz is Founding President of the Association for the Advancement of Philosophy and Psychiatry (AAPP) and Associate Editor of Philosophy, Psychiatry and Psychology (PPP). The author of numerous journal articles, chapters, monographs and books, he received the Dr. Margrit Égnér Prize in 1998 at the University of Zurich in Switzerland for “contributing to a more human world in which human beings with their mental needs stand in the center.” In June 2000, Dr. Schwartz was designated an “Exemplary Psychiatrist for 2000” by the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI).

Joan K. Clayton, Ph.D. – Executive Director

Joan Clayton, Ph.D., is a psychologist at the Austin VA Outpatient Clinic of the Central Texas Veterans Health Care System. She holds the position of Local Recovery Coordinator, a position which is tasked with helping to promote recovery-oriented practices. Prior to moving to Texas, Dr. Clayton was with the Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Case Western Reserve School of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio. Dr. Clayton has served on the Board of the Adult Recovery Network (ARN), a project sponsored by the Mental Health Association of Summit County (Ohio) and the Ohio Department of Mental Health.

Dr. Clayton formed the committee to develop recovery-oriented workshops and training programs for ARN and is the principal writer of the pamphlet, “Building Better Tomorrows – Recovering from Mental Illness,” a guide on recovery-oriented treatment for consumers, family members, providers, and all those involved in mental health services. Dr. Clayton has served as an observer on the American Psychological Association Task Force on Serious Mental Illness.

Frederick J. Frese III, Ph.D. – Vice President

Frederick J. Frese III, Ph.D., is a psychologist and Coordinator of the Recovery Project for Summit County, Ohio. He is also the Executive Director of Ohio's Adult Recovery Network (ARN), a long-time member of the Board of Directors of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI), and a former President of the National Mental Health Consumers' Association. He currently holds faculty appointments in clinical psychiatry at Case Western Reserve School of Medicine and at Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine. He has published numerous articles and book chapters concerning recovery from mental illness. He recently edited the volume, The Role of Organized Psychology in Treatment of the Seriously Mentally Ill. Dr. Frese lectures widely and has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, the Detroit Free Press, the Chicago Tribune, and the Washington Post, and on CNN Healthweek, Nightline's Up Close, and the ABC Evening News. In 1965 Dr. Frese was diagnosed with schizophrenia, a condition for which he has frequently been hospitalized. He is currently in recovery and continues to receive treatment for this condition. He is married and is the father of four.

Stevan J. Schoen – Secretary/Treasurer

Stevan J. Schoen is a director and general counsel for the Irwin Foundation, Inc. Mr. Schoen is a graduate of the Wharton School, the Cornell Law School (Doctor of Law, 1969) and Cambridge University (Master's of Philosophy, 1980). Mr. Schoen was the chief attorney for the New Mexico Health and Social Services Department, later served as a County Judge from 1992-1998. Mr. Schoen is currently in the private practice of law in New Mexico with the law firm of Crider, Bingham & Hurst, P.C.

Joel Feiner, M.D. – Celebration Recovery Advisory Board

Dr. Joel S. Feiner Is Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and is the State Medical Director of Telecare of Texas, a company which contracts to provide care to persons with major mental illness. Dr. Feiner received his B.A. from Yale University and his M.D. from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, where he did his residency and Child and Adolescent Fellowship. At Einstein, he attained the rank of Professor, was Director of Residency Training and the Division of Social and Community Psychiatry.

Dr. Feiner was the founder and Clinical and Training Director of Mental Health Connections, an award winning model program which provided state of the art care for persons with co-occurring mental illness and substance abuse disorders an area in which he is regarded as an expert.

In 2000, Dr. Feiner received the 2nd Annual Outstanding Community Psychiatrist Award, presented by the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill. He has received many other awards, including A Best Doctor in America, the first Vision of Hope Award from Turtle Creek Manor in Dallas, Professional of the Year Awards from Dallas MHA, Dallas and Texas AMI and NAMI Exemplary Psychiatrist. He was voted by UTSW psychiatric residents, Teacher of the Year in PG I, PGY 2 , and Child Psychiatry years and Mental Health Connections was voted best Teaching Site.

Stephen M. Goldfinger, M.D. – Celebration Recovery Advisory Board

Dr Goldfinger is Chair of Psychiatry at the State University of New York, Health Science Center , Brooklyn and oversees the clinical services at Kings County Hospital , the University Hospital and the department's outpatient clinics. Dr. Goldfinger is a national expert on homelessness, HIV infection and mental illness.  He is the author or editor of over 100 books, monographs, journal articles and abstracts, and on the editorial boards of numerous publications. He is an extremely active figure in a number of professional organizations, and has served as Chair of the APA's Committee on Chronic Mental Illness, Committee on Poverty, Homelessness and Psychiatric Disorders and in 1996, chaired the Institute on Psychiatric Services. He is on the Boards of the American Association of Community Psychiatrists, and the American Association of Emergency Psychiatrists.

Dr. Goldfinger's entire career has focused on providing services to the most severely disenfranchised and disaffiliated populations. He is a tireless advocate for the most severely ill of our patients... serving as an active member of the NAMI, and, in 1996, was a co-writer of a full-length documentary "I'm Still Here: The Truth About Schizophrenia."

Dr. Goldfinger trained at Harvard College , Yale Medical School , and did his psychiatric residency at the university of California , San Francisco/Mt. Zion Hospital. During his twelve years in San Francisco , he served as the Director of the Emergency, Outpatient and Inpatient Services at San Francisco General Hospital and as the Mental Health Director of SF Health Care for the Homeless. He left San Francisco as an Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at UCSF to move to Boston in 1988.