Yale Bulletin and Calendar

May 4, 2001Volume 29, Number 29



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Fellowship Place to hold anniversary
gala at the Yale Art Gallery

Fellowship Place, a New Haven community program that provides support for people with mental illness, is marking its 40th anniversary with a gala celebration on Thursday, May 17, 6­8 p.m. at the Yale University Art Gallery, 1111 Chapel St.

The evening will include a panel discussion featuring Pulitzer Prize winner William Styron, author of "Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness"; Dr. Kay Redfield Jamison, professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and author of "An Unquiet Mind"; and Jane Heimlich, author of the best-selling book "What Your Doctor Won't Tell You." Duby McDowell, political analyst for NBC Channel 30, will moderate.

A highlight of the celebration will be the presentation of an award to Phyllis McDowell, founder of Fellowship Place, by Dr. Thomas Kirk, commissioner of the State of Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services. Other members of the Fellowship Place Founders Society will also be honored.

Tickets for the event are $60 and can be purchased by contacting Sue Spight at (203) 401-4227.

Fellowship Place was established in 1960 by Phyllis McDowell, daughter of ballroom dance legend Arthur Murray, as a social club for patients released from mental hospitals. The club originally had only six members and met in the basement of the Jewish Community Center. Now located in four buildings on Elm Street, Fellowship Place currently serves over 500 people a year. The center provides social and recreational activities, life-skills programs, computer instruction, vocational training and placement, and other services to those suffering from mental illness or drug addiction.

Like many other New Haven agencies, Fellowship Place has benefited from the work of student volunteers from Yale over the years. Most recently, these volunteers have included Alicia Floyd, a sophomore in Jonathan Edwards College, and Marissa Kantor, a 1999 graduate of Yale College.

A volunteer since August 2000, Floyd has supported Fellowship Place in a number of ways. She has compiled lists of resources for food pantries and soup kitchens, assisted with General Educational Development (GED) classes, accompanied groups on trips to restaurants and shops, and tutored Fellowship members one-on-one on computers.

Before coming to Fellowship Place, Floyd had no experience working with people with mental health issues.

"I walked in on the first day not knowing what to ex-pect at all, but I've been very pleasantly surprised," Floyd said. "I've formed a lot of good relationships with people and I'm learning a lot about how to deal with different types of people."

Kantor also had no experience working with people with mental illness before she started at Fellowship Place four years ago. Since then, however, she has worked on raising community awareness and sensitivity to mental health issues, translating materials for Spanish-speaking members, and raising funds and establishing community connections.

For fun, Kantor led a weekly bowling group. When she noticed that food choices were limited for vegetarian members, she established a vegetarian cooking group.

Floyd and Kantor hope to encourage others to volunteer their time at community organizations like Fellowship Place.

"I think a lot of people are very uncomfortable with the idea of working with or being around people with serious psychiatric disabilities," Kantor said. "But you know, we're all just people and everybody's got their problems. If you talk to people and spend a little time with them, you realize that they're just people like you."

"It's definitely worth making the time for, and it doesn't have to be a huge time commitment," Floyd said. "You'll feel good about yourself and you'll get in touch with a whole other aspect of New Haven."

-- By JinAh Lee


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Campus Notes



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