Laurie Ahern

Laurie Ahern "is a psychiatric survivor and a person who has recovered after having been hospitalized and labeled with mental illness at the age of 19.

"For ten years before joining MDRI, Laurie served as Co-director of the National Empowerment Center, Inc. (NEC), a federally-funded recovery and technical assistance center. She was the editor of the award-winning NEC newsletter and co-created the Empowerment Model of Recovery and the PACE model, a non-coercive alternative to Assertive Community Treatment. Her work has been featured in many professional journals, in the media, and has been translated into six languages. She is the recipient of the National Mental Health Association's Clifford Beers Award and the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law's Advocacy Award.

"In addition, she has conducted workshops, given talks and organized conferences for consumers/survivors, families and mental health providers to promote recovery. Laurie is the former vice president of the National Association of Rights, Protection and Advocacy (NARPA) and editor of the NARPA newsletter, The Tenet. Prior to her position at the NEC, Laurie was the managing editor of several newspapers and free-lance writer for The Boston Globe and Associated Press and has won national awards for her investigative and editorial writing and reporting."