National advocate Jacki McKinney passes away

Abstract

Nationally recognized advocate Jacki McKinney, M.S.W., passed away July 19. Harvey Rosenthal, president and CEO of the New York Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services (NYAPRS), who learned of her passing last month, noted in the NYAPRS eNews on Oct. 18 that he first met McKinney in her role as a peer researcher in the early 1990s, possibly in connection with the Center on Women, Violence, and Trauma. (McKinney would have turned 87 on Oct. 18.) “From the start, she was a one‐of‐a‐kind force unto herself, someone who could light up the room with her stories of triumph over tragedy and family above all, warming our hearts with her ever kind loving compassion,” Rosenthal wrote. According to her obituary, McKinney was a recipient of Mental Health America's highest honor, the Clifford Beers Award; a consultant to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's (SAMHSA's) Center for Mental Health Services; and a recipient of SAMHSA's Voice Awards Program.