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Mental Health Update

June 25, 2019
Mental Health Update

MH Update – 6/25/19 – Amanda Saake Named New Special Assistant to the Commissioner, Office of Consumer Affairs


MHANYS is pleased to welcome Amanda Saake to OMH as the new Special Assistant to the Commissioner overseeing the Office of Consumer Affairs.   She will be the keynote speaker on July 9th at MHANYS Self-Stigma Symposium titled ‘Stigma; What is it?’  To register for this no-cost event, go to www.mhanys.org

From NYSOMH Commissioner Anne Sullivan:

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Amanda Saake to the position of Special Assistant to the Commissioner overseeing the Office of Consumer Affairs, as of July 1.

Before this appointment, Amanda served as the Director of Training & The Center for Rehabilitation & Recovery at The Coalition for Behavioral Health in New York City. In that role, Amanda oversaw training and technical assistance efforts that were intended to build the capacity of community-based providers to deliver high quality, recovery-oriented services so more people can achieve the promise of recovery.

Amanda has more than 13 years’ experience providing direct service and supervision in the human services workforce. Amanda has worked in a broad range of settings including supportive housing, Assertive Community Treatment (ACT), harm reduction, LGBT youth outreach, Personalized Recovery Oriented Services (PROS) and outpatient mental health as both a practitioner and supervisor.

Amanda’s commitment to high quality, person-centered care is also personal stemming back to her first encounters with the mental health system at the age of 17. In fact, Amanda attributes her career as one of the most important aspects of her personal recovery journey. For the majority of her career as a social worker, Amanda did not share her personal lived experience with mental health issues, in part due to stigma that still pervades our system of care. Today, however, Amanda intentionally shares her recovery story with the hope that more traditionally- trained practitioners will be comfortable sharing their stories too which will help combat stigma within our system.

Amanda has been a member of the Certification Commission for Psychiatric Rehabilitation’s (CPRP) Board of Subject Matter Experts since 2013. In 2016, Amanda received the New York Nonprofit Media’s “40 under 40 Rising Star” award. Amanda also received the Distinguished Alumni award from her alma mater. Amanda is a graduate of Marywood University (Scranton, PA) and Columbia University School of Social Work (New York, NY).

Please join me in welcoming Amanda to OMH.