Guyanese national to receive Clifford W. Beers Award

Guyanese Antoine B. Craigwell, co-chair of the New York State Office of Mental Health’s Multicultural Advisory Council, and member of the Advisory Board on the 988-Suicide and Crisis Hotline Implementation in New York State, is among an inspiring group of advocates, social workers, journalists, youth, and affiliates who will be honored at the 2023 Mental Health America Conference: Next Gen Prevention awards in Washington, D.C.

The June 8-10 in-person and virtual conference will recognize the incredible, award-winning work of Craigwell, who is a member of the New York State LGBT Network, and a member of the NYCDOHMH Community Advisory Board on the City’s response to COVID-19.

The New Amsterdam, Guyanese born Craigwell, a tireless advocate for the rights of the LGBT community, and who was recently appointed as a member of NYC Public Health Corps Advisory Council, told Caribbean life that he is honored to be nominated and selected to receive “the Clifford W. Beers Award from Mental Health America.

“Thank you to all who believe and support what I do,” said Craigwell, a graduate of the University of Guyana and Bernard Baruch College of the City University of New York, a trained journalist, who received awards from the New York Association of Black Journalist, for several US publications.

Craigwell is a nationally certified mental health first aid instructor. He was featured in magazines and wrote a chapter in, “Headcase — an Anthology of LGBTQ Writers and Artists on Mental Health and Wellness,” published by Oxford University Press, February 2019; and in the New York State Governor’s Suicide Prevention Report “Considerations and Contexts for Treatment — the Whole Person,” April 2019.

The Clifford W. Beers Award is MHA’s highest honor and is given annually to an individual with lived experience who best reflects the example set by MHA founder Clifford W. Beers in his efforts to improve conditions for, and attitudes toward, people living with mental health conditions.