The Center for Multicultural Human Services (CMHS) recognized for pioneering work in the advancement of minority mental health

Falls Church, VA -- In the early nineteen eighties, Dr. Dennis Hunt identified a need for foster care and therapeutic services among refugee children who were separated from their families.  Twenty-five years later, the Center for Multicultural Human Services (CMHS), founded by Hunt to address these needs, has been recognized by the American Psychiatric Foundation (APF) as a national leader in the delivery of mental health services for minorities.

Located in Falls Church, Va., CMHS has grown from serving a handful of Southeast Asian children to over 8,000 refugees and immigrants each year.  On May 29, CMHS will receive one of APF’s four 2007 Awards for Advancing Minority Mental Health to be presented at this year’s American Psychiatric Association meeting in San Diego.

The award comes at a special time for CMHS as this year marks the center’s 25^th anniversary.   “It will go a long way in helping secure support for the important work we do,” said Hunt, who will accept the award in San Diego. “We are very honored to be noticed like this.”

“It is hard for me to communicate the depth of my conviction that CMHS is extraordinarily deserving of the 2007 Award for Advancement of Minority Mental Health,” wrote Dr. Robert Pynoos of the UCLA Department of Psychiatry in his letter of recommendation to APF.

Since its establishment in 1982, CMHS has provided social and mental health services to immigrants and refugees in the Washington DC area and is being recognized by the APF for achievements in raising awareness of mental illness in minority communities and the need for treatment; programs to reduce language and cultural barriers; reaching out to the community and supporting community reintegration.

The Center for Multicultural Human Services is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization whose mission is to help people from ethnically diverse backgrounds succeed by providing comprehensive, culturally sensitive mental health and related services and by conducting research and training to make such services more widely available.

The American Psychiatric Foundation is the philanthropic and educational arm of the American Psychiatric Association. The foundation’s mission is to advance understanding that mental illnesses are real and can be effectively treated.