From the President

Welcome to The Verrazano Foundation website!

Although few realize it, we believe we are in the early stage of a great social movement, the movement for equal rights and full inclusion in American society of people living with mental illness. We believe that this movement will profoundly transform society as we know it, shaking cultural foundations which stretch backwards to the Middle Ages.

The battles that will bring these folks to the societal table will transform every one of us. Like the struggles for civil rights which liberates not only people of color but white people as well from the oppression of racism, like the struggle for women's liberation which simultaneously frees both men and women from repressive and restrictive stereotypes, the struggle for recovery rights will benefit us all, not just those of us who have already been diagnosed. We will be transformed gladly or we will be transformed kicking and screaming.

The Shadow of Mental Illness Haunts Us All!

Those we refer to as "people living with mental illness," those once called "mad," for whom our language has so many derisive terms, are an aspect of ourselves and society which most of us have not wanted to look at and have not wanted to see.

We are living in the Shadow ourselves or we have parents, siblings, or friends living in that Shadow. We recognize the possibility of mental illness in ourselves. Or we deny it.

This is clear: Persons living with mental illness suffer not only from painful and debilitating symptoms but from stigma and discrimination which keep them from making the positive contributions to the community of which they are capable.

This too is clear: Psychiatric treatment alone will not make the difference in people's lives which providers and consumers of mental health services hope for. These lives will change little unless opportunities to assume productive roles in the community are available.

You Can Help Bring Recovery to Light!

The Verrazano Foundation, a New York State not-for-profit corporation, is committed to combating stigma and discrimination against persons living with mental illness by providing opportunities for people in recovery, individually and collectively, to make positive, visible contributions to the community.

We hope that this website can be a rallying point for this struggle. You can help by sharing your reactions to what appears on this site. Your feedback is crucial in helping us shape the future.

Perhaps you can help us identify talented individuals who would be interested in participating as writers or editors. Perhaps this is something you can do yourself!

Perhaps, you have a story of life with mental illness which you would be willing to share. An important ingredient of each section of the website, the Arts of Recovery, the Spirit of Recovery, the Tools of Recovery, the Business of Recovery, and the Recovery Movements will be first person accounts. By bearing witness to the dilemmas of living with mental illness and to the possibilities of recovery, you can help bring recovery to light.

Or perhaps you can help us identify someone else who has a story to tell.

Or perhaps you can make a financial contribution to help support this work.

Recovery is possible! Together we can push back the Shadow of Mental Illness!