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Don Roberts (President) Mr. Roberts is
a well-known, long-time mental health consumer advocate and activist. He was a board member of Mental Health
Consumers of Alaska, an Alaska
non-profit corporation and tax exempt organization and served as president of
that organization for a time. He has
appeared many times before the Alaska Mental Health Board, which is the state
agency charged with planning and coordinating mental health services funded by
the State of Alaska. Most
recently, Mr. Roberts has just finished his term as a member of the Alaska
State Independent Living Council (The SILC). |
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David
Cohen, Ph.D (Consultant).
Dr. Cohen is Professor and
Coordinator of the Ph.D. Program in Social Welfare at
Florida International
University.
Dr. Cohen’s work has followed
two major directions: (1) developing a critical understanding of the mental
health system and of psychosocial intervention during the “decade of the brain”
and (2) studying the social and cultural uses of psychiatric drugs. His
research experience spans large-scale surveys to in-depth qualitative
inquiries, with more than 20 externally-funded projects as principal or
co-principal investigator. His major contribution to clinical practice has been
to elaborate self-help and professional help methods for clients undergoing
withdrawal from psychiatric drugs. Dr. Cohen has edited or co-authored eight
books or monographs, including Challenging
the Therapeutic State (1990), Tardive
Dyskinesia and Cognitive Dysfunction (1993), and
Your Drug May Be Your Problem: How and Why to Stop Taking Psychiatric
Medications (2000, with P.R. Breggin, MD). His French-language books
include Medicalization and Social Control
(1994), and Critical Handbook of Psychiatric
Drugs (1995). Currently, Dr. Cohen is Editor of Ethical
Human Sciences and Services: An International Journal of Critical Inquiry,
and Associate Editor of The Journal of
Mind and Behavior. He also sits on the Editorial Boards of The Review of Existential Psychology and
Psychiatry as well as The Journal of
Critical Psychology, Counselling, and Psychotherapy. He is also Consulting
Editor for Social Work. |
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Christopher
D. Cyphers (board member). Mr. Cyphers is a partner and member of the
Business Department in Preston Gates & Ellis LLP’s
Anchorage office. His
practice includes a broad range of corporate business transactions with an
emphasis on public and private securities offerings for technology, biotech and
natural resource companies, and venture capital investors. Chris has also served as U.S. counsel on a number of cross-border transactions for
Canadian, Mexican, Israeli, and Asian companies and advises on a broad range of
transactional matters including joint ventures, strategic alliances, mergers
and acquisitions and business formation issues. |
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Grace E. Jackson, MD (Psychiatrist
Consultant). Dr. Jackson is a 1996 graduate of the University of
Colorado School of Medicine. She holds
degrees in biology and political science, as well as a Master's degree in
Public Administration. Dr. Jackson
completed her psychiatric internship and residency in the U.S. Navy, with
subsequent assignment to Bethesda
Naval Hospital as a staff physician.
Since transitioning out of the military in spring 2002, Dr. Jackson has
lectured widely in Europe and the United States, speaking about "The Unintended Consequences of
Developing Biotechnologies"; "The History and Philosophy of Attention
Deficit Disorder"; "Drug-Induced Psychiatric Emergencies"; and
"The Limitations of Biological Psychiatry". She has spoken at international conferences
featuring highly respected clinicians, such as Dr. David Healy (The
Antidepressant Era and The Creation of Psychopharmacology); Dr. David Stein
(Ritalin Is Not The Answer); and Dr. Bertram Karon (Psychotherapy of
Schizophrenia: The Treatment of Choice).
Dr. Jackson is currently working in the state prison system in North
Carolina. |
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Douglas C. Smith, M.D. (Psychiatrist
Consultant) Dr. Smith is a board-certified psychiatrist
who graduated from Indiana University School of Medicine in 1986 and completed
psychiatry residency at the integrated program of Wright-Patterson AFB and
Wright State
University in 1990. Dr. Smith has extensive post-graduate
training in psychoanalysis. He was Chief
of Mental Health Services at Davis-Monthan AFB from 1990 to 1994. Dr. Smith was
Chief of Psychiatry at Mt.
Edgecumbe Hospital,
Sitka,
Alaska, from 1994 to 1996. During that time he testified in
dozens of civil commitment hearings. Since
1996 he has been the Director of Mental Health Services at the
SEARHC Juneau
Medical Center. In 2001 he became the Medical Director of the
clinic. Dr. Smith continues to practice
psychiatry half-time. Interspersed through his career he has had a number of
“moonlighting jobs” at state prisons in Ohio and
Alaska and at community mental health centers in
Arizona. |
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Other Team Members
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