2000s
In 2000, NAMI SB and Mental Wellness Center completed the first Family-to-Family education program. The program, which is still in place today, is designed to help all family members understand and support their loved ones who are living with mental illness.
- 2005-2008 – Construction of Building Hope on Garden Street: 51 apartments, a new Fellowship Club and program space for future services of Mental Wellness Center.
- 2008 – Mental Health Matters is offered in first 6th grade classroom.
- 2008 – Garden Street opens.
- 2009 – County government contracts are reduced.
Gil Garcia
Board Chair, 2000
Gil Garcia was born in 1939, and with limited community resources due to the war effort, he credits the campesino interdependent working-class lifestyle – living with multiple generations in a tightknit Goleta neighborhood – for guiding his approach to life. His was a community filled with immigrant families from Mexico, working the fields and raising their families, with open doors and a focus on hard work and interdependent support. This ethos carried Gil from the fields to the founding of his architectural firm, Garcia Architect Inc., and development firm, Blankenship-Garcia Inc., to the City Council chambers, where he focused on community service and human development. Gil’s strong connection to his communal home upbringing would come to play a significant role years later in helping the Mental Wellness Center secure their own permanent home.
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George Kaufmann
Board Chair, 2005-2007
Board Member, 2001-2011
Santa Barbara NAMI President, 2014- 2022
NAMI Steering Committee, 2000 – 2014
Like most people associated with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), George Kaufmann found his way to the organization when a member of his family presented with mental illness. In George’s case it was his son, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia 28 years ago. NAMI is a national grassroots nonprofit with chapters nationwide which provide emotional support, educational resources and advocacy for individuals and families affected by mental illness.
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Jan Luc
Board of Directors, 2000-2003, 2005-2006
2001 Volunteer of the Year
Jan Luc is the kind of mother who volunteers wherever her three children are involved. She was active on the PTA during their school years, and later, when her son was hospitalized with a mental health condition and transferred to Casa Juana Maria, one of the Mental Health Association’s resident homes, Jan Luc found her way there.
“My first encounter was visiting the Fellowship Club on Chapala Street,” she recalled. Her son made tremendous progress at the club and Jan Luc wanted to check out the facility. Her initial job was wrapping 100 Christmas presents for club members, and from that point forward she knew she had found the place that she wanted to stay.
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Paul Erikson
Board of Directors, 2005-2010, 2016-2022
Medical Director, Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine at Cottage Health System
Professional consultant to MWC and NAMI
As a Yale undergrad studying American history and literature, Dr. Paul Erickson gathered that the best way to combine his interests in humanities and science would be to pursue a medical degree. At the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, he discovered a love for psychiatry, because it allowed for more time with patients and a real understanding of their life stories. And it was during his residency at Harvard University’s Cambridge Health Alliance that he discovered a passion for community healthcare and public health approaches to psychiatry. After graduating from that program, Dr. Erickson remained at Cambridge Hospital as clinical director of outpatient psychiatry and later clinical chief of the department.
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Robert Tauber
Clinical Supervisor, Program Director, Consultant
Patriarch of the Fellowship Club
Intern supervisor
It was Bob Tauber’s job as director of UCLA’s Neuropsychiatric Institute’s Public-Academic Liaison (PAL) Project that first connected him to the Mental Wellness Center. He had been hired by UCLA to test independent living skills modules for adults with serious mental illness in Santa Barbara County, and the Mental Health Association (as it was previously named) was a partner agency in supporting this work. Additionally, in his work for UCLA, Bob co-authored training programs related to helping clients learn the skills to have successful and satisfying work experiences as well as learning the skills to develop friendship and intimacy in relationships. With the support of Annmarie Cameron and Patricia Collins, he agreed to run pilot programs at the Mental Health Association in order to gain valuable feedback from the participants about these programs.
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Karel deVeer
Board member, 2007-2011, 2016-2021
Treasurer, 2008-2011, 2019-2020, and Co-treasurer 2021
Karel has two women in his life to thank for inspiring his journey to the Mental Wellness Center. The first is his wife of 45 years, Jane Macedo de Veer, who served on the Mental Wellness Center board and recommended the rewarding service to Karel.
The second was his mother, who Karel said instilled in him at a young age, the importance of giving back.
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Ann Lippincott
Board member, 2007-present
Board Chair, 2011-2013
Education Committee Leader
Teaches NAMI Family-to-Family courses and Mental Health First Aid/Youth First Aid
Twenty years ago, Ann Lippincott had the rug pulled out from under her. At the age of 24, her daughter had presented with a psychiatric illness, and at a shocking loss of what to do, Ann turned to the Mental Wellness Center.
As an academic with 30-plus years of education experience, Ann sought knowledge. She enrolled in the Family-to-Family classes offered via the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), an affiliate of the Mental Wellness Center. The 12-week course offers an evidence-based educational program for family, significant others, and friends of people with mental illness.
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