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Fountain House has been a leader in the field of mental health since its inception in 1948. It is the only mental health organization to win the Hilton Humanitarian Award.
The goal of the program is to not only help students return to college, but to offer various tools and techniques students need to strengthen skills, reduce stress, and increase independence. College Re-Entry has designed an innovative fee-based, semester-long curriculum for young adults that combines academic preparedness classes with wellness workshops and one-on-one academic coaching. I am both proud and astounded that this initiative is the first of its kind. Certainly, there is no lack of need for such a program: “More than 25 percent of college students have been treated by a mental health professional within the past year,” according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. My hope is that, in time, the College Re-Entry program— whose core program has helped 85 percent of its students successfully return to school—will become widely known among university students and staff, so that no one ever has to feel they don’t have options. To help in this effort, the Dalton School is partnering with College Re-Entry on April 19 in a health and wellness symposium designed to help young adults and their families prepare for mental health challenges students might face in college. Every parent of junior and senior students in the Independent Schools Admissions Association of Greater New York is invited to attend to learn more about this important and growing issue. Both Fountain House and its College Re-Entry program give people hope. I think I can sum this up by quoting a letter I received from an old friend of Danny’s, who is also living with mental illness. She only learned about Fountain House recently, and after her tour she wrote me the following: “I think the hardest part of managing bipolar disorder is trying to be healthy and contributing to society and doing something meaningful while keeping a secret. Fountain House seems like it would be a great place to not have to hide and yet be treated not like a person with a serious mental illness. I never imagined such a place would exist.” Welcome to the light… u Danny Zorn lost his battle to mental illness in October 2012. His legacy of helping people lives on through the Danny Zorn Education Scholarship. For more information about the College Re-Entry Program, visit collegereentry.org.
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/ SPRING 2016