Annual Signature Luncheon

The importance of speaking openly about mental health and encouraging others to do the same was a recurring message at the 12th Annual Signature Luncheon held in May 2022 at the Hilton Post Oak hotel in Houston. This year’s event raised more than $335,000 for The Menninger Clinic Foundation and featured keynote speaker Charles Haley, who lives with bipolar disorder and is an NFL Hall of Fame inductee and former Dallas Cowboys player.

“Silence is a killer,” Haley said at the luncheon. “Being bipolar is something I'm going to deal with for the rest of my life and I'm not ashamed of it.”

Menninger’s Vital Balance Award went to the Harris County Sherriff’s Office in honor of their work to change how law enforcement responds to people with mental illness. Special guests in attendance included Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, Vice Mayor Pro Tem Martha Castex- Tatum, Harris County Commissioner Adrian Garcia, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzales and rapper Bun B. The successful event was chaired by Foundation board member Kathy Flanagan, MD, and Clinic board member Susan Sportsman, PhD, RN.