CONSUMER AFFAIRS BULLETIN
Volume 3, No. 1 Winter 1998

Welcome to New CMHS National Advisory Council Members

Mr. Frank D. Burgmann, Dolores Subia BigFoot, Ph.D., and Ian A. Shaffer, M.D. were introduced as new Center for Mental Health Services Advisory Council members at this fall's National Advisory Council meeting held in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 27 and 28. CMHS Director Bernard S. Arons, M.D., stated that "These individuals bring wide-ranging experience and expertise and are sure to enrich our discussions."

Mr. Burgmann, a consumer of mental health services, has served with many mental health policy-making organizations. He is the immediate past president of the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA). He founded the Florida NDMDA, works closely with the Florida Coalition for Mental Health, the Florida Psychiatric Society and others. He has also worked on the Florida public awareness campaigns of the NDMDA, The National Mental Health Association and has created a bimonthly newsletter for consumers and families, as well as a book explaining the disorders and their treatment. By his own description, he is "constantly working to bring education, enlightenment and more effective and more humane treatment for the people challenged by mental illnesses."

Dr. Bigfoot is Assistant Professor of Research, Center on Child Abuse and Neglect, at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, where she directs the training program in the treatment of child physical and sexual abuse with American Indian children. Dr. Bigfoot is widely published in the area of culturally competent interventions and treatments for American Indian families. She has developed and delivered many workshops on cross-cultural issues. Dr. Bigfoot also has more than 15 years experience as a psychotherapist.

Dr. Shaffer is Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer for Value Behavioral Health. In addition, he has more than 18 years of private practice as a child psychiatrist and has completed the physician specialist examination given by the American Society of Addiction Medicine. He is immediate past chairman of the American Managed Behavioral Health Care Association and is a former clinical instructor in psychiatry at the University of Southern California.


CONSUMER AFFAIRS BULLETIN
Vol. 3, No 1, Winter 1997