Norwalk Plus – Laurel House to Celebrate their 30 Years of Progress

STAMFORD, CT – Laurel House will be holding their 2nd Annual Laurel House, Derby Dinner Dance – Champions for Recovery, on Saturday, May 3, 2014 at the Woodway Country Club in Darien. This year’s event will celebrate Laurel House’s 30 Years of Progress in providing critical support programs and services to those living with mental illness and their families.

The event will honor Alice Medalia, Ph.D., Director of the Lieber Rehabilitation and Recovery Clinic, and Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons, as this year’s Champion for Recovery. Alice is an international leader in the field of psychiatric rehabilitation, focusing on the treatment of neuropsychological disorders in psychiatric illness.

“We are proud to honor Alice’s achievements and celebrate her initiative and passion for psychiatric rehabilitation,” said Linda Autore, President and CEO of Laurel House. “Alice recently trained and certified Laurel House staff on the use of cognitive remediation, and we are now able to offer this groundbreaking rehabilitation program in southern Connecticut. Laurel House’s cognitive remediation program is called Thinking Well.”

The 2nd Annual Derby Dinner Dance will also recognize 7 outstanding individuals representing towns in Fairfield County served by Laurel House. The Town Champions will be honored for their advocacy and outreach to make their towns better places in which to live and work. The 2014 Laurel House Town Champions are: Darien, Carrie Bernier, The Community Fund of Darien, Fairfield/Southport, Patsy King, Greenwich, Stephanie Raia, LCSW, Norwalk/Darien, Terrie Wood, Stamford, Larry Rosenberg, Ph.D. and Lina Morielli and Westport, Alison Held, M.S.

The festive event kicks off at 5:45 PM with live Derby action, a hat contest, cocktails, silent auction, dinner and dancing to the Bleeker Street Band. For sponsorship opportunities and ticket information, please call 203-324-7734.

Laurel House opened its doors in 1984, where a dozen people would drop in for a couple of hours of mutual support and fellowship. Over the years, it has evolved into a full service psychiatric rehabilitation program and Resource Center, assisting nearly 700 people a year on their path to recovery. Today’s Laurel House, encompasses life skills training, wellness and the cognition-focused Thinking Well program. The Laurel House team goes into the community to meet program participants and their families where they live, work and go to school, bringing the hope of recovery and community integration to people living positively with mental illness.