WellSpring Resources’ Presents Mental Health Heroes Awards

WellSpring Resources presented their annual Mental Health Hero Awards in a ceremony at their office located at 2615 Edwards Street in Alton on Thursday evening.  In 2005, the Board of Directors of WellSpring Resources created the Heroes Award to recognize those in the community who have:

• Shown tremendous compassion and understanding of the day-to-day struggles of those challenged with mental health issues.
• Heightened the level of community awareness about the stigma that surrounds mental health issues;
• Taken significant action to improve the quality of life for those in our community living with mental health issues.

This year’s winners were announced by Jennifer Craige, interim CEO/COO of WellSpring Resources, with the awards being presented by Sally Sheahan WellSpring’s Board Vice President.  Honored with the 2015 Mental Health Hero Award were Jessica Gruneich, Executive Director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) of Southern Illinois and Dr. Jeremy Jewell, professor of psychology and program director of the Clinical Child and School Psychology graduate program at Southern Illinois University of Edwardsville.

Watch the video of the presentation and acceptance speeches by both honorees.

Past Winners of the award are:

Bill Haine & Chris Sullivan – 2005

Roger Richards & Marcia Wickenhauser – 2006

Joan Roennigke & Dr. Anthony Traxler – 2007

Edward Ferguson & Dr. John Hoelscher – 2008

Lula Mae Brown & Dan Beiser – 2009

Anne Callis & Tom Hoechst – 2010

Madison County Community Development & Patricia Rudloff – 2011

Alton School District & Kyle Napp – 2012

David Hayes & Andrew Feller – 2013

Tom Johnson & Roxana School District – 2014