The recently renamed “Minnesota Mental Health Community Foundation” has been in development since 2006. MPS members saw the need to support outreach activities with a permanent structure, so they worked with leadership and staff to form the Minnesota Psychiatric Information and Outreach Foundation in 2010. Since its inception, the foundation has strived to offer a community-wide infrastructure to support collaboration and innovation with projects that bring together disciplines, approaches and volunteers working together to impact mental health care in Minnesota. The original board included representation from psychiatry, nursing, social work and community volunteers. Today the foundation and its board offer leadership and support for the whole mental health community and we are actively working to expand the board to represent a cross-section of Minnesota’s mental health community.
The Mission of the Minnesota Mental Health Community Foundation is to support and promote access outreach and education about Mental Health treatment and systems of care. 
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Yee Xiong, MD, Awarded 2019 Bob Baumer Scholarship
.Yee Xiong, MD, described her interest in the scholarship and the opportunities it offers, “As the second Hmong psychiatrist in the state of Minnesota, I stand at the forefront of tackling mental health disparities in the Hmong community. The Hmong community encounters a complex interplay of disproportionately high prevalence of depression, anxiety, PTSD, and suicide in the setting of ongoing social marginalization, chemical use adaptation, and a unique social determinant of mental health. I hope to become a psychiatrist whose services are extended beyond community mental health centers/hospitals into the locus of care for the seriously mentally ill: the community itself. By using the clan organization and complementary and alternative health modalities as stepping stones to shared decision-making and evidence-based care, my approach to community psychiatry can become tools for prevention, treatment, action, and support to promote good mental health for the Hmong community and the neighboring communities that mental illness and its stigma transmit to.” Dr. Xiong will also pursue APA scholar opportunities in New York City
Lyuba Megits, MD, Is the 2019 Eric Brown Residents Caucus Scholarship Winner
Dr. Megits’ application described her interest as a 4th year psychiatry resident at the University of Minnesota. Throughout her training, she has had the opportunity to explore and develop her interests in psychotherapy. She is currently gaining additional training through the Minnesota Psychoanalytic Society and Institute (MPSI) in the Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Training Program (PPTP). She notes, “Throughout the three trimesters that I have had the opportunity to attend didactic course work and case consultations, I gained a great deal of understanding into how psychoanalysis and psychodynamically-oriented psychotherapy intertwine with the practice of psychiatry. I feel very fortunate to have developed this facet of my training and for my ability to see and hear more deeply how my patients are communicating their stories.” She feels particularly empowered to have the neuropsychiatric background of understanding the brain circuitry in development. Dr. Megits will use the scholarship to continue to pursue her training and explore the growing interest within both branches for integrating and finding a common ground.
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