About Us
Mental Health America-Pueblo was formed in 2000 as a 501 (c) (3) organization and is a member of Mental Health America and Mental Health America-Colorado. MHA-Pueblo is strictly a volunteer organization comprised of a volunteer Board of Directors with individual and agencies in the Pueblo community who are members of MHA-Pueblo. To read a copy of our bylaws, please click here.
Our mission is to strive to eliminate the stigma of mental illness and to increase access to treatment through education, advocacy and assessing community needs.
The Story of Our Symbol - The Mental Health Bell
Cast from shackles which bound them, this bell shall ring out hope for the mentally ill and victory over mental illness.
—Inscription on the Mental Health Bell
During the early days of mental health treatment, asylums often restrained people who had mental illnesses with iron chains and shackles around their ankles and wrists. With better understanding and treatments, this cruel practice eventually stopped.
In the early 1950s, Mental Health America issued a call to asylums across the country for their discarded chains and shackles. On April 13, 1956, at the McShane Bell Foundry in Baltimore, Md., Mental Health America melted down these inhumane bindings and recast them into a sign of hope: the Mental Health Bell.
Now the symbol of Mental Health America, the 300-pound Bell serves as a powerful reminder that the invisible chains of misunderstanding and discrimination continue to bind people with mental illnesses. Today, the Mental Health Bell rings out hope for improving mental health and achieving victory over mental illnesses.
Over the years, national mental health leaders and other prominent individuals have rung the Bell to mark the continued progress in the fight for victory over mental illnesses.
2019 Board of Directors
Anna Rodriguez, LCSW, Chair
Brittni Ursick, MPH, Vice-Chair
Doris Kester, Treasurer
Joelene Van Vranken, Secretary
At Large
Joseph Bowers
Shannon Miller
Jill Pollock, PsyD
Lynn Ranson, BS
Joining the Board of Directors
If you are interested in applying to serve on the MHA-Pueblo Board of Directors, please download the Board Member application and return it to:
MHA Pueblo
PO Box 1423
Pueblo, CO 81002
Board Member Application