Philanthropy Related Content

McLean Director Emeritus Francis de Marneffe, MD, has chronicled many of his 96 years in two memoirs and is putting the finishing touches on a third. His life is brimming with stories. At age 16, he bicycled from Belgium across France just as the Germans invaded in 1940. He became a pilot in Britain...

Some days, Patrick Lovelace couldn’t make it until 3pm at his large public high school, and he’d call his mother to pick him up early. Other days, he refused to go altogether. His anxiety was crippling; healthy relationships were hard to nurture. So, when his family proposed that he check out McLean...

Rosalie Rudnick collected friends like she collected Caucasian rugs—easily, passionately, and in large numbers. “The world loved Rosalie,” said Mitch, her husband of 60 years. “She was charming and befriended everyone who came near her.” Even after Alzheimer’s disease robbed her of almost everything...

Schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, and bipolar disorder with psychotic features are diagnoses laden with stigma, and they can sound downright frightening. Child psychiatrist Perihan Esra Guvenek-Cokol, MD, an expert in psychotic disorders, doesn’t dispute their seriousness. But she knows that...

Despite the limitations imposed by the pandemic, 2020 was a year of robust activity for the Women’s Mental Health Leadership Council, a group of women that has been gathering for years to discuss topics of mental health. Established in 2016, the group comes together to learn from McLean experts...

At McLean, we often talk about how we serve people across the lifespan. In this edition of Horizons, we share stories that illustrate the breadth of that commitment. You’ll read two articles about programs for adolescents and young adults—the more than 60-year-old Arlington School and the newly...

Mac Dorris and his team are well into the planning for the 2021 Ride for Mental Health, and they’re hoping that this year will bring the ability to cycle safely in groups again. Registration opened on February 1, and interest is already robust. Launched in 2017, The Ride has raised nearly $600,000...

It was 1979, and Michael Hollander, PhD, was a post-doctoral fellow at McLean’s adolescent day service when he overheard two girls talking about how they regularly burned their arms with lighters and red-hot coins. He was curious and joined the conversation. “What surprised me was that they didn’t...

Nearly 80% of McLean patients turn to spirituality or religion to cope with stress or adversity. And nationally, 50-60% of patients want their spirituality addressed in their mental health care. But historically, psychiatry has overlooked these facts. “There’s a disconnect between what we’re doing...

Connie Hadley, PhD, lecturer in the Management and Organizations Department at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business, and Nicholas Zeppos, JD, chancellor emeritus and distinguished university professor of law and political science at Vanderbilt University, Richard Holbrook, retired, and...

As 2020 wound down, most of us agreed that it was a year of challenges. In this edition of Horizons, we share some of the wonderful and inspiring things that are happening at McLean despite the challenges of a global pandemic. We have gathered stories of hope, innovation, gratitude, and generosity...

Shortly before Jonathan Brooking died by suicide in 1985 at age 28, he told his mother Ruth: “If you ever have money to donate, give it to mental health research.” Years before he took his own life, Jonathan had suffered a severe psychotic break and had been hospitalized for 18 months at McLean...

Ann McCauley and Bob Frankel’s son David was a vibrant and loving person who received treatment at McLean over the course of a few years. When David was at McLean, he and his parents appreciated the care they received from the staff, but they especially valued the attentiveness and devotion of...

Since the dawn of psychiatry, clinicians have depended primarily on two things to diagnose and treat illness: what they can observe from face-to-face interactions with patients, and what patients choose to share of their own experiences. These are fairly crude tools compared to those of other...

Ashley Beaulieu, DO, is the third recipient of McLean’s innovative year-long fellowship in women’s mental health. For Beaulieu and her predecessors, this exceptional experience offered a fascinating 12 months of learning, with exposure to female patients coping with a range of diagnoses in every...

In some urban areas, the incidence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among young people rivals that of the military. Add to this the fact that a sizable percentage of people incarcerated in American prisons have untreated mental illness. With this in mind, McLean is bringing its expertise in...

There are dozens of signs flanking the roads and sidewalks across the McLean campus. Their messages include personal expressions of gratitude and encouragement from donors, patients, and hospital leadership for the counselors, nurses, food service workers, maintenance staff, doctors, and countless...

In just a few short weeks in March, McLean transformed itself from a hospital that depends on face-to-face encounters and shoulder-to-shoulder group interactions to one that can deliver treatment via patients’ computer screens. “Pre-pandemic, I would estimate that less than 5% of our care involved...

Our last edition of Horizons came out just as coronavirus was becoming a household word. In the months since then, we have all worked hard to keep each other safe and healthy. Today, McLean is engaged in recovery planning with an ongoing focus on prioritizing the safety of our patients, staff, and...

On January 10, 2017, Catharine “Cathie” Cook passed away after a courageous battle with ocular melanoma. For 17 years, Cathie led the McLean development office with passion, vision, and unyielding devotion to the hospital’s mission. She had an enormous impact on McLean and on the mental health field...