Clifford W. Beers Award

Mental Health America has announced that Harold House has been named the 2008 Clifford W. Beers Award honoree. Harold is a brother to Jim House, Executive Director of MHA of Greater St. Louis.

Each year, Mental Health America (formerly the National Mental Association) presents its highest honor, the Clifford W. Beers Award, to a mental health consumer whose service and leadership best emulate the example set by the Mental Health America founder in his efforts to improve conditions for, and attitudes toward, people with mental health conditions. It has been presented annually since 1976.

Harold House spoke at the Heroes in the Fight Awards Ceremony which was sponsored by the local MHA last year. He donated $15,000 to the Greater St Louis Mental Health Association during that visit.

House was honored on Friday, June 6, 2008 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC during the Annual MHA Conference and Inaugural Promotion and Prevention Summit. He is a teacher of students with severe emotional exceptionalities at Indianapolis Public Schools and is assigned to the Marion County Juvenile Justice Center. He joined IPS in February after leaving the school system in 2001. House is the first person from Indiana to receive the award.

Each year only one person in the country is selected for this top honor. It is bestowed upon a mental health consumer whose service and leadership best emulate the example set by MHA founder, Clifford W. Beers and his efforts to improve conditions for, and attitudes toward people afflicted with mental illness.

House introduced his brother Jim during the awards ceremony and told the group how Jim helped him get involved in local mental health initiatives when they were youths. During his acceptance remarks, House recalled the history of the Vigo County Mental Health Association and its importance in establishing programs that would later help him.

House thanked his wife, Susan Wythe House, a nurse who convinced him to seek help and encouraged his recovery. He also discussed the important work of his doctor, William Shriner, MD, who recently retired. He mentioned the importance of volunteers like Kathryn Steppe who spent time with him.

House went on to tell the 500 people in attendance that he had wonderful caretakers at the Access Center-Union Hospital, Hamilton Center, and Terre Haute Regional Hospital. He also took the time to thank family and friends as well as those in his church family at Wayside United Methodist Church in Clinton, Indiana.

Through three decades of teaching, Harold House has worked to educate thousands of at-risk youth in both Ohio and Indiana.

As a youth, Harold House dreamed of helping young people learn. For the last three decades he has lived that dream becoming a nationally renowned teacher known for his innovation in special education. He is quickly emerging as a nationally renowned leader in the mental health community.

MHA leaders said, “House’s life of advocacy and service admirably exemplifies the triumph of resilience and recovery. He is a wonderful leader whose optimism, intelligence, and zest for life is an inspiration to all around him. His voice and vision in the mental health movement is significant. “

Among House’s many contributions:

As a teacher of students with extremely severe emotional and behavioral conditions, he has assisted more than 1,500 in getting psychiatric treatment.

He is credited with assisting and directing in the development of the Pacers Academy, an alternative school for troubled youth. It is the only NBA sponsored alternative school in the nation and has expanded to three programs in the Indianapolis area. The Pacers Academy provides a self-paced, self-directed curriculum that is computer driven. Students, who otherwise would be in jeopardy of dropping out of school altogether, are encouraged to stay in school by working at paid internships and volunteering for community service projects.

In 1999, he was selected as one the top 100 teachers in the nation by USA Today.

He was recently honored with the 2008 Outstanding Special Education Teacher Award by the National Association of Special Education Teachers.

In 2007, he was named recipient of the Phillip Carey Award for Human Relations by the Indiana State Teachers Association.

Harold House was honored with the 2007 South Bend Human Rights Award for advocating courageously on behalf of children protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act.

He was named the 2007 Welcome Back Lifetime Achievement Award recipient for leadership and courage in the depression community by the world division of Eli Lilly & Company.

· During the past 20 years, Harold has raised funds and acquired grants amounting to more than $200 million for community organizations. His remarkable career was nearly sidelined 12 years ago when he was diagnosed with severe and debilitating depression. His road to recovery was difficult, to say the least, and Harold attempted to take his own life. He sought medical assistance and began to fight back and persevere. He would undergo ECT shock treatments before full recovery would begin. Many thought he would not return to teaching, but Harold House came back even stronger than before.

Just eight years earlier House was a successful mayor and municipal judge in Clermont County, Ohio, recognized for efforts in drug enforcement and DUI adjudication. He was being mentored by former astronaut and US Senator John Glenn, current US Senator Sherrod Brown, and former Cincinnati Mayor Jerry Springer, who is now a television entertainer.

His work in public life brought death threats, the bombing of his courtroom, and tampering with his personal vehicle. The Cincinnati Enquirer dubbed him the drug-busting mayor and President Ronald Reagan joined the United States Jaycees in naming him among the Ten Outstanding Young Americans in 1987.

Since 2001, House has taught incarcerated youth at facilities throughout the state of Indiana.

As a lead teacher for the Indiana Department of Correction, Harold House shocked state officials and cooperated with the United States Justice Department, providing files and records pointing to inadequate educational progress in students who were not getting treatment for their mental illnesses. He also testified before the US Justice Department highlighting inadequacies in the system and telling officials that without treatment for his students, chances of productive rehabilitation were greatly diminished.

House withstood strong opposition to follow what he believed to be the right course of action. He placed his long and distinguished career on the line. For these courageous actions, House was unilaterally removed as both a lead teacher and a special education coordinator. Harold’s crime was telling the truth. He stood up for these students with disabilities and state officials attempted to trash his good reputation. Even though the Indiana Governor enlisted the Indiana Attorney General to fight House’s appeals, House won on most counts. House credits Doyle McAllister with the Indiana State Teachers Association for battling and advocating for him.

Students are now being administered psychotropic medications for the mental health conditions and are receiving mental health counseling.

The Indiana Department of Correction and the U.S. Justice Department recently signed an agreement that forbids further egregious Constitutional violations. The agreement also extends to all IDOC juvenile facilities. Additionally, the Indiana Department of Corrections plans to provide mental health assistance after incarceration in order to reduce recidivism rates.

During the conference, House met with US Representative Patrick Kennedy, son of US Senator Ted Kennedy. The younger Kennedy is a psychiatric survivor and champion for mental health. House will join his team to battle for legislative initiatives that bring about needed changes for those in recovery.

Harold House is now working on establishing and expanding several youth programs throughout the state. Many of them will provide wraparound services that include mental health treatment services.

House earned both the Bachelor of Science degree and the Educational Specialist degree at Indiana State University. He earned the Master’s degree at the University of Dayton and Ohio State University. He is licensed in the following areas: school superintendent, principal, special education director, vocational director, special education teacher, and vocational marketing teacher. He is currently working toward licensure as a school psychologist.

House and his wife, Susan Wythe House, have three children: Nancy Cox (Paul), Kimberly House, and Andrew House. They have three grandchildren: Destiny McClure, Aidan Cox, and Isaac Cox.

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