Angela is an attorney, full-time, self-funded mental health advocate, national speaker, and educator. She promotes basic education about mental illnesses for all lawyers, judges, faith leaders, and school children. An example of recovery, Angela has been well and on daily medication, since an episode of manic-depression in 1988. She has provided training about mental illness for numerous civic, religious, educational, legislative, and legal groups. She has spoken throughout the nation, including speaking at the 2002 NAMI (National Alliance for the Mentally Ill convention, the 2001 National Mental Health Association (NMHA) convention, and the 2001 National Depressive & Manic-Depressive Association (NDMDA) convention. She was an invited speaker at: the 1999 Southeast Psychiatric Treatment Update conference; at several CEU/CLE programs including the University of South Florida's Mental Health Institute, the University of Louisville, and Baptist Medical Center of Jacksonville; at the NDMDA's August 2000 annual convention; and twice gave invited testimony to the Governor's Commission on Mental Health & Substance Abuse. She spoke of legal reform at the Stigma & Discrimination Symposium in March 2001 in Baltimore. A past board member of the Obsessive Compulsive Foundation of Jacksonville and the MHA of Northeast Florida, she is currently on the state board of NAMI Florida. A national NDMDA's Speakers Bureau and Legal Committee participant, she helped train Jacksonville police officers during their Crisis Intervention Team program. She is active in legislative reform, was on an Assertive Community Treatment task force, and works on a mental health and juvenile court task force, the Jack! sonville Coalition for the Prevention of Adolescent Violence and Substance Abuse, and a Self Directed Care pilot program. She lobbied lawmakers and educators about a bill, defeated during the 2000 session, which would have added mental illness facts, age-appropriately, K-12, to Florida school children's curriculum. She has worked with the Department of Education and the Attorney General on enforcing an existing mandate. She participated in a 2002 training for special education (SEDNET) teachers and administrators. She is the District 4 representative for Partners In Crisis, a statewide advocacy group made up of Florida judges, attorneys, law enforcement officers, providers, and advocates. She has lead training for Department of Juvenile Justice probation officers and parents, child casemanagers, and an HIV/AIDS coalition. She has been active in weekly NDMDA and NAMI support groups. Her faith initiatives include teaching pastors the crucial role of faith leaders in mental wel! lness. She has lead a mental illness issues training for the Jacksonville Christian Legal Society. A Florida Bar member since 1979, Angela was the 2000-2001 chair of the Jacksonville Bar Association's Law and the Disabled Committee, and spoke at the First Coast Disabilities 2001 Conference. She is on several Jacksonville and Florida Bar committees, and organized two public conferences on disabilities for the Jacksonville Bar. A lay member of the National Council of Family & Juvenile Court Judges, she spoke to NCJFCJ national metropolitan court judges in 2000. She prepared a training on mental illnesses and related legal issues for the Chester Bedell Inn of Court in 2000, for federal, state, and appellate judges and prominent lawyers. This was entered in the national Inn of Court competition after being repeated and videotaped by WJCT, a Public Broadcasting Station (PBS). The Florida Bar's Board of Governors unanimously approved her petition, which the Florida Supreme Court affirmed in February 2001, adding "mental illness awareness" to Florida's mandatory Continuing Legal Education (CLE) program. She spoke to numerous groups at both the 2002 Florida Bar convention, and the 2001 American Bar Association convention, about the need for attorney and judicial training in mental illnesses. She has given pro bono CLE courses to the Jacksonville Holland & Knight law firm, Jacksonville Area Legal Aid, Inc., the Jacksonville Office of the Public Defender, the Jacksonville Women Lawyers' Association, and the Jacksonville Bar Association. She was featured in Jacksonville newspapers: Florida Times Union, Folio Weekly, and the Daily Record, and on the local CBS television affiliate, WJXT, as the "Everyday Hero" feature and has been a guest on PBS and other talk radio shows on several occasions. NBC TV 12 /ABC TV25 awarded her the "12 Who Care" community service award. Her articles have been published in the NAMI Advocate, the Treatment Advocacy Center Catalyst, the Jacksonville Bar Association Bulletin and the National Council of Juvenile & Family Court Judges Journal. She has been featured in the national newsletters of both the National Mental Health Association and the National Depressive & Manic-Depressive Association, as well as in the Bar Leader, a p! ublication for bar officials by the American Bar Association, the Florida Bar News, and numerous mental health publications, for her landmark work in legal education regarding mental illnesses. She has received recognition by the 2002 Grassroots Forum for People with Disabilities, POWER (Parents Offering Wisdom, Enrichment, and Resources), the local Mental Health Association, the Obsessive-Compulsive Foundation of Jacksonville, NAMI Jacksonville, NAMI Florida, and the Jacksonville Bar Association, for her advocacy and pro bono work. She graduated with Honors from the University of Florida College of Law; and has worked in legal services and commercial real estate law. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Medical Technology from the Medical College of Georgia. The majority of her undergraduate studies were at the University of Georgia, where she participated in the Honors Program and held a University of Georgia Board of Regents' scholastic scholarship, majoring in chemistry. She has worked in hospital laboratories and in a protein chemistry lab doing medical research. For more information about Angela and her work, please visit her website at www.puebloadvocacy.com/50states/vickers |
