PEI Alliance for Mental Well-Being Announces its Inaugural Board of Directors

PEI Alliance for Mental Well-Being Announces its Inaugural Board of Directors

Charlottetown, PEI – In response to community-led recommendations to invest in mental well-being for Islanders, the PEI Government created the PEI Alliance for Mental Well-Being in 2021. The Alliance has since become a registered non for profit. The Alliance is a not-for-profit organization with a collective-impact approach that brings people together in a collaborative way, to achieve positive social change by proactively addressing mental health, substance use, and addiction concerns. It provides leadership, coordination and communications related to mental well-being by collaborating, convening, disseminating knowledge and assisting with policies and programs with stakeholders and Island community members. Led by Executive Director Karen Cumberland, the Alliance works to help individuals and communities build their resilience to adversity, and to enjoy the benefits of mental well-being. The PEI Alliance for Mental Well-Being’s inaugural board of directors are from Island communities, and represent diverse perspectives and backgrounds: John Horrelt (Chair of the Board of Directors), Mary Pendergast (Chair of the Governance and Nominating Committee), Carolyn Francis, Lucas MacArthur, Ryan Maxwell, Sophie MacDonald, and Chelsey Rogerson

“I am looking forward to working with these community leaders who have a wealth of qualifications, skills, and knowledge and will provide diverse and inclusive advice, input, and perspectives,” says Horrelt, “The PEI Alliance for Mental Well-being is preventative, upstream work, and it is exciting to be at the forefront of the new science-based work in resiliency.” 

Board members were selected based on qualifications, skills and experience, consistent with the Alliance’s commitment to equity, diversion and inclusion. The selection was made by the Community Advisory Committee in consultation with Cumberland. Together, the Board of Directors will develop, implement and monitor financial management and policies that will allow the Alliance to carry out its work now and in a sustainable future. The Board will meet quarterly, annually at an AGM, and throughout the year in committee work. 

“As we strive for a Board that is equitable, diverse, and inclusive, we are still inviting applications from representatives of Francophone, Indigenous, and western PEI communities,” says Pendergast.