Mental Health Advocates of WNY

The Western New York Community has experienced unprecedent tragic events over the past year. You or someone you know may be struggling to cope in the aftermath of these events. As our community continues to heal, the need for our services and mental health support continues to rise. As this need increases, so does the need to fund our programs.

This year, funds raised through Give 716 will help support critical programs at MHA including Youth Programs and Family Support Legal Services CASA Program and Support Groups.

Please take a moment to watch and read some of the testimonials from our community.

Drayton Family

The Drayton family is part of the MHA mission and is an example of the life-changing work we do in WNY. Hear more from them about their experience with our Family Support Program and why it's critical to support our organization:

"Our story begins in May of 2022. We received a call from our grandchildren’s school that our grandson was in trouble again, and they asked if we could come pick him up. I told my husband not to go unless we could come up with a plan to pull him out of the mess he was in. We needed to change his situation at home because we knew it wasn't good. What we didn't expect was how bad it was. 

When we went to pick up our grandson, the school told us all the things that had been going on with not just him, but also our granddaughter. The things they told us had us in tears. No child should have to go through some of the things they went through. 

Our grandson was suspended from school because we were taking custody of him and it was a move to help our situation - otherwise they would have kept him in class. Once we took him home, we decided as a family that we couldn’t leave our granddaughter at the home without her brother - to fend for herself. We immediately went to court to file for custody for BOTH of our grandchildren.

Now, I am disabled and my husband is retired. Taking in two young kids was not part of our plan. It has been a rollercoaster ride for us. Our grandchildren also have mental health diagnoses on top of it all, so it's been stressful to say the least. But that's where MHA comes in - they provided the hope we needed, and helped us find the blessing in our situation. 

MHA has helped us tremendously. Financially they have gifted us with programs that we could otherwise not afford to participate in. These programs give our grandchildren fun things to do and look forward to each month. Also, they have introduced us to things that I feel culturally we would have never tried – like apple picking!! We are hooked, and so glad we tried it!

Not only is the program helping our children – they are also helping us, the adults who care for them."

Our mission is to promote mental health and wellness in our community and support individuals and families challenged by mental illness.