The Exemplary Psychiatrist Award is a national award that has been presented by NAMI to leading American psychiatrists each year for two decades. A ceremony is held at the national convention of the American Psychiatric Association. This year, 22 outstanding doctors from around the country were recognized.

The recipients of this award have demonstrated that they go the extra mile through work alongside NAMI members for access to care, research, funding, and other NAMI priorities. They have worked to ensure that the NAMI perspective helps shape state and local services. They provide comprehensive treatment to individuals with serious mental illness, addressing medical, rehabilitative and social needs. They are educators teaching whole families about the effects of serious mental illness and how to meet its challenges. And they work to reduce the stigma of mental illness among the general public. 

I am thrilled to report to you that the Exemplary Psychiatrist Award is presented this year to our very own Dr. Lynn Tyson.
 
"I just try to do what I can." Dr. Lynn Tyson has described her career of community service with these words. "I just try to do what I can." I would like to suggest to you that with these words Dr. Tyson shows us a key to the path of success in life: Humility.

Humility is the quality of being humble. For those entrusted with power, such as psychiatrists, it is the ability to wear that power lightly. The ability to be truly oneself while relating to others fundamentally as an equal.

Dr. Tyson is ever humble. She expresses her gratitude for the privilege of participating in the lives of her patients and their families. Her humility qualifies her perfectly for the work she has done with NAMI, an organization created and sustained by and for families affected by serious mental illness.

Dr. Tyson has been a member of NAMI Augusta continuously since 1993. In that year and in 1994, she coordinated an educational series for the Augusta Community on Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder, and Major Depression. She coordinated a similar educational series for the Savannah Community on Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder, Clinical Depression, Substance Abuse, Anxiety Disorders, and Child and Adolescent Behavioral Disorders in 1995. That year she also coordinated and presented a workshop on Bipolar Disorder at the annual state meeting of NAMI Georgia.

Drawing on her own personal experiences as a resource, Dr.Tyson has volunteered for NAMI Augusta as a Family Support Group facilitator (1999-2006) and has been a Family-to-Family instructor from 1998 through the present.

Dr. Tyson has a special gift for nurturing spirituality as a healer. In 2002, Dr. Tyson co-founded the Coalition for Mental and Spiritual Health Ministries of the CSRA (Central Savannah River Area). She has been continuously involved in leadership of this organization, which is co-sponsored by NAMI Augusta, through to the present day, and she serves as Secretary. Dr. Tyson's Coalition, to date, has coordinated twelve inter-denominational community wide services held at different CSRA churches for all whose lives have been touched by mental illness as well as for caregivers and health care providers. The services bring together clergy and congregants of all faiths, and are hosted on a rotating basis in both predominantly African-American and Caucasian churches. In addition, Dr. Tyson has volunteered to coordinate nine annual seminars held at the Georgia Health Sciences University for local congregational leaders on mental health issues. Last year's event convened more than 100 community participants.

Dr. Tyson was named "Mental Health Provider of the Year" by NAMI Augusta in 2003. And she continues her service as a valuable and trusted advisor to our Board of Directors.

"I just try to do what I can."

In her remarkable career of humility and service, Dr. Tyson has made a name for herself as a cherished and beloved community psychiatrist throughout eastern Georgia. Thank you, Dr. Tyson.