When I was a medical student I received a grant from this foundation to start an education program for medical students and women leaving commercial sexual exploitation. The grant provided us support to start the program which probably would not have started without it. Five years later this program is still running and has expanded. It provides education for at-risk women and allows students a chance to learn how to work with this marginalized population.
As a resident physician I received a public psychiatry fellowship funded through the foundation. This fellowship has allowed me a a chance to develop my leadership skills and get to know others who are doing amazing work impacting marginalized populations.
Every year the American Psychiatric Foundation (APF) awards individuals with the "Helping Hands Grant", which was developed "to encourage medical students to participate in community mental health service activities". I have been the recipient of this grant for the past 2 years and I am incredibly thankful for the support and funding I have received from the APF. I am interested in pursuing a medical career in child and adolescent psychiatry and I am also very interested in community outreach/public health work. Thanks to the APF's generous grant, I have been able to implement a middle-school curriculum that I developed to educate adolescents about mental health. The APF's supporting my project has allowed me to work with children while simultaneously addressing the stigma that is associated with mental illnesses.