Bruce Graunke, PhD, of the VA Puget Sound Health Care System, has been named the 2008 Psychologist of the Year by the National Alliance on Mental Illness, which supports and advocates for people with mental illness and their families.
Graunke has volunteered for NAMI since 1978, when the emerging Houston branch of NAMI was named Citizens for Human Development. "Families would come 90, 100 miles to our monthly meetings," recalls Graunke. "I was so impressed with the battles they had to go through, and that was back at the time when mental illness was mostly focused on the family having done something wrong."
Graunke fostered a partnership between NAMI and the VA, and he is the first psychologist to play an active role with the NAMI Veterans Council, where he serves as secretary.
"Bruce has tremendous drive with his NAMI involvement and activities," says Fred Frese, PhD, of NAMI's Board of Directors. "He does a fantastic job."
—J. Chamberlin