The annual Yale-NAMI Conference on Neuroscience, Mental Health, and Society was held Saturday, March 22, 2025 in The Anlyan Center Auditorium, 300 Cedar St., New Haven

The theme was postpartum depression. The 2025 Yale Department of Psychiatry Mental Health Advocacy Award was presented to Angelina Spicer, a stand-up comic, writer, producer, actress, mother, and accidental activist who blends humor and advocacy to spotlight maternal health. She is the founder of Spicey Moms, a global grassroots organization that provides immediate, comprehensive support to vulnerable mothers, particularly during the critical first 48 hours postpartum, when help is most needed.

The Yale-NAMI Mental Health Conference, held each spring since 1992, provides an opportunity for community members, patients and their families, and providers to come together and hear about new advances in the care for mental illness from Yale experts.

This event is sponsored by the Yale Department of Psychiatry, the Connecticut chapter of the National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI), and Yale Center for Brain and Mind Health.

The Mental Health Advocacy Award has been presented by the Department of Psychiatry every year since 2006 and, in most years, is announced at the spring Conference. Winners of this award are celebrated for their important impact on treatment, research, reduction of stigma, and enhancement of the wellbeing of those with mental illness through their advocacy, political action, and sharing of their own lived experience.

For information about the conference please email Jessica Costeines at jessica.costeines@yale.edu.