Garnering Stakeholder Support
Attics and Asylums to Advocacy: The History of Mental Health in New Jersey
Community outreach and stakeholder engagement are integral aspects of Hollander’s exhibit development process. One of the most powerful examples of this can be seen in the exhibit she designed for the Red Mill Museum Village, "From Attics and Asylums to Advocacy: The History of Mental Health in New Jersey."
In order to ensure that the exhibit was sensitive to the challenging subject of mental illness, she assembled a task force of mental health stakeholders from NAMI NJ, The Carrier Clinic and the Governor’s Council on Stigma to advise on the development of the exhibit. The result showcased the precarious evolution of language, perception, as well as the care of the mentally ill.
'“The Carrier Clinic worked with Amy Hollander in partnership with The Governor's Council on Stigma, The National Alliance on Mental Illness of New Jersey, the Boggs Center-UMDNJ and Hunterdon County Department of Human Services to develop an exhibit on the History of Mental Health in New Jersey which opened in May of 2011. Ms. Hollander did an excellent job conveying a coherent exhibit which both summarized three hundred years of the history of mental health in New Jersey, but also provided the public with a better understanding of mental illness in the community. Ms. Hollander's exhibit served as a model for the transition from mental health stigma to mental health awareness. It has helped this state cast the stigma of mental illness aside and make the communities in which we live and work stronger and healthier.”
John O’Neill, Director of Marketing, Carrier Clinic
