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Two with experience in the mental health system nominated to Allegheny County board

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (PA) - 4/1/2015

April 01--Two nominees to an Allegheny County board responsible for mental health services plan to bring a unique perspective to the job based on personal experiences.

County Executive Rich Fitzgerald nominated Jaimie Kopicko, 27, of Bloomfield and Paul Barkowitz, 62, of Mt. Lebanon to the Mental Health and Intellectual Disability Advisory Board.

"Living with it day-to-day gives you a perspective you just can't imagine," said Barkowitz, a program manager at IBM whose son was hospitalized 18 times as a child with Asperger's syndrome but is now, at 26, living independently.

Kopicko was diagnosed with anxiety, depression and panic disorders as a child. She sought treatment, is living in recovery and works for Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic's re:Solve Crisis Network.

She said she will bring to the board a perspective of once knowing nothing about mental health care and can "speak on behalf of the patients and the youth who are going through it completely blind."

Barkowitz and Kopicko will go before Allegheny County Council'sAppointment Review Committee on Wednesday for consideration. If approved, their names will go to the full council for a final vote.

The committee will consider Fitzgerald's nomination of the Rev. Darryl Canady, pastor at Rodman Street Missionary Baptist Church in East Liberty, to the county Juvenile Detention Board of Advisors. Canady, 50, of North Huntingdon said his church works with youths at the Shuman Juvenile Detention Center but he has never visited himself.

"So many of the young men have been thrown away, and I want to try to intervene before they are thrown away again," Canady said.

Fitzgerald appointed four women to the nine-member Government Review Commission:

--Andrea Geraghty, an attorney with the Downtown firm of Meyer, Unkovic & Scott;

--Tracey McCants Lewis, an assistant professor and assistant director of clinical legal education at Duquesne University School of Law;

--Betsy Magley, major gifts manager for the Pittsburgh Promise;

--Aradhna Oliphant, president and CEO of Leadership Pittsburgh Inc.

The commission meets every 10 years to study the structure of county government and make recommendations. Council made its five appointments last week in a contentious 8-6 vote. Several members objected to the lack of diversity among the representatives, all white men living outside Pittsburgh.

Fitzgerald's picks all live in the city. Oliphant is Indian; McCants Lewis is black.

Aaron Aupperlee is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 412-320-7986 or aaupperlee@tribweb.com.

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