Improving Children’s Mental Health

Tammy Nyden, associate professor of philosophy, recently received the Iowa City Human Rights Commission’s Isabel Turner Award. The award recognizes Nyden’s outstanding achievements in advocacy for improving children’s mental health services in Iowa. 

After seeing the difficulties her own family faced in finding children’s mental health resources, Nyden and two other families formed Parents Creating Change, a group to advocate for local and state reform. Working with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), Parents Creating Change then formed the NAMI Iowa Children’s Mental Health Committee.

In partnership with Parents Creating Change and the NAMI committee, Nyden has organized rallies at the Iowa Statehouse, generated media coverage, and raised awareness about the needs of children with unique mental health needs in Iowa. 

Nyden says, “It is rewarding to see incremental changes already starting to take place at the state level, but there is so much work left to do.”

Nyden has been recognized widely for her advocacy work. In 2014, she received the Advocate of the Year Award from Iowans with Disabilities in Action.