The scholarship will provide support to students earning a master’s in mental health counseling in the Gordon F. Derner School of Psychology who will go on to help those who struggle to overcome their “darkest moments.”
Leonard C. Achan ’99 has always wanted to help those in need. That’s one reason he chose to follow a career path of critical care while a nursing student at Adelphi University, where today he is secretary of the board of trustees.
Achan’s career has been a storybook progression from his first job as an intensive care nurse at Mount Sinai Health System to his current positions as president/CEO of LiveOnNY, a nonprofit organ procurement organization, and founder/chairman of Quality Reviews®, a digital health organization. But Achan said he never forgot his other love in the medical field—mental health. That’s why he and his wife, Kimberly Mayo-Achan, a pediatric speech pathologist, have chosen to create an endowed scholarship program to help students with financial hardship who are pursuing the Gordon F. Derner School of Psychology’s Master of Arts in Mental Health Counseling degree.
Scholarship Honors a Grandmother’s Legacy
The scholarship endowment honors Achan’s wife’s late grandmother, Sozia “Gigi” Levine, a Holocaust survivor who overcame her terrible experiences to live a wonderful life. “The endowment is intended to be a reminder that some of your darkest moments can be overcome with love, life and legacy,” said Achan, who noted that Gigi married another Holocaust survivor and had two children, seven grandchildren and six great-grandchildren, “because hate cannot prevail.”
Achan, who has been a generous benefactor to Adelphi before, said this latest gift was inspired by the deepening mental health crisis he has witnessed during his 25-year career—a crisis marked by trauma in the wake of 9/11, veterans with PTSD returning from war, the COVID-19 pandemic and the ravages of opioid addiction.
“While all of these events have been occurring, the funding infrastructure to provide mental health assistance has steadily been reduced,” he said. “When I started my career, there was a lot more access to help. Now the problem has spiraled out of control and plagued the city I love. This isn’t theoretical; it’s real. You can’t drive through the five boroughs without seeing it. The crisis has become even more complex because mental health and physical health affect each other.”
Investing for the Greatest Overall Impact
Achan began talking with his wife about what they could do, and they realized the inspiration for action was right in their own family. “Her grandmother did what she had to do to build a life,” he said. “My family exists because she survived and got through it. Helping others create a legacy was the thought behind how we could be supportive. We try to invest in areas where we can have the greatest overall impact.”
Achan noted that 25 percent of the American population has been diagnosed with a mental health disorder, 75 percent of college students report having stress and there are only 30 mental health counselors per 100,000 people in the general population.
“There is an overall mental health professional shortage, and the new Derner School program is addressing an unmet need,” Achan said. “It is only going to get worse, so we need people to step up. Think of the ladder of success: for many people, the first three rungs have been removed. If we can put one back, that means a lot. That’s why we’re endowing this scholarship. Helping even one person makes a difference. Gigi was a perfect example of that.”