Dad's dedication to mental health

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To the editor,

We want to thank you for your May 18 article on our father Rob Brewster’s upcoming retirement from the Riverdale Mental Health Association (“Brewster stepping down from RMHA”). As his children, we were proud to read about his contributions and wanted to express what his 36 years at RMHA have meant to us.

RMHA has been a part of our life since before we were born. We cherished each visit to the clinic and take every opportunity to join the RMHA family. On June 1, we were honored to attend the RMHA annual gala, where we raised money and honored our Dad’s retirement. We also participated, with varying degrees of success, in RMHA’s annual 5K run in Van Cortlandt Park. This annual tradition embodies the two causes our Dad has dedicated his career to: reducing the stigma of mental illness and serving his local community.

As executive director, our Dad helped RMHA grow as other programs struggled under budget cuts and were forced to close their doors. My Dad worked diligently to make sure that residents continued to receive the services they needed. In 2008, long before the push for universal pre-K, RMHA joined with Chances for Children in order to better serve the youngest members of the community. In 2013, RMHA joined the Parachute Program, a citywide initiative dedicated to treating patients in crisis. Since then, the program has helped keep the community safe by treating patients in need before tragedy strikes. 

Our Dad’s commitment to the community was passed down to his children, including his eldest daughter Emily, 30, who is in her seventh year as a Bronx public school teacher. Her first year as a teacher, Emily asked Dad to be a guest speaker in her psychology elective class. During his visit, he explained his work at RMHA and answered questions about mental illness. The visit was a resounding success and news quickly spread among students, making the visit from “Ms. Brewster’s Dad” a much-anticipated annual tradition.

As his children, our Dad’s unwavering commitment to his patients is clear. He is a social worker to his very core, and that is the reason for his success as executive director at RMHA. The driving force for each initiative he has undertaken at RMHA is his commitment to serving the individual. Through his work at RMHA, our Dad taught us that a job is more than a job; it’s a calling. We’ve never known a time when Dad was not at RMHA, and it’s hard for us to imagine him anywhere else. But we know that his years there will have a lasting impact on the community, and we feel lucky to have him as our Dad. 

Thank you to The Riverdale Press for continuing to help RMHA grow, and congratulations to our Dad, Rob Brewster, on his well-deserved retirement.

Emily, Nick, Grace and Eliza Brewster

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