Vista Hill Council on Mental Health Luncheon 

Walking the Sibling Path: A Brother's Journey with Autism

On September 6, 2018 more than 200 guests attended the Vista Hill Council on Mental Health annual luncheon. This year's speaker, Walter Suskind, star of the 2017 Academy Award-nominated documentary, Life, Animated which follows the twenty-year journey of his family with autism. The movie, based on the 2014 best-selling book by his father, Pulitzer Prize winner Ron Suskind, details how Walter and his younger brother with autism, Owen, formed an extraordinary rapport and mutual support system across two decades. Mr. Suskind, brought along a very special guest, his mother, Cornelia. Together they answered audience questions. The Life, Animated movie was shown later that evening at the Stein Education Center. Thanks to the wonderful Council on Mental Health Committee led by co-chairs Julie Bronstein and Ann Mound for their tremendous efforts to produce this very successful event. With gratitude, we applaud the luncheon Presenting Sponsors, The Epstein and Bronstein Families along with the Speaker Sponsor, UC San Diego, for their support. The $30,000 raised at this event will benefit the Stein Education Center - Special Education Programs and Stein Education Adult Services.

Major New Vista Hill Program Will Change the Lives of Those Addicted to Drugs and Alcohol

This past October Vista Hill launched a critically needed program that will help several hundred San Diegans each year escape their devastating addiction to drugs and alcohol.

The Bridges North Central Regional Recovery Center, funded by a $1 million annual contract from the County’s Behavioral Health Services division, will assist about 200 substance abusers living in parts of Mission Valley, Point Loma, Midway, Rosecrans and Pacific Beach. It is one of four county-funded centers focusing on the problem around the county.

The timing for the program could not have been better, according to Claudette Allen, Director of Vista Hill’s Juvenile Justice / Community Services.

“With the opioid crisis now a major national health emergency— and San Diego having its share of overdoses and deaths—the Regional Recovery Center is a vitally important program that offers our community an opportunity to turn the tide against a problem that is destroying so many lives,” Allen says.

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