Wikipedia

Darby Penney

Darby Penney (December 10, 1952 – October 11, 2021) was an American mental health worker and human rights activist working for improvements in psychiatric care.

Darby Penney
Born
Darby Jean Penney

December 10, 1952
Oceanside, New York
DiedOctober 11, 2021 (aged 68)
Albany, New York
Occupation(s)Mental health worker, activist

Early life

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Penney was born in Oceanside, New York, the daughter of Arthur Penney and Audrey Stiefel Penney. Her mother was a teacher and her father was a civil engineer. She graduated from Empire State College, and in 1980 earned a master's degree in library science at the University at Albany.[1][2]

Career

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Penney, who identified as a psychiatric survivor,[3][4] was the first Director of Recipient Affairs at the New York State Office of Mental Health when the position was established in 1992.[5] She was a founding member of the National Association of Consumer/Survivor Mental Health Administrators in 1993.[1] In 1997, she was keynote speaker at a conference of the New Jersey Self-Help Clearinghouse.[6]

As director of historical projects from 2001 to 2003, along with photographer Lisa RInzler and psychiatrist Peter Stastny, Penney worked to preserve and study hundreds of stored suitcases left behind by patients of the defunct Willard Psychiatric Center.[7][8] Together they created an exhibition, "Lost Cases, Recovered Lives: Suitcases From a State Hospital Attic", which was first mounted in the New York State Museum in 2004, and later the Museum of Disability History in Buffalo.[1][9] Her book with Stastny based on the project, The Lives They Left Behind, was published in 2009.[10][11] In 2003, she created another exhibit and a companion video, “Here Lies?: Abandoned Asylum Cemeteries".[12]

Penney was a founding member of International Network for Treatment Alternatives to Recovery (INTAR) in 2004,[13] and was named a fellow of the Petra Foundation in 2005.[5] She was also a fellow at the Alden March Institute for Bioethics, at Albany Medical College. She worked for Advocates for Human Potential, a healthcare consulting firm,[1][14] was director of the Community Consortium,[12][15] and was active on the board of the National Association for Rights Protection and Advocacy (NARPA).[3]

Publications

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Penney work was published in academic journals, including Public Library Quarterly,[16] Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal,[17][18] American Psychologist,[19] Evaluation and Program Planning,[20] and American Journal of Bioethics.[21] She was also a poet; her work was published in several collections.[1][22] With her husband, she co-founded and co-edited a literary journal, The Snail's Pace Review,[23] and a small press, The Snail's Pace Press.[24]

Personal life

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Penney married Kenneth Denberg in 1988. He died in 2018.[24] She died from cancer in 2021, aged 68 years, at a hospice in Albany, New York.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f Vadukul, Alex (2021-12-21). "Darby Penney, Who Crusaded for Better Psychiatric Care, Dies at 68". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-12-22.
  2. ^ Halloran, Amy (Fall 2010). "Darby Penney, M.L.S.'80: Human-Rights Advocate". UAlbany Magazine. Archived from the original on 2010-09-08. Retrieved 2021-12-22.
  3. ^ a b "Darby Penney, M.L.S." NARPA. Archived from the original on 2019-11-17. Retrieved 2021-12-22.
  4. ^ Arstein-Kerslake, Anna (2017-07-03). Restoring Voice to People with Cognitive Disabilities. Cambridge University Press. p. 153. ISBN 978-1-107-14142-1.
  5. ^ a b "Darby Penney". The Petra Foundation. Archived from the original on 2018-12-16. Retrieved 2021-12-22.
  6. ^ "Self-help conference to be offered". The Central New Jersey Home News. 1997-10-13. p. 13. Retrieved 2021-12-22 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "California Memorial Project (CMP)". Disability Rights California. Archived from the original on 2020-09-24. Retrieved 2021-12-22.
  8. ^ "The Ones that History Forgot". Ancestry Magazine: 61. September 2008.
  9. ^ Matthews, Karen (2007-12-02). "Exhibit Sheds Light on Lives of Mental Patients". The Park City Daily News. pp. A18. Retrieved 2021-12-22 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ Penney, Darby (2008). The Lives They Left Behind: Suitcases from a State Hospital Attic. Peter Stastny. New York: Bellevue Literary Press. ISBN 978-1-934137-07-9. OCLC 154704191.
  11. ^ Zuger, Abigail (2008-03-25). "From Forgotten Luggage, Stories of Mental Illness". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-12-22.
  12. ^ a b "Darby Penney, M.L.S." Community Consortium. Archived from the original on 2008-08-28. Retrieved 2021-12-22.
  13. ^ "Network". Intar. Retrieved 2021-12-22.
  14. ^ "Darby Penney, M. L. S., Research Associate". Advocates for Human Potential. Archived from the original on 2016-11-13. Retrieved 2021-12-22.
  15. ^ Andreatta, David (2015-05-17). "Lawrence Mocha, digger of 1,500 graves, gets his due". Democrat and Chronicle. pp. A4. Retrieved 2021-12-22 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^ Penney, Darby (1982-10-19). "The Muse in the Stacks". Public Library Quarterly. 3 (3): 33–39. doi:10.1300/J118v03n03_05. ISSN 0161-6846.
  17. ^ Curtis, Laurie C.; Wells, Susan Milstrey; Penney, Darby J.; Ghose, Sushmita Shoma; Mistler, Lisa A.; Mahone, Irma H.; Delphin-Rittmon, Miriam; del Vecchio, Paolo; Lesko, Stacey (2010). "Pushing the envelope: Shared decision making in mental health". Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal. 34 (1): 14–22. doi:10.2975/34.1.2010.14.22. ISSN 1559-3126. PMID 20615840.
  18. ^ Penney, Darby; Ostrow, Laysha; Burke-Miller, Jane (June 2021). "Development and properties of a measure designed to assess core competencies in intentional peer support". Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal. 44 (2): 118–123. doi:10.1037/prj0000463. ISSN 1559-3126. PMID 33570982. S2CID 231901741.
  19. ^ Blanch, Andrea; Penney, Darby; Knight, Edward (January 1995). ""Identity politics" close to home". American Psychologist. 50 (1): 49–50. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.50.1.49. ISSN 1935-990X.
  20. ^ Stainbrook, Kristin; Penney, Darby; Elwyn, Laura (2015-06-01). "The opportunities and challenges of multi-site evaluations: Lessons from the jail diversion and trauma recovery national cross-site evaluation". Evaluation and Program Planning. 50: 26–35. doi:10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2015.01.005. ISSN 0149-7189. PMID 25723338.
  21. ^ Penney, Darby. "Chemical trust: oxytocin oxymoron?" Am. J. Bioethics 5 (2005): 1.
  22. ^ Henry, Rick; Tyler, Anthony O.; Coyne-DeGhett, Stephanie; Gann, Myra; Steinberg, Alan; Gilborn, Alice Wolf (2004-03-01). The Blueline Anthology. Syracuse University Press. ISBN 978-0-8156-0770-0.
  23. ^ "'Snail's Pace' Poetry Review". Rutland Daily Herald. 1991-06-19. p. 17. Retrieved 2021-12-22 – via Newspapers.com.
  24. ^ a b "Kenneth Denberg (obituary)". The Post-Star. 2019-01-20. pp. C6. Retrieved 2021-12-22 – via Newspapers.com.
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