Eric C. Arauz

147 Darwin Lane

732-881-4784

eric@ericarauz.com

CURRICULUM VITAE

Employment

Arauz Inspirational Enterprises                                      

President                                                                      2007-Present

Website: www.ericarauz.com

Inspirational Speaker, Lecturer, Mental Health Consultant

Education

:

Accepted for Doctorate in Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education

Emphasis: Self Constructed Curriculum-“Applied Existentialism.”

Rutgers University 

 School of Management and Labor Relations            June 2004

Master Labor and Employment Relations                      MLER

Graduate Teaching assistant, Lead Researcher for the United Nations Association-Global Outsourcing, Lead Graduate Researcher at the Women and Work Institute-Study efficacy of one-stop labor centers to promote workforce integration of welfare mothers.

Concentration: The Addition of Human Capital to Welfare Mothers to Increase Occupational Success.

:

B.A. American Studies                                                  Magna Cum Laude

Focus on the American existentialists post-Civil War and intellectual American History.

Publication: The Salad Bowl-Rutgers University

American Studies magazine: A first person-narrative non-fiction on US Navy boot-camp and the use of the commitment mechanisms used in successful 19^th century Utopian societies with a discussion on the ongoing examination of continued mental manipulation that is carried after service is complete in the military.

Speeches and Lectures (Truncated List)

SAMHSA-Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration;

Topic: Presentation on the ongoing battle to address smoking with hospitalized mentally ill patients. An original discussion on the tri-partite identity loss associated with mania and other acute symptoms that overwhelm patients and disassociate them from themselves. This tripartite identity loss is combined with a personal “banality of evil” first introduced as a concept by Hannah Arendt but now used to describe the inability to see the lethality of actions taken by consumers against themselves and therefore to not be able to stop smoking-‘The Culture of Smoking.”

NASHMPD-National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors; Winter Commissioners Meeting;

Speech Entitled: Hope Redeemed: The Life, Death and Resurrection of a Veteran with Mental Illness. Speech was focused on Mr. Arauz’s status as disabled veteran and the need to bring the National Guard into the national vernacular of service members to get them included in the current movement to provide adequate mental health care for returning veterans. The self stigma of generations of mental illness and Mr. Arauz’s father’s demise due to untreated mental illness and also being a veteran showed the commonalities of initial diagnosis being compounded with a family history of mental disease and adding to the self stigma.

NCADD-NJ-National Council on Alcohol and Drug Dependence: Statewide Counselor meeting;

Topic: A 2 hour discussion of the speakers’ life interwoven with literary metaphor to better explain the overall role of the caregiver in his and others recovery. Use of the metaphor of Dante and Virgil from the Inferno to show the teamwork needed for a successful journey through the hells of mental illness and the cleaning up of the past with the help of a caregiver. The need for caregivers to maintain themselves in the process. A discussion of the ‘Vernacular of Suffering” as a lexicon to allow for the counselor to speak to the parts of their clients that are currently blind to the client themselves.

MACMHB: Michigan Association of County Mental Health Boards: Lansing, Michigan; March 2009. Keynote speech.

Topic: A strong emphasis of the need of outside help from family and community organizations to help the recovery of the severely mentally ill as experienced by the speaker personally and anecdotally.  The need for outside arms to reach into the darkness of severe mental illness; legislation as substitute for families for consumers that do not have them.

Dreamer of the Day Presentation. Various High Schools and Colleges throughout

Topic: Titled off the Lawrence of Arabia quote from “The Seven Pillars.”

The speech asks the audience to look at a future they desire without fear. To see the folly of self definition from an outside source as described by W.E.B. Dubois in his The Souls of Black Folk and his description of the Double Consciousness. Also, discusses Rudyard Kipling’s Kim and the use of masks to self as a hindrance to real growth and success.  These instruments to actualization are fortified with the speakers’ use of these tools in his own recovery and enlightenment.

NASMHPD: National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors: State Hospital CEO Summit;

Speech Titled: The Life, Death and Resurrection of a Veteran with Mental Illness. Speech centered on the need for a consumer to journey inward to fully recover. The need to turn to face oneself and to make amends. The need to re-dictate what diagnosis means to patient.  Visceral existential illiteracy. The relationship between patient and caregivers in the hospital setting using the Virgil and Dante metaphor and the ‘burns’ suffered by all levels of caregivers in their attempts to help patients with severe mental illness.  A discussion into the “Culture of Smoking” in state hospitals and the need to address the ambivalence to survival of many patients that do not see life worth fighting for considering their pasts.

Topic: A first person narrative of the lowest a patient with bipolar disorder can journey and the fight back to this life. Question and answer to alleviate fears students had in working with patients with severe mental illness. Highest rated part of class each year.

Buffalo State Psychiatric Hospital, Buffalo,

Speech and lectures: to staff and patients on Co-Occurring disorder including addiction to tobacco. Speak to large groups twice a day and small groups of staff to discuss burn-out and coping techniques. Use the “Vernacular of Suffering” to break down walls between speaker and audience to allow for acceptance by all levels of listener and then create real techniques for full recovery.

Media Appearances

Television: ABC Good Morning America-Now

 Six part series on Mind and Mood hosted by Dr. Holly Atkinson. Discuss Depression and Bipolar Disorder for a national audience. Video can be found on Arauz Inspirational Enterprises website, www.ericarauz.com.

Radio: Numerous national radio show appearances including NAMI National Radio tour in support of Bipolar Awareness Day with NAMI Medical Director Ken Duckworth.

Newspaper: Feature story in the Star Ledger as a mental health activist-I Am New Jersey Feature, can be seen on Arauz Inspirational Enterprises website, www.ericarauz.com. Numerous other print appearances.

Affiliations

CONSULTANT and PANEL EXPERT for S.A.M.H.S.A. (SUBSTANCE ABUSE MENTAL HEALTH SERVICE ADMINISTRATION), UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, WASHINGTON, D.C., The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), was established by an act of Congress in 1992 under Public Law 102-321. SAMHSA was created as a services agency to focus attention, programs, and funding on improving the lives of people with or at risk for mental and substance abuse disorders. http://www.samhsa.gov/

APPOINTEE TO THE NEW JERSEY STATE TASK FORCE ON CO-OCCURRING MENTAL ILLNESS AND SUBSTANCE ABUSE DISORDERS IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE NJ DIVISION OF ADDICTION SERVICES AND THE DIVISION OF MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES

KEYNOTE SPEAKER FOR NASMHPD, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF STATE MENTAL HEALTH PROGRAM DIRECTORS, HIGHEST RATED PRESENTATION AT THE 2008 WINTER COMMISSIONER'S MEETING IN WASHINGTON, D.C AND KEYNOTE SPEAKER AT THE NASMHPD SIXTH ANNUAL STATE HOSPITAL CEO SUMMIT, ST. LOUIS, MO; JULY 2009.http://www.nasmhpd.org/

CONSULTANT and PANEL EXPERT for SMOKING CESSATION LEADERSHIP CENTER at UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA- SAN FRANCISCO: The Smoking Cessation Leadership Center (SCLC) is a national program office of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Significant support is also provided by the American Legacy Foundation. SCLC aims to increase smoking cessation rates and increase the number of health professionals who help smokers quit. Focusing on tobacco dependence treatment for people with mental illnesses and substance use disorders.  http://smokingcessationleadership.ucsf.edu/MH_Resources.html

MENTAL HEALTH ASSOCIATION-NEW JERSEY- Mental Health Advocate: for occupational inclusion of the mentally ill population, work with organization in many ways to help with the plight of the severely mentally ill in New Jersey.  http://www.mhanj.org/

CONSUMER TOBACCO ADVOCATE: C.H.O.I.C.E.S.  Consumers Helping Others In their Condition by Ending Smoking: A grant funded by the New Jersey Department of Mental Health Services and founded by Dr. Jill Williams, UMDNJ. The grant has Consumer Tobacco Advocates go to the various state hospitals and day programs to educate consumers on the propensity to abuse tobacco by people with mental illness. It is an educational program not a smoking cessation program.  http://www.njchoices.org/

NATIONALLY CERTIFIED STATE TRAINER AND HALL OF FAME PRESENTER FOR NAMI, NATIONAL ALLIANCE ON MENTAL ILLNESS "IN OUR OWN VOICE PROGRAM": IOOV program is an interactive program that presenters do throughout the United States to debunk the stigma of mental illness. Currently certified as a state trainer to hold weekend trainings to teach consumers how to make presentation. http://www.nami.org/

KEYNOTE SPEAKER AND CONSULTANT FOR THE NATIONAL COUNCIL ON ALCOHOL AND DRUG DEPENDENCY-NJ (NCADD-NJ): Keynote speaker for statewide meetings for staff on Mental Illness and Chemical Addiction. Attend staff meeting throughout state to field questions on M.I.C.A. http://www.ncaddnj.org/2008/Home/default.asp

KEYNOTE SPEAKER FOR THE NEW JERSEY STATE DIVISION OF ADDICTION SERVICES.  http://www.state.nj.us/humanservices/das/index.htm

MULTIPLE TESTIMONIES PRESENTED TO NEW JERSEY STATE SENATE AND ASSEMBLY AS MENTAL HEALTH ADVOCATE

MEMBER OF THE FRIENDS OF ADDICTION RECOVERY (NCADD-NJ): An organization formed to diminish the stigma of addiction and advocate for the recognition of all addictions equally in care.

DISABLED AMERICAN VETERANS ASSOCIATION: member since 1994. http://www.dav.org/

AWARDS

2009 SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration) Voice Award-National Consumer Leadrship

2009 Golden Bell Leadership Award for Mental Health Advocacy from Mental Health Association-New Jersey.

MILITARY

United States Navy                   1990-1994

Honorable Discharge

Electronics Technician Third Class; Fleet Satellite Communications

 NATO Secret Clearance; Combat Helicopter Retrieval Team member in active war zone; served on Spruance class Destroyer, the USS Briscoe DD-977 in the Red Sea during Operation Desert Shield; Managed a 100 person female barracks with an entire staff of sailors awaiting discharge for mental illness to end military career.

Discharged a Disabled American Veteran due to extensive surgeries to all ten toes.