ARAUZ INSPIRATIONAL ENTERPRISES  L.L.C.

Eric C. Arauz

Arauz Inspirational Enterprises

www.ericarauz.com

732-881-4784

You see things as they are and ask, ‘Why’ I dream things as they never were and ask, ‘Why not.’ George Bernard Shaw

Eric Arauz is a nationally renowned motivational and inspirational speaker. He uses his story of the trials and tribulations of his battles with mental illness and addiction to debunk the stigma surrounding mental illness, re-ignite the passion of the care givers in the treatment fields by proving that recovery is possible and wake audiences up to their ability to author their own lives.

Mr. Arauz has appeared on national television, national radio tours and has been featured in major newspapers. He founded the company Arauz Inspirational Enterprises, www.ericarauz.com, with the mission of fighting to reach those that are deemed unreachable and shattering the cultural and self stigma of mental illness. Through his company Mr. Arauz has spoken at Federal Agencies, hospitals, conferences, colleges, high schools, family support agencies, conventions and other venues throughout the  United States.

Mr. Arauz is also a disabled American veteran that served in Operation Desert Shield in the U.S. Navy. He has been a keynote speaker for NASMHPD, National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors, in Washington D.C. attempting to shed light on the current dilemma of the returning veterans dealing with mental illness and addiction and to inspire the state mental health directors with his story to continue fighting for the mentally ill in this challenging fiscal environment.

He has also presented to the head of SAMHSA, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration, in cooperation with the Smoking Cessation Leadership Center-UC San Francisco, on the problem of smoking in the state hospitals and the overall propensity for tobacco addiction in the mentally ill population. He is currently working with the Veterans Administration in attempts to put together a speaker series for use in VA hospitals in the Northeast.

Mr. Arauz will journey into the dark places of himself to show his audience an up-close look at the suffering of a man with mental illness and journey back to the light to prove that recovery is possible. In his professional and personal life Mr. Arauz journeys into the dark places of society. He is affiliated with a grant out of the New Jersey based hospital UMDNJ, University Medicine and Dentistry New Jersey, called choices, where he is the state hospital specialist and makes presentations on the most severe wards. He also currently sits on the New Jersey State Task Force on Co-occurring disorders and is a nationally certified state trainer for the National Alliance on Mental Illness’s program, In Our own Voice.

Mr. Arauz is also a part-time community organizer for the National Council on Alcohol and Drug Dependence-NJ.

He holds a Bachelors degree with high honors and a Masters Degree from Rutgers University and is currently deferring a doctorate in the Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education; he was accepted with a curriculum he proposed called Applied Existentialism. It focuses on breaking down the barriers of actualization between the American college student and themselves with the hopes of stopping the overwhelming rates of depression and self injury in college. He received all degrees after being deemed untreatable in a Veterans Administration Maximum Security ward in 1996.

Mr. Arauz is the president and founder of Arauz Inspirational Enterprises. He also is the managing member of A and H Federal Transportation and Warehousing, a Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business.