Benjamin McAfee
Nominated by NAMI Hall County (GA)
Member, NAMI Hall County (GA)
Listen to Benjamin's Candidate Speech
Job Title or Position:
- Doctoral Candidate DrPH(c), Wellness Coaching/Health Education
NAMI Leadership Experience:
- NAMI Broward County (FL); 6 years
- NAMI Florida Youth Advisory Council [1 Year Initiative]
- NAMI Georgia Policy Intern 1 year; [then I moved to Florida]
- NAMI Hall County (GA); Social Media Manager [virtual]
NAMI Program Leader Experience:
- NAMI Ending the Silence, NAMI In Our Own Voice, NAMI Connection Recovery Support Group, En Nuestra Propia Voz de NAMI
Additional NAMI Involvement:
- NAMI Smarts for Advocacy Trainer, NAMI Sharing Hope/NAMI Compartiendo Esperanza; Trained in NAMI Parents & Teachers As Allies; NAMIWalks Captain
Board Service:
- NAMI Broward Board Member; 4 years
- 2Gether International (organization focused on disability); Vice Chair; 2 years
Public Service:
- Mental Health Advisory Board, Cooper City (Appointed by Commissioner Shrouder); 1 year
Relationship to Mental Health:
- Individual with first-person experience of mental illness
Candidate Strengths Assessment
The candidate indicated they have experience in the following areas that will help NAMI achieve its mission and strategic goals:
- Adult Education, Advocacy, Business/Nonprofit Leadership, Mental Health Service/Support, Program Research/Evaluation, Research/Academia
The candidate indicated they have connections and networks in the following areas:
- Criminal Justice, Entertainment/Film/Television/The Arts, Legal/Law, Marketing/Public Relations, Politics/Elected Officials
Candidate Leadership Style
The candidate indicated the following descriptors represent their leadership style:
- Action-oriented, Consensus Builder, Data Driven, Innovator, Outcome-oriented, Process Thinker, Team Player
Candidate Narrative
The candidate indicated specific skill areas identified as high priority for the 2025-2026 Board where they excel and additional skill areas that would be an asset to the NAMI Board:
Benjamin was trained as a peer support specialist at the Georgia Mental Health Consumer Network. He became certified in the Wellness Recovery Action Plan and delivered peer support services at Banyan Health Systems in Florida. The populations he served included youth, people in the criminal justice system, and those living with substance abuse. Benjamin identifies as Christian and attributes his relationship with Christ as central to his healing. He has worked with Spanish and English-speaking churches destigmatizing mental illness. As a progressive Christian, he has access to unique faith communities that are inclusive to marginalized communities such as LGBTQ+ Christians.
Benjamin is a Doctoral Candidate in Public Health at Loma Linda University, and has gained knowledge in program evaluation, community assessments, strategic planning, and statistical analysis. These skills are central to NAMI programming because he can examine whether programs are efficacious and can create processes to see if programs (i.e. NAMI Ending the Silence) are achieving their desired intentions through advanced statistics. Most importantly, through his doctoral program, he had the unique opportunity to evaluate strategic plans for non-profit organizations.
Benjamin has strong video editing skills and knows how to navigate social media.
I personally have helped advance the NAMI mission in my community by...
Georgia: Leading Connection support groups. Teaching NAMI Smarts and advocating for mental health parity with legislators at the Capitol. Speaking at conferences, high schools, middle schools, churches. and non-profits doing NAMI Ending the Silence and NAMI In Our Own Voice. Florida: Joining the NAMI Broward board and serving for 4 years. Speaking on behalf of NAMI Broward Advocacy to commissioners and legislators about the impacts of homelessness on the mentally ill. Connecting peers to resources to NAMI while acting as a Peer Specialist. Presented at high schools, treatment centers, police department, colleges, and Spanish churches, among others. Finally, he moderated NAMI Sharing Hope.
I work well in coordination with other leaders to accomplish goals as evidenced by...
As a liaison, Benjamin brought NAMI Georgia to Emory University for NAMI In Our Own Voice and NAMI Ending the Silence with Midtown International School, including participation from the Executive Director. He started discussions about mental health within the Latinx community, leading to NAMI organizing NAMI Sharing Hope/NAMI Compartiendo Esperanza in Broward County. Through the NAMI Alliance Youth Advisory Board (NAMI Florida), he provided expertise in survey development for a social media survey to engage with youth. As Vice Chair of a Mental Health Advisory Board (appointed by a commissioner), he worked in Broward to spread awareness about mental health and NARCAN.