Mental Health Advocate & Speaker

Evelyn Graham-Nyaasi

Evelyn is an Advocacy Specialist at Community Access, which provides supportive housing and social services in New York City. In this role, she represents the organization’s advocacy agenda in collaborations with other community groups and outreach to city agencies and policymakers. Her work is shaped by more than 30 years of lived experience with mental health challenges and her own struggles with housing insecurity. She is particularly interested in promoting more humane responses to people experiencing mental health crises and is a member of the CCIT-NYC Steering Committee, a coalition advocating for a peer-led health team response to crisis calls.

Evelyn has experienced homelessness several times as well as mental health episodes while living in her apartment. After facing eviction and appearing in court during an episode, she had the wherewithal to get help to keep her apartment—which is not usually the case for people in similar situations. Because of this experience, Evelyn advocates for policy changes to assist those who are experiencing a mental health episode from being evicted.

Evelyn is a graduate of The City College of NY, The Borough of Manhattan Community College, and Howie the Harp Advocacy Center’s Peer Specialist training program, which trains peers to assist others with mental health challenges in community settings like hospitals and supportive housing programs. She is also finishing up a graduate degree at St. John’s University Graduate School of Education, majoring in Adolescent Education. Her story and work have been featured in Gotham Gazette, AMNY, Patch, and other media outlets.