National Alliance on
Mental Illness Southern Arizona

Dave Delawder grew up in Tucson, and attended the U of A for geological engineering, which he eventually left behind.  He also studied poetry and writing, became a certified EMT, and then took a detour into the entertainment industry, where he rose through the ranks to become a record store manager, in which role he was assigned to help “problem stores” in California, Arizona and New Mexico become profitable again.  He did this by re-training staff, and eventually launching store managers to move to other cities and do what he was doing, rescuing problem stores of their own.  He then began overseeing 6 stores in New Mexico after he was promoted again to District Manager.

Dave returned to Tucson where he experienced the human services and behavioral health systems as a service recipient, benefiting from “some good work by some good staff,” but overall realizing that it was “a system which needed a good bit of self-help.”It occurred to him that he might be able transfer some of his “business” skills to human services settings, and he set out to earn his CRSS, which he obtained in 2009.He worked as a Recovery Support  Specialistat La Frontera, and then started working at the U of A Health and Wellness Center (Camp Wellness) in September of 2009.

Dave developed a vocational preparation curriculum for Camp Wellness, teaching most of its classes along with his other Health Mentor responsibilities.  These included not only teaching health classes, but also marketing the Camp Wellness program throughout Tucson’s behavioral health community.  In addition, he supervised the growing number of volunteers at Camp Wellness developing and overseeing a formal Volunteer Program.

Consistent with his natural interest in “big picture” thinking, Dave joined the Arizona Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Practitioners (AAPRP) and was elected to its Board of Directors in 2013.  In late 2013 he passed the exam for the Certified Psychiatric Rehabilitation Practitioner (CPRP) credential which is administered by the Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association (PRA).  He was elected to become the Arizona Chapter Representative of AAPRP to PRA in 2014.

In mid-2014 Dave joined the National Alliance on Mental Illness Southern Arizona (NAMISA) as the Program Director of all education, support and advocacy NAMISA provides to the Tucson community.  This is where Dave aligned all of the NAMI National signature programs into billable Medicaid services to enhance NAMI Southern Arizona’s ability to serve more people while diversifying funding streams.  He also compiled and developed an AZ State Certified Peer Support Specialist curriculum enhancing the Peer to Peer Mentor curriculum of NAMI National. 

In January of 2016 Dave accepted the position of Instruction Specialist, Sr. at the University of Arizona’s College of Family and Community Medicine Integrated Healthcare Recovery Support Specialist Institute-Workforce Development Program.  He also was elected to the NAMI Southern Arizona Board of Directors in early 2016 where he advocates on the public policy committee.

Dave says that one of his greatest pleasures—along with photography and music—is helping others discover their strengths, negotiate successfully the complex human services system, and move forward on their own recovery journey.