A Different Kind of Training

Pat Doyle

Pat founded Vision for Change to advance the public’s understanding and response to those with a mental health diagnosis.

Pat has extensive experience in public speaking, training and creating innovative programs. During her tenure as the Education Director at the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) of DuPage County she completed hundreds of presentations and created education programs that resulted in local, state and national recognition.

Over the past 10 years Pat has trained over 1,500 first responders, and for the past five years she has been an instructor at Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) trainings throughout northern Illinois. She was instrumental in transforming the service delivery of care from a medical model to a recovery model in psychiatric hospitals. For four years, Pat was a consultant to the National Consortium on Stigma and Empowerment (NCSE), funded by the National Institute of Mental Health.

Pat has a degree in Social Behavioral Science. She has 3 sons and resides in Carol Stream with her husband Jim.

Mary Dalton

Mary brings both familial and personal perspectives to Vision for Change. She worked with Pat for five years at NAMI DuPage as the Education Program Coordinator. She has presented her recovery story hundreds of times to police, hospital and library staff as well as physicians, medical and nursing students, community groups and in high schools and middle schools.

Mary has appeared on national and cable television news stations and has been interviewed on radio programs and in newspaper articles. Her first-hand account of her experiences in medical settings was featured in a training film by a local hospital to educate their Emergency Department staff.

Mary is an Illinois Law Enforcement Training & Standards Board State Certified Instructor. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in French and a Master of Divinity and lives in Wheaton.

Henry Tyler

Henry Tyler, is a 14 year Army veteran. Henry has also served in the Army National Guards, and the Air National Guard, in Georgia. He has spent time at the North Chicago V.A. working with veterans with PTSD. He is currently attending Joliet Junior College, in pursuit of his Associate Degree in Liberal Arts, with emphasis in the Psychology. Henry is a trained Peer Support and Connection group facilitator at NAMI Oak Park, and NAMI Will County.

He also helps to facilitate support groups for NAMI Oak Park, at Hines V.A. Henry’s goal is through telling his story, he can perhaps improve relations between those with mental illness and those that may encounter them in their daily lives, to hopefully generate a little more tolerance and patience for those that suffer.

Debbie Homan

Debbie Homan has worked in the mental health field for 9 years. For 8 of those years she worked as an IPS Supported Employment Specialist with a Community Mental Health Center in Chicago. Debbie believes that work and employment have been a powerful force in her mental health recovery. Debbie received her B.A. in Communications from Elmhurst College and her Masters Degree in Broadcast Journalism from Northwestern University. Except for a brief 6 month period, Debbie has been working full time since her college graduation. Debbie has been a speaker for Vision for Change since its inception. She helps to educate the public that Treatment Works, and recovery from a serious mental illness is not only possible – but probable. Debbie has trained police departments, professionals working in hospitals, libraries, faith-based organizations and the general public throughout Illinois. Debbie lives with her husband Steve in the Chicagoland area.