Darby Penney is a long-time ex-patient activist and is co-author, Peter Stastny, of The Lives They Left Behind: Suitcases from a State Hospital Attic (Bellevue Literary Press, 2008). Currently a Senior Research Associate with Advocates for Human Potential, Inc., she was formerly Director of Recipient Affairs at the New York State Office of Mental Health, where she brought the perspectives of people with psychiatric disabilities into the policy-making process. In 2005, she was honored for her social justice work by being named a Fellow of the Petra Foundation.
