Heather McDonald, Executive Director of Focus On Recovery-United, Inc. (FOR-U)

Heather McDonald

Heather McDonald is the Executive Director of Focus on Recovery-United, Inc. (FOR-U), located in Middletown, Connecticut. Heather is a survivor of the mental health system who joined the newly formed FOR-U in 2002 and has been responsible for guiding the development of the organization and implementing its mission of teaching self-directed tools of recovery.

Focus on Recovery United (FOR-U) is a statewide non-profit organization that holds hope with their message that recovery is possible. “People were skeptical at first,” said Heather McDonald, FOR-U Executive Director, as she remembered starting the organization seven years ago. She offers the success of the organization as well as her own story--Ms. McDonald is a consumer in recovery who was once told she might never work again--as evidence that people can live with symptoms and take steps forward in their lives. Ms. McDonald's matter-of-fact attitude toward the possibility of living well in recovery struck me as both simple and profound. Her passion for educating society was equally compelling. FOR-U is above all an organization that seeks to educate consumers and professionals alike with facts about self-directed strategies for wellness and living in recovery.

From Recovery and Transformation in Connecticut, Christine Farber, Ph.D. in collaboration with Janis Tondora, PsyD, Allison Ponce, PhD, and Heather McDonald. Connecticut Psychologist, 63:1, page 11 (Summer 2009).