Press Release Mental Health America of Virginia (MHAV), a mental health advocacy support organization serving the nonprofit sector since 1937, is pleased to announce the arrival of Bruce Cruser, MSW as its new executive director.  Bruce will fill the vacancy created by Anne Edgerton’s departure on March 31, 2016. Bruce’s resume includes over 25 years of program development, grant management, legislative analysis, board & staff development and strategic planning experience in the state government and non-profit sectors.  He is a graduate of the Virginia Executive Institute, and holds a sociology degree from the University of Virginia and a Masters of Social Work from Virginia Commonwealth University. As Director of Community Corrections in Henrico County, Bruce helped start pretrial services and a drug court program. Then as division director with the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services, Bruce was responsible for a variety of evidence-based grant programs, including thoseserving ex-offenders, crisis intervention teams and survivors of sexual and domestic violence. He currently sits on the board of directors of Assisting Families of Inmates, a non-profit that provides services to strengthen family involvement with incarcerated loved ones. Mr. Cruser, who is looking forward to working with mental health advocates in Richmond and throughout Virginia said:  “Mental health underlies all of our abilities to reach our full potential. I’m excited about joining MHAV and continuing a long tradition of educating and advocating mental wellness and empowering people in recovery.”   CELT Rescheduled! ANNOUNCEMENT: The CELT educational program for April has been rescheduled for May 2-5, 2016. MHAV will be accepting until Friday, April 8. Please contact us at with any questions. Hope to see you there! The mentally ill need a voice and most times unfortunately it can’t come from their loved ones but thankfully it can from agencies such as yours. Thank you. - Anonymous