Grant F. Anderson Citation for Meritorious Ministry
2004 Honoree of the Queens Federation of Churches
The Reverend Esther F. Perkins
The Reverend Esther F. Perkins, Protestant Chaplain
at the Creedmoor Psychiatric Center in Queens Village, is one of seven
children, born in Harlem, where she attended public schools. She is a
graduate of Washington Irving High School (Manhattan), Brooklyn College
School of Nursing, Wheaton College (Illinois), Post Graduate Center for
Mental Health and New York Theological Seminary. She is an associate minister
and trustee at the St. Mark's Holy Tabernacle United Holy Church
of America.
Her experiences include being a well respected
Private Duty Nurse, Foreign Missionary Nurse (two terms), Mission Station
Manager in Liberia, West Africa, and Supervisor of Nurses at the House
of Detention for Men on Riker's Island. She also served as Volunteer Pastoral
Counselor at the Family Court in Queens.
In 1980, Reverend Perkins accepted the call to
become a Mental Health Chaplain at Creedmoor Psychiatric Center. Her appointment
made history as she became the first female Mental Health Chaplain in
New York State. As the Protestant Chaplain, she is pastor, preacher, counselor
and educator: visiting regularly on all units, pastoral counselor to patients,
staff and families, leading three worship services and four small spirituality
groups each week.
She is a liaison between the facility and the
discharged patients, participating in the Elmhurst Clinic "Drop In"
Center weekly. She visits and fellowships with consumers in the community
who have been discharged, the goal being to prevent recidivism by encouragement
and support. She has done extensive work in reaching out to the community
to educate regarding mental illness and to recruit volunteers to minister
with her to this "on the edge" population. She now supervises
over 50 volunteers monthly. Reverend Perkins has established a tradition
with over 20 years of well-attended and well-anticipated outings/activities
with community churches which are open to discharged patients who have
lost their connections or have never formed them in the community churches.
During her tenure, she was appointed Department
Head of Pastoral Services. She said her goal was "to work to move
the department from a federation to a team." In time, she was successful
in enlarging the role of the Chaplain at Creedmoor, and exhibiting a Pastoral
Service Department with a team spirit that was cohesive, well respected
by staff and "second to none in NYS Mental Health" according
to the NYS Commissioner of Mental Health. For nine years, she has been
a part of NAMI Western Queens, a family support group for those
whose loved one has mental illness. Inside the Mental Health System, this
Chaplain has shown tremendous courage in her determination and role as
an advocate.
She has the courage to call a spade a spade,
even when it makes her unpopular. Her preaching, leading the spirituality
groups and individual counseling is full of insight, innovation, compassion,
tenderness and energy. She has an uncanny ability to communicate with
her parishioners and clients in clear and simple language. In her fervor
to fulfill her calling, however, she has been known to accommodate the
needs of the patients at the facility, despite hardship to herself.
For the past seven years, Reverend Perkins has
served the New York State Community of Churches, Albany, as the Downstate
Chair of the New York State Certification Committee, which reviews and
determines qualification of Protestant ministers seeking to become chaplains
in New York State.
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