Champion Profile: Garrison Smith Works With Foster Children to Promote Mental Health

Champion Profile:  features individuals who exemplify First 5 LA's tagline, "Champions for Our Children."

Garrison Smith, director of the Foster Youth Mental Health Initiative for Children's Law Center of Los Angeles, works closely with leaders, providers, and caregivers in the foster care system to affect positive mental health outcomes for children and youth.

The three-year project, funded through the California Endowment, aims to bring attention to the mental health needs of this at-risk population, recommend systems changes, and implement new approaches to meeting the mental health needs of children in foster care.  

As co-founder of LifeWorks Mentoring, the nation's only mentoring program for gay and lesbian young people, Smith previously served as director of Youth Services for the LA Gay & Lesbian Center, working to address homelessness among street youth.

Smith started his career in Boston as a dancer, theater director, and writer, before becoming an early AIDS activist. He earned a BA in English with a minor in Theater from Suffolk University in Boston.
 
Which book has most influenced your life? 
The Third Life of Grange Copeland by Alice Walker.

What makes you happy? 
Watching a dancer interpret an emotion through movement.

Angry?
LA drivers.

Which historical figure do you most admire?
James Baldwin, who wrote with a style that truly transforms readers, making them feel deeply the hurt caused by racial bias. 

Which living person do you most admire? 
My father, Lawrence Smith, who is a true American success story, working his way up from bank messenger to bank president, and always giving generously to both his family and others in need.

What is my motto?
"Life is an opportunity; benefit from it."