The Alan Hu Foundation is a nonprofit created in honor of Alan Hu by his parents. In 2018, the gifted youngster lost his battle with depression and died by suicide at the age of 15. Hu had planned to become a psychiatrist to help people overcome mental health disorders. Now the foundation named after him works to promote mental health, raise awareness, and remove the stigma surrounding psychiatric disorders, according to Hu’s mother, Xiaofang Chen, MS, MAT, who is Co-founder and President of the foundation. It also supports fundamental research for cures.

In October, the foundation was recognized for Excellence in Service at the 2022 Pleasanton Chamber of Commerce Community Service Awards. Among its many efforts are the Alan Hu Foundation Mental Health Lecture Series, webinars that are presented free to the public via Zoom. The lectures are given by eminent scholars and researchers from Stanford University, UCLA, UCSF, UNR, UC Berkeley, Columbia University, and other respected institutions. Each lecture “provides education to parents, educators, and adolescents and strives to reach everyone, including people like my husband and me, who had no concept of mental illness before Alan was sick,” says Chen. “We believe that education is the key to promote mental health, to remove stigma, to prevent mental disorders, and to ensure opportunities for early intervention.”

Other programs include the Alan Hu Foundation Scholarship, which supports students committed to studying psychology, psychiatry, or neuroscience at colleges and universities. Thanks to that program, six outstanding students from Amador Valley and Foothill high schools were awarded scholarships this year. Applications for the Alan Hu Foundation Scholarship 2023 program opens on December 1, 2022. 

In partnership with the Tri-Valley chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), the foundation helped students at Amador Valley High School start a NAMI on Campus High School Club. The foundation has also helped many Tri-Valley parents concerned about their children’s mental health connect to appropriate mental health resources. All of these programs have been created and delivered without any paid employees. The foundation’s seven board members and single advisory board member are all volunteers. They include parents with the lived experience of losing a child to mental illness and others with diverse skill sets who all have a common passion for promoting mental health. Volunteers and donors make the foundation’s work possible.

“Mental illness touches everyone directly or indirectly,” notes Chen. “Mental illness can strike at any age and at any time. Early intervention is critical. We depend upon the generosity of donors to provide our mental health lecture series and to fund our scholarships. We need and appreciate corporate and community support to fund our programs and fundamental research for cures.”   

Upcoming webinars include “It Is All About Relationships: Interpersonal Psychotherapy for Adolescents with Depression” by Dr. Laura Mufson of Columbia University on December 7 between 4 pm and 5 pm Pacific time and another on suicide prevention by Dr. Pamela Morris-Perez of New York University on February 15, 2023 between 5 pm  and 6 pm. Video recordings of past webinars are also available. “The promotion of each webinar is a collective effort of the community to raise awareness of mental health and mental illness,” says Chen.

For more information about the Alan Hu Foundation, please visit www.alanhufoundation.org, www.youtube.com/channel/UCp97f-ws0N7bjluKY-XeUwg, or www.facebook.com/Alan-Hu-Foundation-107420560674183.