Victor Armstrong, Behavioral Medicine Program Manager/ Outreach and Community Relations, Alamance Regional Medical Center, was named Mental Health Professional of the Year at the 2012 National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) North Carolina Annual Conference. The honor is awarded to an individual within the mental health community who has provided effective innovation and advocacy for the development of services or support systems for people living with mental illness and their families.
 
Armstrong was recognized for several accomplishments, including working with a group of volunteers from around the state to rewrite the Basic Law Enforcement Training Curriculum for North Carolina. The new training guidelines are designed to reduce wait times for the mentally ill in emergency departments and to divert individuals with mental illness to the most appropriate and least restrictive level of care. In addition, Armstrong helped develop memorandums of agreements between hospitals and law enforcement agencies; worked to establish a Mental Health Court in Forsyth County; and secured grant funding to support integrated care in Rockingham County, allowing mental health and substance abuse services to be provided in a primary care practice.

At Alamance Regional, Armstrong coordinates the hospital’s behavioral medicine services with mental health services offered by local and state agencies to ensure the best care and transition of care after discharge for patients.