Recovery Assistance
Passion-driven philanthropists establish an emotional wellness clinic for cancer survivors
By Stacey Bomser
Dr. Ingrid Barrera asked the foundation to expand therapy to all survivors.
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at Galley Fields understands all too well how disease can impact mental health. His father, who suffered from debilitating Crohn’s disease, died by suicide. That loss was one of the driving forces behind the philanthropist’s mission to ensure patients have access to mental health services.
Through the Fields Galley Private Foundation, a charitable organization, Fields and fellow trustee Sharon Hartman funded the launch of a dialectical behavior therapy (DBT)–based suicide prevention program for adolescents at UM/Jackson Memorial Hospital. DBT is an evidence-based program of psychotherapy that teaches skills to manage emotional distress.
The foundation then made another gift to the Miller School’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences to implement a suicide prevention program for adults, run by Ingrid Barrera, Psy.D., director of the UHealth Therapeutic Suicide Prevention Program.
Dr. Barrera proposed the idea for the foundation to help expand therapy to all cancer survivors, including patients who are done with primary treatment. Dr. Barrera shared with Fields and Hartman that patients in remission often experience more cancer-related mental health issues than while undergoing treatment.
Based on Dr. Barrera’s past successes with the foundation, in 2023, the foundation agreed to establish the Fields Galley Cancer Survivorship Emotional Wellness Clinic at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, where mental health professionals collaborate with interdisciplinary teams of licensed social workers, as well as music and art therapists, and use DBT and other innovative psychotherapy programs to promote emotional wellness for cancer patients.
The foundation remains financially committed to supporting the creation of new and innovative ideas in the mental health arena and the Fields Galley Cancer Survivorship Emotional Wellness Clinic. “After making our initial gifts, I discovered I have a passion for supporting mental health efforts,” Fields said. “That passion has only grown. Every year, when it’s time for the foundation to donate, I reinvigorate my passions and search for new ideas.”
Fields and Hartman are drawn to clinicians and researchers who are willing to try something new to see if it works. “A failure often produces knowledge,” Fields said. “The foundation wants to work with clinicians and researchers looking for answers. If something did not work, why did it not work? Can we change anything to make it work, or is it time to move on to the next idea?”
As with the suicide prevention programs, Fields says he takes immense pride in seeing the success of the Fields Galley Cancer Survivorship Emotional Wellness Clinic, mainly due to the work being done every day by Dr. Barrera and her team. The interdisciplinary team of psychologists, psychiatrists and licensed social workers, as well as music and art therapists, serve cancer survivors at Sylvester’s main campus and several of its satellite facilities. Remote services are also available.
For more information on mental well-being services: click here. 
