New Horizons renamed to honor Dr. Evalina Bestman’s legacy in mental-health care
Who in Miami-Dade County dedicated over 50 years of her life raising awareness about mental health and made it her priority to end the stigma of mental illness ?
The answer: Evalina Williams Bestman, Ph.D., the longtime chief executive officer of New Horizons Community Mental Health Center at 1469 NW 36th St.
New Horizons board chair William Kelley announced the official renaming of the facility to honor Bestman’s many decades of service.
“The Board’s decision to rename New Horizons as Dr. Evalina Bestman New Horizons Community Mental Health Center was easy to make,” he wrote. “Dr. Bestman started, developed and maintained New Horizons over a 50-year period. She retired on January 1st, 2021 and she left a legacy second to none in the mental health industry in the State of Florida.”
According to Kelley, the agency now has more than 100 employees who serve 10,000 patients per year. The employees represent a cross-section of the community: They are American, Caribbean, Hispanic and Haitian. And they serve patients from all across South Florida.
Services are offered to persons experiencing homelessness and mental illness, co-occurring disorders (such as substance abuse), children and families at risk of abuse and neglect, adolescents at risk of involvement with the juvenile justice system, adult patients involved with state and local criminal justice systems, single mothers transitioning from public assistance to work and self-sufficiency, and residential care for patients unable to sustain independent living due to mental illness.
Bestman’s retirement was cause for reflection and a special celebration. The event titled, “A Commemoration In Honor Of Dr. Evalina Bestman,” was held virtually on Jan. 23. Journalist Neki Mohan began with an interview highlighting Bestman’s trials and successes in building the Bestman Center which started as the University of Miami/Jackson Community Mental Health Program. The exciting virtual evening honoring Bestman is available to view. Click on this link and join the festivities.
Early life
The daughter of the late David and Florence Poitier Williams, Evalina Williams Bestman — a native Miamian of Bahamian ancestry — grew up in Miami’s Colored Towns during the Jim Crow Era. With her signature smile, she was always pleasant. We were in the same dance class at Phillis Wheatley Elementary School in Overtown. Later her family relocated, and she caught the school bus in Bunche Park to attend school in Liberty City— first Dorsey Junior High School, then Miami Northwestern Senior High School.
Our mutual friend, Geraldine Kilpatrick-Owens, recalled: “Evalina never got mad, and she was the one who settled arguments.” I remember that, too.
While I attended schools in Overtown, Owens and Bestman graduated from Miami Northwestern Senior High School a year ahead, in the class of 1959. Bestman was the valedictorian. Classmates describe her as smart, quiet and cheerful with leadership ability. In the senior yearbook, she announced her intentions to become a psychologist.
Education
And she did — by earning a bachelor’s degree at Bennett College; doing graduate work at Atlanta University and the Institute of Education, University of London England; and earning a Ph.D. in educational psychology in 1972 at the University of Texas. She was an assistant professor at the School of Education at Florida International University, and then was an assistant professor and coordinator of the Urban School Psychology Program at the University of Pittsburgh. In 1974 Bestman returned to Miami as a psychologist at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital Community Mental Health Center.
And the rest is history.
Service in the community
A licensed psychologist, Bestman has shared her expertise with numerous organizations including the South Florida Chapter of the Association of Black Psychologists, of which she was a co-founder; the Center for Family and Child Enrichment; and the Lock Towns Community Mental Health Center.
Bestman has served on the Chapman Partnership Board of Directors for 25 years. Trish Bell, chairman emeritus of the Chapman Partnership, shared these thoughts:
“After having known Dr. Evalina Bestman for about 17 years through her active and significant service on the Chapman Partnership Board, I have grown to hold her in immensely high esteem for many reasons! The adjectives that come to mind when I think of Evalina, are the following: Extremely intelligent, articulate, compassionate, wise and adhering to highly ethical values in life. Her clever wit and charming sense of humor, combined with her other attributes, make for a delightful and unique lady!”
In retirement, Bestman plans to relax, catch up on reading, write her own life experiences and mentor youth, especially during the pandemic. The Dr. Evalina Bestman New Horizons Community Mental Health Center continues with experienced leadership. Open to all, it offers New Hope for a New Life through New Horizons!
Dorothy Jenkins Fields, Ph.D., is a historian and founder of the Black Archives, History and Research Foundation of South Florida, Inc. Send feedback to djf@bellsouth.net.