Russell Stence

Russell Stence

School Psychologist (retired) | Family Member

Lived experience advocating for family / loved ones

Russell was born in South Jersey and grew up in Bucks County, PA. His father was a union electrician and his mother was a homemaker who raised him and his three sisters, one of whom was her stepchild with Down's Syndrome and was considered too low functioning to have public education at that time. He graduated from Houghton College in 1973 with a BS in Psychology, and then from Alfred University in 1975 with an MA and NYS certification in School Psychology. He retired after working as a school psychologist for 30 years in the Rochester, NY area, and with his wife raising their four children. His family life and profession made him sensitive to children with disabilities, but it was his own daughter's severe mental health setback during her first year in college that opened his eyes to how coercive, inhumane and harmful the existing psychiatric system can be. This was intensified later when his younger daughter fell into the hands of psychiatry and was utterly crushed in body, mind and spirit. He is committed to promoting more humane and helpful ways of understanding and responding to people who experience psychosocial setbacks.