Team Member
Erin Raftery Ryan
Erin Ryan is the CEO of NAMI Westside Los Angeles. She provides strategic leadership to NAMI WLA with more than 20 years of professional experience and a deep passion for […
Erin Ryan is the CEO of NAMI Westside Los Angeles. She provides strategic leadership to NAMI WLA with more than 20 years of professional experience and a deep passion for mental health advocacy and creating community. Since 2018, she has been fostering an inclusive, caring environment where mental health is prioritized, destigmatized, and integrated seamlessly into the community’s discourse. Erin strives to bring fresh perspectives, creative solutions, and a forward-thinking approach to addressing mental health challenges.
She has a degree in Political Science and International Affairs from the University of Connecticut. She was a NCAA Division-I student-athlete for the UConn Track and Field team. Erin did post graduate work at the Sorbonne in Paris and the Universite a Dakar in Senegal, West Africa. Her passion for advocacy stems from her work in Washington DC. as a Government Relations Fellow and a Congressional Aide for US House Representative Joe Courtney. A graduate from the Hagen Institute of Dramatic Arts in New York City, she is passionate about the power of storytelling to create social impact. She leads with intentionality and a growth mindset. A trained teacher in Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy from the Brown School of Public Health and a Master Gardener from the United States Department of Agriculture/University of California. Erin is currently studying at Harvard Business School pursuing her eMBA.
Erin’s pride and joy is being a mother of two daughters, and being happily married to a U.S. Army veteran for over 15 years.
