Michael W. Brose, M.S.W., L.C.S.W.

Mike Brose served as Chief Executive Officer for Mental Health Association Oklahoma for 27 years. He grew the organization from a nonprofit with an annual operating budget of $350,000 to $19 million. He oversaw all aspects of the organization, including vetting and hiring staff, overseeing budget and finance operations, program development and implementation. He began with just five employees and retired overseeing almost 200 staff members.

Mike was also involved in the organization’s fundraising from public and private sources. He oversaw the organization’s annual gala as its net proceeds grew from $300,000 to over $1.2 million annually. He also led four successful capital campaigns, raising just over $60 million for the Association.

Mike played a key role in developing 1,500 units of safe, decent, and affordable housing units within 23 complexes spread across 17 different Tulsa and Oklahoma City neighborhoods. He helped establish and fund the Association’s “Mobile Medical Intervention Team” to ensure integrated mental and physical health care for individuals living on the streets and in shelters. In addition, Mike was a leader in creating “A Better Way”, funded by the City of Tulsa to empower people who panhandle to work for cash payments in public parks for six hours per day while receiving food, housing, health care, and permanent employment opportunities.

Collaboration is everything to Mike. He helped create a homeless street outreach team and fostered partnerships with the Tulsa Fire Department and Tulsa Police Department. In addition, he was integral in organizing a collective impact model called “A Way Home for Tulsa” with 26 different faith-based, nonprofit, and government agencies working collaboratively to end chronic homelessness in Tulsa. He also helped develop co-responder programs for people in a mental health and substance use crisis and helped create and grow suicide prevention programs in schools and communities.

Mike understands the importance of advocacy at the local, county, state, and federal levels. One of his most significant achievements was becoming a nationally recognized advocate for the employment of people affected by mental illness and other issues of recovery, including severe mental illness, homelessness, substance use, and histories of incarceration. He pushed for increased mental health funding, as well as the administrative and legislative changes needed to support people affected by mental illness and substance use. During his tenure at MHAOK, he continually worked internally towards cultural competence and externally toward advocacy and equity to reduce the stigma of mental health and improve access to mental health services.

Under Mike’s leadership, Mental Health Association Oklahoma was named the state’s top nonprofit by the Oklahoma Center for Nonprofits in 2010. In 2020, Mike was awarded the Oklahoma Center for Nonprofits’ prestigious Pat Potts Visionary Award, its highest individual award. Mike is a member of both the University of Oklahoma Anne and Henry Zarrow School of Social Work Hall of Fame, and the Oral Roberts University School of Social Work Hall of Fame. He has spoken at national conferences across the country and helped establish the nationally attended Zarrow Mental Health Symposium.

Before becoming the Association’s CEO in 1993, Mike worked in outpatient and inpatient psychiatric care in Tulsa. He served individuals and families of all ages and backgrounds, including juveniles with justice involvement. Mike also served as the Director of Family Therapy at St. John Medical Center in Tulsa from 1987 to 1992. He is a licensed clinical social worker with a Master of Social Work from the University of Kansas.

Today, Mike remains active in the community and enjoys serving as a Senior Search Consultant with The Moran Company. He also operates a small private clinical practice, organizes volunteers to serve individuals experiencing homelessness, and consults with a variety of nonprofit leaders and organizations. Mike also supervises students as a field instructor and is an adjunct social work professor at Oral Roberts University.