Tell us a bit about you:
I grew up in Connecticut and studied Sociology and Women’s Studies at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY. After a couple of years working at health-related nonprofits, I earned my Masters of Public Health from Harvard University and have been working in public health research and programs at a Boston-area hospital since graduating in 2020.
My interests include listening to audiobooks from the library, taking long walks with my wife, playing with our spunky cat, Agatha, and keeping in touch with friends and family all over the world. A fun fact is that I have a weird amount of knowledge about fonts!
What drew you to Mental Health Collaborative’s work?
Right out of college, I worked at the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) of Nebraska in Omaha. It was a unique opportunity to learn about rural public health, witness the barriers many Nebraskans face in accessing mental healthcare, and learn about meaningful efforts communities are making to support people with mental illness and their caregivers. This experience, along with my later training and work in health communication, drew me to MHC’s mission of increasing mental health literacy, especially the emphasis on decreasing stigma.
How does your public health background shape the way you think about mental health literacy and education?
Working with a variety of groups (including immigrant communities, high school student athletes, survivors of domestic violence, family members of people with mental illness, and cancer patients) has deepened my appreciation of the important roles evidence, respect, and equity play in the field of public health. I try to approach my work with humility and an understanding that developing public health messages and education needs to be a collaborative process between public health professionals and those who are on the receiving end of the messages. Promoting health literacy isn’t just handing everyone the same pamphlet about a health topic and expecting them to take action—it’s also about understanding how people want to receive the education, what topics are the most important to them, and how to deliver the information in culturally responsive ways that resonate.
What impact do you hope to make as a volunteer with MHC?
I’m excited to help launch the blog as a complement to MHC’s trainings. I hope to make evidence-based mental health information accessible to members of the public searching online for general information about mental health, strategizing on how to promote mental health in their school or workplace, or experiencing concerns that could relate to mental illness. I also hope to draw awareness to MHC’s work and encourage individuals and organizations to explore whether the programs could be a good fit for their needs.