I am committed to a world in which mental healthcare services are deemed a basic human right and it begins with supporting the work of the Erie County Anti-Stigma Coalition.
I work in a business serving people who by many accounts are unjustly viewed as “broken,” as lacking somehow, as “problems”—as burdens of society. Some present with mental health issues and carry the weight, the stigma that relegates them to objects of pity, of fear, and of contempt.
Yet, each person we serve has a unique story to tell—many of these stories are not pretty, nevertheless, most are hopeful chronicles of redemption, of recovered lives because somebody cared. I am mindful that anyone of us is one traumatic, life-changing event from needing the types of supports we often consign to “others.”
