If you’re in line at the supermarket, sitting in a church pew with fellow parishioners or drinking coffee with your coworkers, the chances are overwhelming that one or more of you suffers from the illness. But in any conversation, it is highly unlikely the subject will come up. You may, in fact, be a friend or colleague of someone for years and never know how it has touched their lives.
The subject is mental illness, and one in five of us will experience it in a given year. It is easily triggered by the vagaries of everyday life, including severe stress, traumas and life events. It can stem from multiple causes, many of which are not immediately apparent or appreciated, including health and medical issues, biological factors such as brain disorders, genetic predisposition and environmental triggers.
“The stigma of mental illness has huge repercussions — both individually and societally,” says Marilyn Mongeon Quill, president, CEO and founding director of Passion for Change, a Northeast Ohio-based nonprofit that professes to serve as “a catalyst in breaking the stigma of mental illness by shedding light, challenging misperceptions and driving change through research, advocacy and education.”
Quill, a longtime local public relations professional, first developed her advocacy on the subject through her master’s capstone research project at the Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University. “Researching the phenomenon of stigma changed both my life and priorities,” notes Quill.
Quill’s passion led to Passion for Change, a Westlake-based 501(c)(3), and Communicators for Mental Health — now a Greater Cleveland Pilot Project recruiting and training professionals in marketing and communications as mental health advocates. Participants complete a self-study online certificate course on stigma and mental illness. They then offer their professional expertise in marketing or communications to assist an underfunded mental health or addiction organization pro bono. “We are creating educated advocates for mental health who also want to support the local mental health and addiction community,” says Quill.
The pilot project area includes Cuyahoga, Lake, Geauga, Portage, Summit, Medina and Lorain counties. For more information on the project, or to participate — as a marketing or communications professional or as a mental health or addiction organization — contact Passion for Change at 216-496-3295, info@passionforchange.org or passionforchange.org.
Also on the horizon: HR Professionals for Mental Health…to tackle rampant stigma and its resulting discrimination in the workplace.