Students With Psychosis

One of the standout moments at last weekend’s #SWP24Conference was our VIP Dinner. It was encouraging to bring together industry leaders, researchers, advocates, social media influencers, individuals with lived experience, family members, and academics from top institutions like Harvard, Stanford, and Yale all at one table—sharing insights, discussing barriers, and offering words of hope for those navigating psychosis in school and the workplace. I left feeling truly motivated and inspired. ... A special thank you to Vinod H. Srihari, MD, from Mindmap, and Glen McDermott from RedRock, who I’m standing behind and beside in this photo. I first met them in 2018, when Students With Psychosis was just beginning. Thank you for believing in us from the start and for making us feel seen, heard, and welcomed at Yale University last weekend. Your support as our media partner, filming the conference and conducting 1:1 interviews with our members, means so much. Thank you for helping create an atmosphere where our members felt comfortable to be vulnerable and share. Here's to more collaborations to come!

I typically start my public talks with the statement, “All people facing psychosis deserve the chance to thrive—why isn’t that the common outcome?!” As I observed at Students With Psychosis‘s 2024 conference, that outcome may soon become much more common! The members of this wonderful organization prove that with courage and perseverance, meaningful lives and careers can be within reach not just despite but even because of one’s mental health condition. I intend in my role at One Mind to accelerate this process at scale! I am grateful to have received SWP’s 2024 Innovation Award and to have learned so much this weekend. Thanks to Cecilia McGough , Emeka Chima and Rei Scott for hosting this inspiring event. My top four takeaways: 1. Notwithstanding popular prejudices, people with psychosis are highly worthy human beings who deserve opportunities to grow as members of their communities and society. 2. For people with psychosis to advance their careers, advocacy and education initiatives must drive universities and employers to improve their cultures and compliance with ADA policy. 3. Educational initiatives by forward-thinking universities (such as Stanford University School of Medicine and Harvard Medical School‘s anti-stigma courses) and industry which partner with people with lived experience (PWLE) show promise to begin to drive societal improvements. 4. Among the best educational practices to dissolve social stigma are meaningful personal interactions with PWLE and their stories, role-playing exercises teaching the effects of stigma on individuals, and immersive projects to design anti-stigma interventions.

LIVE MUSIC ?????? @kevgmor and @rivkyisms will be performing at SWP'24 Conference at Yale University October 19th, 2024. ... Kev G Mor is a Boston-based singer/songwriter, mental health advocate, and neurodivergent champion. Known for his soulful guitar playing and deeply personal lyrics, Kev’s album "Live at Linden Tree" highlights his raw talent and emotional depth. For over seven years, Kev has performed at Boston homeless shelters and psychiatric units with Tunefoolery.org, using music to foster healing. His YouTube vlog has two phases: "Living Daily with Mental Illness", where Kev shares daily coping skills, and "Living Daily Between Semicolons", which inspires others to pursue their dreams. In 2023, Kev received the SWP'23 Creative Award from Students with Psychosis. His mission is to break mental health stigma through music, advocacy, and art, with his Semicolon Movement-inspired works now hanging in private homes. Kev has been featured in the Boston Herald and @specialbooksbyspecialkids ... To learn more about SWP'24, visit our conference webpage at www.sws.ngo/conference [link in bio] @studentswithpsychosis ... #SWP24Conference

LIVE MUSIC ?????? @rivkyisms and @kevgmor will be performing at SWP'24 Conference at Yale University October 19th, 2024. www.sws.ngo/conference #SWP24Conference ... Rivky is a NYC singer-songwriter, distinct for quirky time signatures and imaginative, caba-rock theatrical story-telling, recipient of the NYFA grant, nominated by the IMEA Awards, selected for New York Musical Theater’s top finalists at Signature Theater, Feinstein's 54 Below. Rivky’s song “Hear Me Mr. Honey," was produced by Grammy-winning Amy Lee of Evanescence. Rivky’s music has appeared on PBS’s Mysteries Of Mental Illness. Her career jump-started composing for Off-Broadway, meeting her friend and Cellist Brian Sanders, releasing their first album, inviting them to The Kennedy Center, and stages featuring Suzanne Vega. Other projects include co-creating a musical in development with Playwright Jack Feldstein. Rivky created “Melody Left Behind”, often co-hosting with entertainers like legendary Susie Mosher of Birdland Jazz Club in NYC and theater critic and entertainer, Adam Feldman of “Time Out NY”, celebrating underserved performers living with schizophrenia, psychosis, autism and those who process the stage and the world just a little differently. Pushing the boundary to welcome more inclusion on mainstream music stages, which often doesn’t exist for every unique artist. Most recently “Melody Left Behind” was sponsored by Director Douglass Adams of Hawaii County, in which Mayor Roth’s office attended. Rivky also spends time writing, painting and creating weird food recipes in her kitchen.

SPEAKER HIGHLIGHT #SWP24Conference Chin Li College Life & Psychosis Panel October 19th, 10:15-11:00 PM ET (in-person) SWP'24 Conference at Yale University Get tickets https://lnkd.in/djiHspnt ... Ching Li is an international student from Hong Kong, in her 2nd and final year pursuing her MA in Elementary Inclusive Education and Teaching Students with Disabilities at Teachers College, Columbia University in New York. Through her student teaching placements and classes, she is learning how to teach diverse populations of elementary school students. During May 2023, she graduated from California State University, Northridge, with a BA in English (Subject Matter concentration - Creative Writing Extended Study). She is diagnosed with autism and mental illness, and has experienced psychosis since her preteen years. Having been identified with speech and language difficulties at an early age, she received speech and language therapy from the age of 3 to 15. She was fortunate to attend an international mainstream school with a learning support center for students with disabilities, where she benefited from social skills and life skills lessons while also attending her mainstream classes. She strongly believes in promoting equity for all people, and in allowing each person to utilize their voice, regardless of their personal situation. This is especially important for marginalized populations such as the psychosis community whose voices are often purposely or inadvertently silenced. Moreover, she believes that intersectional barriers must be addressed so that all people with mental health and other disabilities, including those living in poverty, who are part of minority cultures, or facing other additional obstacles, can get the support they need to achieve their goals. #Schizophrenia #Psychosis #MentalHealth

SPEAKER HIGHLIGHT #SWP24Conference Riwhi Kenny Workplace & Psychosis Panel October 20th, 2:00-2:30 PM ET (in-person) SWP'24 Conference at Yale University Get tickets https://lnkd.in/djiHspnt ... Riwhi Kenny (he/him/ia) is a 23 year old trans indigenous person hailing from the mighty Aotearoa New Zealand. He has whakapapa to the Māori iwi of Ngāi Tahu and Te ātiawa. He has volunteered and worked in rainbow/queer communities for 8 years and is studying Te Reo Māori (Māori Language) and Anthropology at university. When not studying, or working, he can be found crocheting, reading, writing and playing tabletop roleplaying games, or obsessing over wetlands. Riwhi has had symptoms of schizophrenia since he was 14, and been diagnosed since he was 19. Riwhi has used his experiences to help others with their experiences of mental distress while doing peer support for 5 years through a local community organization. #Schizophrenia #Psychosis #MentalHealth

SPEAKER HIGHLIGHT #SWP24Conference Marybeth Bohn Family & Psychosis Panel October 20th, 1:30-2:00 PM ET (in-person) SWP'24 Conference at Yale University Get tickets https://sws.ngo/conference ... Marybeth Bohn has been advocating for PMDD (Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder) since she?lost her daughter, Christina Elizabeth Bohn Rudd, to suicide in 2021 due to the disorder. The?thought of others suffering as her daughter did for 10 to 15 years before receiving a correct?diagnosis motivates Marybeth to keep speaking out with the hope others will be diagnosed?sooner than the average of 12 years. She has spoken at the University of Missouri, Postpartum?Support International Climb Out of the Darkness Walk, Missouri House of Representatives?Committee on Healthcare Reform, Women’s Mental Health Conference at Yale, an NIH?Prevention in Focus Webinar, and many other venues. In 2023, she worked with the Missouri?State Legislature to pass a bill for having an annual PMDD Awareness Day on October 2nd,?Christina’s birthday. Marybeth serves as vice president of the board of directors for the?International Association for Premenstrual Disorders (IAPMD). After Christina's death, Marybeth?retired from the University of Missouri to focus on increasing awareness of PMDD. #schizophrenia #psychosis #mentalhealth

SPEAKER HIGHLIGHT #SWP24Conference Steve Bohn Family & Psychosis Panel October 20th, 1:30-2:00 PM ET (in-person) SWP'24 Conference at Yale University Get tickets https://lnkd.in/djiHspnt @studentswithpsychosis ... Steve Bohn is a PMDD (Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder) advocate. He and his wife, Marybeth, speak out about PMDD since they lost their daughter, Christina Elizabeth Bohn, to suicide in 2021 due to the disorder. Their mission is to raise awareness of PMDD and to reduce the time to receiving a PMDD diagnosis. Within his company, Steve works with the corporate responsibility team, corporate wellness, and women’s communities around the globe to bring attention to PMDD. Steve and Marybeth have given many presentations since Christina’s passing, and Steve recently authored an article about PMDD to recognize the one-year anniversary of the signing of the bill designating October 2nd, Christina’s birthday, as PMDD Awareness Day in the state of Missouri. The article was posted in his company’s global Be Well community of over 80,000 employees. Steve and Marybeth organized the Christina Bohn Memorial 5K for PMDD Awareness 2024, which brought together women with PMDD from 17 states and three countries. Also among the participants were friends, family members, and health care professionals. As part of their mission to increase awareness about PMDD, the Bohns have printed and shared over 33,000 informational cards about PMDD since Christina passed away. #Schizophrenia #Psychosis #MentalHealth

SPEAKER HIGHLIGHT #SWP24Conference Kristína Jana?ková Workplace & Psychosis Panel October 20th, 2:00-2:30 PM ET (in-person) SWP'24 Conference at Yale University Get tickets https://lnkd.in/djiHspnt ... Kristína Jana?ková (she/her) is a?student, writer, and mental health activist from Slovakia who has lived in Germany for over seven years. She is currently pursuing an M.A. degree in Literary and cultural theory from the University of Tübingen and obtained a?bachelor's degree in Media Studies and German Literature from the University of Freiburg.?After receiving a diagnosis of schizophrenia, Jana?ková was so struck by her experience that she shifted the focus of her academic work and is now interested mainly in critical disability studies and medical humanities, with a particular interest in a phenomenological inquiry into disabled embodiment and identity. Besides focusing on representations of mental illness in literature, film, and media, she also uses her lived experience and advocacy skills to campaign for better support for students with psychosis on college campuses. She discussed psychosis in various academic and non-academic contexts in Germany, Switzerland, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic. In 2024, she presented her research on marginalized features of delusional experience at the workshop "Delusions at the Intersection," which was organized by the "Renewing Phenomenological Psychopathology" project at the University of Birmingham and the University of Zürich, Switzerland. . In 2020, she took part in the writers' workshop "Young Poems" at the Berlin's House for Poetry, the results of which were presented during the "Poesiefestival Berlin" and are contained in the anthology "In den Ruinen des BER siedeln wir W?lfe an." In July 2023, she was a writer-in-residence at the Tou Centre in Stavanger, Norway. #Schizophrenia #Psychosis #MentalHealth

SPEAKER HIGHLIGHT #SWP24Conference Filomena Curcio Workplace & Psychosis Panel October 20th, 2:00-2:30 PM ET (in-person) SWP'24 Conference at Yale University Get tickets https://lnkd.in/djiHspnt ... Filomena Curcio (she/her) is a medical student from Italy. She was born in Pisa and lived there for nearly 20 years before moving to Siena to study medicine. While in Siena, she began experiencing symptoms of OCD, which made it challenging to focus on her studies and daily life. Despite these obstacles, she remains hopeful about her recovery. Filomena has represented Students With Psychosis at the 2022 Schizophrenia International Research Society conference in Florence, Italy, and was a panelist at the SWP'23 Conference in New York City. She is the former Vice President of Programming and current Secretary on the Executive Board of Students With Psychosis. Filomena understands the importance of having a solid support system. She enjoys reading and singing and is passionate about advocating for mental health awareness. #Schizophrenia #Psychosis #MentalHealth