UCLA Depression Grand Challenge
As part of the UCLA Depression Grand Challenge, I’ve been asked by them to be their first #DepressionHero.
Over 300 million people around the world suffer from depression. I’m one of them and have written extensively about my experience with it. The following 90-second video gives you a little more context on this.
UCLA Depression Grand Challenge
April 7th is the World Health Organizations “World Health Day” and the theme of this year’s World Health Day is Depression: Let’s Talk. UCLA is engaging in a number of activities in commemoration of World Health Day. One of these activities is a social media campaign to publicly recognize a number of individuals who their campus has identified as a #DepressionHero. The UCLA Grand Challenge Facebook and Twitter accounts have been generating lots of content around this and I’m doing a public interview next week (I’ll post the details when I have the final information.)
I’m particularly tuned into this right now as I recently avoided a major depressive episode. If you are a regular reader of my blog, you may have picked up the tone of my increasing distress from posts in the first two weeks of February, including This Page Intentionally Left Blank, Generosity Burnout, and The Power Of A Digital Sabbath.
By Valentine’s Day, which corresponds to a low point in my depression of 2013, I realized I was heading for a bad place and I took a bunch of aggressive corrective actions, including shutting down all travel. Several of my close friends showed up quickly for me, including my partners who know me extremely well. Amy was clear thinking and awesome. We took a vacation for the first two weeks of March and by the mid-March, I knew I was fine and had dodged the depressive episode.
I’m fortunate that I’ve done the work, have professional help, incredibly supportive friends, and the universe’s best spouse to help me when the black dog shows up at my doorstep. Many are less fortunate, like the entrepreneur I didn’t know who unexpectedly to everyone around him committed suicide last week. I’m close with a colleague of his and the shock to the collective system is immense.
When I was in LA in February, I was at a group dinner with Dave Morin, a longtime friend of mine. A segment of the dinner was a discussion around depression among entrepreneurs which had some very difficult and challenging moments (on multiple dimensions). After the dinner, Dave and I had a brief conversation where he told me more about his involvement in the UCLA Grand Challenge on Depression. I told him that I’d be honored to help out in any way I could. I hope this is simply the first step of a long relationship with UCLA on this front.
Transforming lives through innovative mental health, addiction, and technology solutions
7 年I'm very grateful to have someone as successful and inspirational as you share about their struggles with depression. I'm a serial entrepreneur that was formerly a cocaine and heroin addict. I'm sad that people don't understand depression and other mental health issues. Thank you, Brad, for sharing. I love what Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted"
Android Developer. ex-Salesforce
7 年As it is always important to believe in one self. A little belief from others can be a great blessing. #GoBruins!
Purple-haired Product Manager: mission driven strategist skilled at customer research, iterative product design and cross-functional execution. Domain expertise in education, process optimization, technology, AI.
7 年It's incredibly important for anyone who struggles with mental illness (or those who are the support system for loved-ones who do) to have role-models like this. Sharing transparently about your challenges, your self-care, getting help and accepting support, and ways you thrive and succeed paint a picture of what's possible when people who need help raise their hand and seek it. Thank you!
Brad, thank you for sharing this part of your world so openly and authentically. Thank you also for the difference you continue to make by doing so.
Building culture-driven brands at the intersection of Design, Innovation & Business
7 年Super brave, even in this day and age. Although we have come a long way, and more so in this country, people still have difficulty and in some case shame talking openly about depression. My mother became severely depressed in Italy in the early 90s and simply getting the correct diagnose was a challenge. Things are much better today but so much more needs to be done to put in place the appropriate support systems and societal response. One more area in healthcare where people need more support, not less. Thank you for doing this.