Speak and Be Heard 2010 Judges

Essay: Marya Hornbacher

Marya Hornbacher is an award-winning journalist and the author of three books, including The New York Times best seller Madness: A Bipolar Life. Hornbacher was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for her best seller, Wasted, and lectures frequently on the subject of mental health, including recent appearances at Harvard, Yale, and Columbia universities.

Hornbacher is no stranger to the twists and turns of mental illness. Long before there was research into the field of childhood bipolar disorder, Hornbacher was struggling with the highs and lows of the illness, showing the first signs at the age of four but going undiagnosed for another 20 years. Her disease took her--as it does any person who shares it--to extremes of experience and behavior, leading her through eating disorders, alcoholism, skyrocketing mania, and crippling depression.

But like so many people with mental illness, Hornbacher is a survivor. Her writing in the fields of mental health and the arts has brought her widespread critical acclaim; more importantly, her readers and listeners have sent thousands of letters sharing their stories with her. A frequent consultant and interview subject, Hornbacher finds inspiration in the message of strength they've sent and in the people who are living with mental illness day by day. www.MaryaHornbacher.com

Video: David Granirer

David Granirer is a counselor, stand-up comic, speaker, and author of The Happy Neurotic: How Fear and Angst Can Lead To Happiness and Success. He has taught stand-up comedy to recovering drug addicts and cancer patients, and is the founder of Stand Up For Mental Health, a project teaching comedy to people with mental illness as a way of building confidence and fighting public stigma. His work is featured by media across North America as well as in the 2008 Voice Award winning documentary, Cracking Up. David also gives laughter in the workplace presentations to hundreds of organizations across North America, helping them use humor to decrease stress, increase wellness, and cope with change. www.StandUpForMentalHealth.com.

Art: Calen Pick

Calen Pick is a successful artist who stays busy with commissioned projects, and he also is an active advocate in the Bring Change 2 Mind (BC2M) campaign with his mom, Jessie, and aunt, Glenn Close. Calen lives with schizoaffective disorder and talks about his experience in one of the PSAs featured on BC2M’s website. His art has been integral to his recovery and can be viewed at www.CalenPick.com.   

Poetry: Susan Polis Schutz

Susan Polis Schutz is among the world’s best-selling authors. She and her husband, artist Stephen Schutz, are widely known for their poetry books and greeting cards that touch people’s hearts. Susan’s other books include To My Daughter with Love on the Important Things in Life, which has sold over 1.6 million copies and One World, One Heart, which was distributed free to over 7 million people following the tragic events of September 11, 2001.

Susan is also a documentary filmmaker. Her latest project is a documentary about depression. In The Misunderstood Epidemic: Depression, people with depression and their families open up about all aspects of this serious mental illness, including the symptoms, suicide, different types of therapy and medication, support groups, and the stress it puts on families. The film vividly shows that depression can strike anyone, regardless of age, social ranking, ethnic background, or achievement, but its underlying message is one of hope. It includes a poem from Susan’s latest book of poetry, Depression and Back. www.sps.com  

Music: Ray Henry Ulrich

Ray Henry Ulrich is a multimedia artist, music producer and vocalist from St. Louis, MO. His current music project is called Radio Jesus. He also appears as a guest vocalist for a project called Alpha Static. Ray was the first place winner of DBSA’s Facing Us 2009 Music Contest.

Ray was diagnosed at the age of 32 with bipolar disorder, type I, but began showing symptoms in his early 20’s when he had his first major manic episode. The ups and downs of the illness persisted throughout the rest of that decade, leading him through an ever-intensifying journey through alcohol, drug abuse and other kinds of extreme behavior.

It was in 2003 that Ray began to explore his mental state through music. Early songs dealt with the isolation and the darkness that often comes with mental illness, even before he knew the illness was there. “I thought the isolation was the illness at that time. I thought the secrets that I’d collected during my many manic episodes were what were crippling me. I didn’t know that they were symptoms of something larger.”

Since being diagnosed and starting medication, the music has certainly changed but it’s still meaningful and it’s still flowing free. “My songs might not be as disturbing as they once were, but they’re still very personal and they’re still very real. It’s still me.”

Ray’s most recent CD is called Contraption and can be found through his Radio Jesus profile on myspace or through reverbnation. www.myspace.com/radiojesus2012, www.reverbnation.com/radiojesus

Janet E. Taylor, M.D., M.P.H.

Dr. Janet Taylor is a New York-based Psychiatrist in private practice. She previously served as clinical instructor of psychiatry at Columbia University at Harlem Hospital. She attended the University of Louisville in Louisville, Kentucky for undergraduate college and medical school. Following medical school, Dr. Taylor completed an internship in internal medicine at the Miriam Hospital-Brown University and thereafter, completed her psychiatric residency at New York Medical College-Westchester Medical Center. Dr. Taylor also received a Master’s of Public Health in Health Promotion/ Disease Prevention from Columbia University and in 2008 was the recipient of the Woman in Medicine Award from the National Medical Association-Council of Women’s Concerns.

While living in Vancouver, Dr. Taylor gained international experience with Community Psychiatry at Greater Vancouver Mental Health. There, she developed an interest in Life Coaching and became a Certified Professional Coach through the Coaches Training Institute. This led to the formation of her company, Mind Projects Inc., which specializes in Corporate Stress Management and Performance and Health Enhancement.

Dr. Taylor is a frequent contributor to “The Early Show” on CBS and “The Today Show” on NBC on issues of motherhood and parenting. She is also a contributing editor to BeWell.com. As one of the invited panelists to the historic Black Women in the Academy, which convened on the campuses of MIT, she discussed minority women and academia. In addition, she has led numerous seminars and talks on issues of work/life balance, parenting, and minority women and mental health. She currently serves as the Board Chair of the National Black Women’s Imperative, is a Red Cross Disaster Mental Health Worker, and a Volunteer Facilitator with the Tree House Program-the Bereavement Center of Westchester. She also speaks to teens about ethnicity, gender and self-esteem.

Amanda Smith

Speak and Be Heard 2009 Contest Finalist, Essay

Amanda is the Director of the Wellness and Education Coalition and Advocacy Network of Colorado (WE CAN!), a statewide grassroots organization run through Mental Health America of Colorado. The organization works to build a strong, effective advocacy network in Colorado of individuals with mental health conditions through education, advocacy, and peer services. Today, she is successfully managing the symptoms of bipolar depression and has regained control of her life.

Allen Doederlein

DBSA Interim Executive Director, External Affairs

Allen Doederlein is Executive Director of External Affairs for the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA), the nation’s largest consumer-led mental health organization focusing on mood disorders. Celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2010, DBSA reaches nearly 5,000,000 people each year with current, consumer-friendly information about depression and bipolar disorder, as well as empowering tools focused on an integrated approach to wellness and recovery. Allen facilitates DBSA’s strategic alliances and partnerships, serves as organizational spokesperson, and oversees generation of both contributed and earned revenues.

Allen has worked for numerous nonprofits in key leadership roles, most recently for Tony Award-winning Victory Gardens Theater, where he facilitated contributions to the annual fund and $11.8-million capital campaign to renovate the historic Biograph Theater. Prior to working with Victory Gardens, Allen was for three years the Director of Development and Marketing for Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras, a venerable arts education organization that nurtures young classical musicians from beginners to advanced, pre-professional artists. Before joining CYSO, he worked as a Development Officer and Education Director for Chicago’s Museum of Broadcast Communications. Early in his career, Allen spent three years as Producing Director for Mordine & Company Dance Theater, the longest-running dance company in the Midwest and a founding force of Chicago’s contemporary dance scene.

Allen also worked for many years as a performing artist and director in Chicago’s theater and dance community. He remains active as an arts volunteer, currently serving on the Board of Music in the Loft, a chamber music presenting organization. He has previously served on the Boards of Mordine & Company and the Neo-Futurists, the auxiliary Board of Urban Gateways, and the Chicago Community Trust/Wallace Foundation Audience Engagement Network Advisory Committee.

Allen is proud to bring his perspective as a person living with a mood disorder to his role as DBSA’s organizational spokesperson. The SPEAK & Be Heard contest represents an exciting opportunity for him to combine his passions for the arts and consumer advocacy.