The 2022-2023 Mental Health America Young Mental Health Leaders Council (YMHLC) represents younger leaders from throughout the U.S. who’ve created applications and initiatives that fill gaps in conventional psychological well being providers of their communities. This 12 months’s cohort is working to deal with psychological well being throughout many areas together with training, housing, foster care, dependancy restoration, and state-level coverage.
Over the following a number of weeks, get to know the ten wonderful people utilizing their lived expertise and youth perspective to make large variations within the lives of these round them.
Name: Rei Scott
Pronouns: he/him and xe/xem
Location: Columbus, Ohio
School: Ohio State University
Leadership and different positions: Executive Board Member of Students with Psychosis
Social media: @sealikesword
Photo submitted by Rei Scott
Why did you wish to be a part of the YMHLC?
I needed to affix the YMHLC to broaden my attain inside psychological well being advocacy and study new views.
Tell us about your work and pursuits.
I advocate for the lived-experience perspective by means of the worldwide nonprofit Students With Psychosis, in addition to on an area degree. I’m keen on housing and meals insecurity because it pertains to psychological well being, artwork as a instrument for therapeutic, and constructing group for many who have particularly stigmatized diagnoses or signs. Outside of psychological well being, I like to make artwork and play video video games.
What is the most important lesson you could have realized from different YMHLC members?
Your advocacy is all the time sufficient. I’ve a foul behavior of evaluating myself to individuals deemed extra “profitable” than myself, and at occasions it makes me really feel hopeless, like a failure – however that is not true. Every step in the direction of a greater world is significant.
What are your psychological well being advocacy objectives?
My advocacy objectives begin with my group. I wish to change how my college and the Columbus (Ohio) space strategy individuals with psychological well being circumstances, hopefully increasing entry to sources alongside the way in which. On a bigger scale, I wish to change how self-harm and suicide are addressed, and to advocate on a nationwide coverage degree.
Photo submitted by Rei Scott
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