I work for Linn County Public Health in a newly created role, as the Health Equity Program Manager. Prior to joining public health, I was part of the stirring team that rolled out Make It OK in Linn County in 2020. As you can imagine, we had to pivot from how we launched from our original plan but had the benefit of holding a webinar series throughout the rest of 2020 and into 2021 and doing a virtual conference. I am really interested in extending that work, particularly to black communities where we hear statistically and anecdotally as well as my own lived experience that there are additional nuances in terms of stigma so I was excited about the opportunity to do some customization and that we are more effectively reaching black communities than we are already with this campaign

How does your work contribute to the mental health support balance in the Black community in Iowa?

In my day gig, I serve as the Linn County Health Equity Program Manager and this position is predicated on the fact that there are disparities in health outcomes for communities of color and other underrepresented or marginalized groups. In addition, mental health and mental illness is one of the primary community concerns in Linn County from the standpoint from the community health improvement plan that is a collaborative effort and for me it was an opportunity to marry those things.

Why did you choose to say yes to this committee?

I am committed to making mental illness easier to talk about. When we can speak about difficult topics it's much easier to act on. This year is my 15 year anniversary of a bipolar type 2 diagnosis and true to the statistics, it took me a good 10 years before I sought help and then for the first 10 years of taking medication, I kept that to myself for the most part using lots of energy to hide my diagnoses and my treatment.

“Then I realized that there is a lot of liberation that comes in being able to share the experience and I wasn't he only one that was dealing with issues.”

I often say, nobody needs to know all the details, maybe my therapist, but I want to make it easier for people to seek help and help others get help so it was an easy yes for me.

Anne’s Journey with mental illness:

Read about Anne’s first hand experience with bipolar type 2 in her Make It OK Story.