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CARE TO SHARE? By sharing his bipolar diagnosis, Marc Van Herr was freeing himself and lifting the stigma: “I got an amazing amount of support from friends and colleagues.”
Making It OK Businesses, organizations unite around campaign to reduce mental illness stigma. By Janelle Bradley | Photography by John Linn
Marc Van Herr can recall one of the darkest days in his life with absolute clarity. It was the early 2000s and he was sitting in his vehicle, a knife in his hand, with a plan to end his life. Ultimately, thoughts of his 4-year-old daughter gave him the strength to put down the knife and head home. It would be two years before Van Herr sought help. Stories like Van Herr’s are all too common, perpetuated, in part, by the stigma surrounding mental illness. Spurred by growing awareness and stepped-up advocacy, organizations across Central Minnesota are rallying around the Make It OK campaign championed by HealthPartners to have open and honest conversations—at work, at home, in public—about mental illness, its prevalence and the toll it takes on individuals and our broader society. “I didn’t share [my bipolar diagnosis] with anybody because I didn’t want it to affect my friendships,” said Van Herr, executive director of the Beautiful Mind Project and a recent graduate of the Foundation’s Initiators Fellowship. “I didn’t want it to affect my job opportunities. I didn’t want it to affect my career.” It wasn’t until he was diagnosed with diabetes in 2015 that Van
Herr really began to see the stark contrast between society’s response to physical illness vs. mental illness. He didn’t hesitate to share his diabetes news with family and friends. In fact, he found an incredible amount of support and affirmation to help him cope. In keeping his bipolar diagnosis to himself, Van Herr realized he was perpetuating the stigma. It was then that he decided to go public and tell story about his bipolar disorder and his brush with suicide. “It was the scariest thing I had ever done,” he said. “But it was also the most liberating thing I’ve ever done. I got an amazing amount of support from friends and colleagues. And that was when I started thinking about the Beautiful Mind Project.” By sharing relatable stories written by real people, Van Herr’s Beautiful Mind Project has contributed to reducing the stigma by putting a face to mental illness. An important offshoot of the Beautiful Mind Project is Urgent Care for Mental Health, which connects people to therapists who can provide care within 24 hours. The average wait time to receive therapeutic care for a mental illness in the United States is 25 days, Van Herr said. “So the concept is very simple: You give people the help when they need the help the most. With my work during the Initiators Fellowship, we’ve developed a system that enables us to get people in the same, or the next day. Not CONTINUED ON PAGE 18
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