Sita Diehl
Sita Diehl, is the Director of State Policy and Advocacy for NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Prior to coming to NAMI in 2010, she served as Executive Director of NAMI Tennessee for six years.
A supporter of empowerment among adults, children and families affected by mental illness in Canada, Oregon and Wisconsin and Tennessee, she is best known as the editor of the BRIDGES curriculum, a peer-run program for people living with mental illness.
Sita is a co-author of Back from Wherever I've Been, a collection of recovery stories from people in the BRIDGES program.
Sita holds a masters degree in community psychology from Antioch University and earned her MSSW at the University of Tennessee.
She has developed and implemented a range of mental health curricula for individuals living with mental illness, families, mental health care providers and criminal justice personnel. Her research background includes a two state comparison of the effect of public managed behavioral health care on women and children, a federal multi-site study of consumer-operated services and a longitudinal study of mental health services in Tennessee county jails.
