Meet Trace Terrell (he/him), a mental health activist, peer health educator, and strategic storyteller from La Pine, Oregon, with a background in adolescent crisis intervention, peer support, and youth policy. From middle to early high school, he struggled with suicidal ideation, depression, and other mental health challenges, further complicated by his sexual orientation and rural community. At 14, he volunteered on a youth crisis line, which helped him realize that his mental health challenges were a microcosm of public health issues that affected hundreds of thousands of young people across the world. Since then, he has testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, participated in Mental Health America’s inaugural Youth Policy Accelerator (YPA), and advised national social impact initiatives like A.S.K., MTV and Active Minds’ new “stop, drop, and roll” for how to help a friend in need. A sophomore at Johns Hopkins University, he studies public health and writing seminars and hopes to pursue a mental health policy and management career. Currently, at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, he is researching the implementation of a novel therapeutic framework and software meant to make nonclinical mental healthcare more scalable, cost-effective, and timely for people worldwide. Trace likes to longboard, travel, and make pottery in his free time.
