Both Dr. Ken Duckworth, NAMI CMO, and Pooja Mehta were interviewed about You Are Not Alone: The NAMI Guide to Navigating Mental Health. Pooja Mehta is one of 130 people who shared first-person accounts of their experiences with mental illness in the book, as a way of challenging the stigma and educating the public about what it feels like to have mental health challenges. Mehta’s experience motivated her to begin speaking out about stigma in mental illness and openly telling her story. Duckworth says he was inspired to write the book after his own family’s experience with mental illness. His father had bipolar disorder, but there was no “social permission” or permission within the family to talk about his father’s condition, which was shrouded in secrecy and shame. Duckworth hopes the book will provide useful information and inspire people with mental illness to realize they’re not alone. “We want readers to know there is a vast community out there struggling with the same issues and to know there are resources and guidance available,” said Duckworth.
