Hope Starts With Us: Help During the Holidays – NAMI HelpLine 101

We hope this podcast encourages you, inspires you, helps you and brings you further into the collective to know: you are not alone.

Episodes will air every other Wednesday and will be available on most major directories and apps.

Dawn Brown

Dawn Brown and the NAMI HelpLine team work each day to help further the recovery of people affected by mental illness and restore their families. Together, they bring their lived experience, professional skills, and passion to the service and support of the NAMI community.

Dawn was drawn to NAMI following her son’s schizophrenia diagnosis, and in 2011, she volunteered to serve on the NAMI HelpLine. Shortly afterward, she accepted a staff position.

Leading the NAMI HelpLine team has allowed Dawn to align years of professional experience in business and non-profit management with her passion for helping others affected by mental illness. Each year, the NAMI HelpLine provides more than 250,000 help seekers with the information, resources and peer support they need to advance their recovery or support the recovery of a loved one.

Since 2011, in addition to NAMI HelpLine management, Dawn has contributed to NAMI as the Director of Convention Services, Director of Membership and Content Development Specialist. She is a native of Washington, DC, and has certification in business and project management.

Daniel H. Gillison, Jr.

Follow on Twitter: @DanGillison

Daniel H. Gillison, Jr. is the chief executive officer of NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness). Prior to his work at NAMI, he served as executive director of the American Psychiatric Association Foundation (APAF) in addition to several other leadership roles at various large corporations such as Xerox, Nextel, and Sprint. He is passionate about making inclusive, culturally competent mental health resources available to all people, spending time with his family, and of course playing tennis.