August 21, 2024
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Pooja Mehta, a member of NAMI’s Board of Directors, discusses her personal mental health journey with NAMI CEO Daniel H. Gillison, Jr. During this episode, Pooja shares why she focuses on youth engagement about mental health and her experience growing up as a ‘third culture kid’ while navigating her own mental health.
You can find additional episodes of this NAMI podcast and others at nami.org/podcast.
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.
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Pooja Mehta, M.P.H., is a member of the NAMI Board of Directors and is part of the policy team at Inseparable. She is a member of NAMI North Carolina and has served as a Board Member for NAMI New York State, the Development Director and Special Events Manager for NAMI North Carolina, and the co-founder and President of NAMI on Campus – Duke University.
Pooja has dedicated her time with NAMI to grow youth engagement and bring awareness of NAMI resources to marginalized communities and people with lived experiences.
Dan Gillison brings expertise in non-profit leadership and a passion for advocating for people with mental illness to NAMI. Before coming to NAMI, Dan led the American Psychiatric Association Foundation (APAF), where he was responsible for strategic planning, personnel management, board communications, oversight of APAF’s public education programs and outreach, and formulating strategic alliances and partnerships to further APAF’s mission. Prior to APAF, Gillison led County Solutions and Innovation for the National Association of Counties, where he was instrumental in repositioning the organization’s programs to provide expertise in health and human services, justice, and public safety.
Dan has more than 30 years of experience and has previously held leadership positions at Xerox, Nextel, and Sprint. Dan holds a B.A. from Southern University and A&M College. Dan spearheaded the creation of the CEO Alliance for Mental Health in 2020, which represents some of the most vulnerable and diverse populations affected by disparities in the mental health care system. The leadership collective has collaborated to identify and amplify their priorities for creating a future of quality mental health care for all who need it. Dan serves on lululemon’s Mental Wellbeing Global Advisory Board.
NAMI HelpLine is available M-F, 10 a.m. – 10 p.m. ET. Call 800-950-6264,
text “helpline” to 62640, or chat online. In a crisis, call or text 988 (24/7).
