“We’ve been there. We know what it’s like.”

– DBSA President Peter Ashenden on one of the organization’s most crucial weapons for combating mental health stigma and misinformation.

In addition to currently serving as the president of the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA), Peter Ashenden is a dynamic keynote speaker, a member of several mental health boards and committees, and acted as both a commissioner of the Certification Commission of the United States Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association (USPRA) and the executive director for the Mental Health Empowerment Project (MHEP).

Simply put, Ashenden is quite the force to be reckoned with in the mental health education and advocacy world and, as cliché as it sounds, I pretty much felt like I was in the presence of greatness when I was able to speak with him last month about the DBSA’s involvement with Blueprint for Hope, the recently launched campaign the DBSA, ABC’s Paige Hemmis, and the University of Louisville’s Dr. Jesse H. Wright hope will help people develop their own “blueprints” for treating and managing depression.

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