Painted Brain changes the landscape of the mental health system in Los Angeles and creates a truly dynamic, non-hierarchical community of mental health advocates and artists. Painted Brain works in high schools, graduate programs, psychiatric hospitals, housing facilities, drop-in centers, substance abuse treatment centers and the jail system. We have 1200 sq. ft. of community space open three days a week to an average of 60 individuals a month, Our core team has worked together for years and consists of high-skilled, driven directors of web development, media, social media, cartooning, and marketing, and dedicated peer leaders all guided by a respected leader in the field of social work. All team members publicly identify as living with mental illness.Vision: Changing the way we think and talk about mental illness requires a cross-sectional approach to a multidi- mensional problem. We need to provide jobs, training, a media presence, as well as the physical space and social activities to break the isolation and silence of mental illness. Mental illness affects people in every sector of soci- ety, from every race, culture and ethnicity, the successful and the destitute. We at Painted Brain believe that we can change the way governments think about mental health services and turn our mental health crisis into an opportuni- ty for growth for our entire society. This is the issue at the core of it all. www.paintedbrain.org

Therapist for students and graduate students of UCLA.

Didi Hirsch, at the Sepulveda site where I worked, offered outpatient mental health services to the local community, serving low income people experiencing severe and persistent mental illness. This agency allowed me to do therapy and group work with young adult clients and it was here that Painted Brain formed. It started as an art group in an attempt to introduce the young artists I was meeting as my clients to each other. This soon grew into a collaboration with other young artists living with mental illness but silo-ed into services at other mental health agencies. Thus Painted Brain was born.