This blog also appears on the Huffington Post In any given year, one out of every five adults in the U.S. has an experience with a mental health disorder. The tenth leading cause of death for U.S. adults is suicide. For individuals ages 10-24, the second leading cause of death is suicide. But you wouldn’t…
Janine Francolini, Founder/Executive Director, the Flawless Foundation SOURCE: Huffington Post Last weekend I spent two days in the Napa Valley where $2.8 million dollars were raised by the fierce advocates for curing all brain disorders, Garen Staglin and Patrick Kennedy. These two men are the co-founders of One Mind for Research which aspires to end…
Janine Francolini, Founder/Executive Director, the Flawless Foundation SOURCE: Huffington Post Over the past month there has been an important national discussion concerning discriminatory remarks about people living with mental illness in the media. My recent posts were written as open letters to Dr. Phil, Dr. Oz and Brian Williams inviting them into a discussion about…
Janine Francolini, Founder/Executive Director, the Flawless Foundation SOURCE: Huffington Post * This post is being written as an open letter to Brian Williams, Dr. Oz and Dr. Phil about their recent portrayal on their shows of people living with mental illness. Dear Dr. Phil, Dr. Oz and Mr. Williams, As you read this, you may…
Janine Francolini, Founder/Executive Director, the Flawless Foundation SOURCE: Huffington Post Dear Dr. Phil, I am writing in response to your show the other day that has thankfully become headline news and to express my gratitude to you, our dear colleague Pete Earley and USA Today News for opening up this very important conversation. (For readers…
Janine Francolini, Founder/Executive Director, the Flawless Foundation SOURCE: The Huffington Post This week we celebrated the Fourth of July! A holiday we associate with fireworks, flags, picnics at the beach and a festive celebration of our country’s independence. So why on the fourth was my first thought not of fun and frolic but of…
Janine Francolini, Founder/Executive Director, the Flawless Foundation SOURCE: The Huffington Post Awareness! And Awareness is what we have been focusing on this past month, as President Obama signed a proclamation declaring May as National Mental Health Awareness Month (the first president to do so!) Mental health was prominently featured in the media — including personal…
Janine Francolini, Founder/Executive Director, the Flawless Foundation SOURCE: The Huffington Post Last year, on Good Friday and Passover, I was confronted by a man at a gas station in Oakland. He was in an obviously altered state and blurted out that he had just been released from jail. In that moment when he was…
Janine Francolini, Founder/Executive Director, the Flawless Foundation SOURCE: The Huffington Post This post is dedicated to the most forgotten, underserved children in our country. Those who quickly fall through the cracks and into the school-to-prison pipeline. When practicing peacefully in one of our therapeutic yoga programs, these are the children who teach us hope…
Janine Francolini, Founder/Executive Director, the Flawless Foundation SOURCE: The Huffington Post “Only in the darkness can you see the stars.” ― Martin Luther King Jr. Dear President Obama, What a week: the one-month anniversary of the tragedy in Newtown, your announcement about plans for mental health reform and gun control, and the inauguration all…
