Ambassadors

Julie Denesha – From 1996 to 2004, Julie Denesha was based in Prague, Czech Republic, where she covered Central and Eastern Europe for a number of international newspapers and magazines. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, The Guardian, Newsweek, Time, The Economist, and The Christian Science Monitor. In 2007, she completed a documentary on Roma life in Slovakia. Her awards and exhibits include a 2009 exhibit at the World Bank in Brussels, Belgium, a 2009 showing in America magazine, the 2007 Milana Jesenska Fellowship for North American Journalists, and the 2006 -2007 Fullbright Fellowship from the U.S Department of State.

Deanna Dikeman – Deanna Dikeman was just accepted to the Art Omi International Artists Residency, one of the most prestigious residencies in the world. She has been an artist since 1985 and her first body of work was a study of the suburban landscape in Johnson County, KS. Her major awards include the United States Artists Booth Fellowship in 2008, The Charlotte Street Visual Artists Award in 2006, and the Aaron Siskind Foundation Individual Photographer’s Fellowship in 1996. She is featured in the Nelson-Atkins Musem of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago, and the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art.

Mindy Goldstein – Mindy Goldstein is a stand up comedian, a poet, and a certified laughter leader. She has worked for justice in the mental health civil rights movement for 15 years. Mindy was one of the founding advisory members for Bike the Brain and winner of the first inaugural Tricycle Challenge. Mindy is a past board member for the Kansas Consumer Advisory Council, the statewide network of people working to increase knowledge of recovery for all Kansans. Mindy is an experienced presenter with first-hand knowledge of recovery from mental illness, cognitive disability, and physical disability all at the same time.

Sara “Miss Conception” Glass biography – Sara has served as a conscious performance artist in Lawrence and Kansas City. Through sung choruses and leads, emcee Miss C takes over the microphone with a motivational, educational and confrontational style. Breaking down stereotypes of the word warrior type with sufficient wordplay and rhyme, she takes on one hard-to-define subject a time… sex, solidarity, and startin’ the revolution are topically explored. It’s a group effort towards enlightenment… “as we climb, one rhyme at a time, getting inside your mind until the divine sublimes.” She works for real world solutions with real substance, rhymes and raps.

Rod McBride – Rod, also known as Trigger or Midwest Rock Lobster, is a humor essayist, blogger, freelance graphic designer, and photographer who often takes over 300 shots a day just going about his daily affairs. He is a passionate cyclist who recently became a year round bicycle commuter. Rod has recently joined the mental health civil rights movement and points out that the difference between someone labeled with a mental illness and someone who isn’t is often just a matter of who went to the psychiatrist, sat down, and said, “You know, doctor, I’m having these things happening lately…..”

Laura Sterchi – Laura is a jewelry designer and a green real estate professional helping people in Kansas City to find sustainably designed housing options. She is the founder of Biking KC Neighborhoods, a weekly ride to allow people to look at potential real estate via bicycle while getting to know the charming details of many of the neighborhoods in Kansas City. She is the creator of Green Dream Living, a Kansas City based blog about minimizing our impact on our planet. Laura has helped several people move into the urban core by with Kansas City’s Dream Loan program down payment assistance.

Christi Wade – Christi is a budding poet who is just beginning to enter the spoken word poetry scene. She is a Certified Peer Specialist working as a Wellness and Support Advocate at Mental Health America of the Heartland. Her focus is permanent supportive housing, where homeless people are placed directly from the streets into long term residential situations. This is the housing first principle – where housing helps people to access other social services like mental health or addiction recovery. Christi helps to provide mental health services that are less expensive than the traditional system of homeless shelters and emergency rooms.

Camiel Irving – Speaker, poet, and sales professional, Camiel is a native of Baltimore, Maryland. Spoken word is both a passion and an outlet; it provides her with an opportunity to share a piece of herself—her mission and message—with the community. To take a line from her award winning poem Mouth Piece: “Like Alvin Ailey danced his, I will speak my Revelations.” Camiel has competed in and won slams in Baltimore, New Orleans, and Kansas City. She currently performs on the poetry circuit in Kansas City at venues including The American Jazz Muesuem, Harper’s on the Vine, and the Westport Coffee House.

Lisa Rush – Lisa is a poet and Certified Peer Specialist, a person who uses first hand knowledge of recovery to help people take control of their lives on the other side of a diagnosis. She is graduate of Avila University’s Social Work program and a Wellness and Support Advocate working with formerly homeless people at Mental Health America of the Heartland. She is a budding entrepreneur starting her own counseling business. Lisa is a passionate mental health advocate and wants people to be able to take control of their lives on the other side of a mental health diagnosis.

Donavan Gardner – Donavan Gardner is author of five books. His most recent is, Better to Have Loved and Lost. He is a spoken word poet who specializes in freestyle, an art form where he can compose poetry on the spot. His complex metaphors, innuendo, and rhythm are all improvised in the moment at the microphone. Donavan is a mental health advocate who lead a march on Topeka called, “No More Budget Cuts.” He participated in Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) trainings to teach police officers how to handle people with mental illness, and performed numerous other presentations with the Wyandot Center.