Hi, my name is Maddie.
I am a mental health advocate, writer, and currently in graduate school to become a Clinical Mental Health Counselor. I am passionate about advocacy and how I can utilize my story to combat the stigma associated with suicide and mental health. Writing and sharing my story has been one of the most profound experiences of healing and learning to understand myself and others better. I shared my first blog in 2018 and was met with incredible support from my family, friends, and even strangers. Since then I have had incredible opportunities working in the mental health industry and have grown so much in practically every aspect of my life. However, it has also been pretty challenging at times and has taken a tremendous amount of self reflection and work within myself and my relationships.
My passion for working in mental health began quickly after my mom founded and to this day runs a nonprofit called i understand. i understand works to eliminate the stigma around suicide and mental health by providing accessible resources through community, statewide, and national, events and media campaigns. One of i understand’s most prominent goals is to change the definition of suicide in the dictionary from, “the intentional taking of one’s life and/ or the act or an instance of taking one’s own life voluntarily and intentionally,” to, “a side effect of a mental/brain health illness or pain and/ or the result of wanting one’s physical or emotional pain to end.” One of the first shifts our society needs to address is how we communicate and the specific words we use when we discuss suicide and/ or mental health. My hope is to bring understanding to the disruptive, triggering and harmful dialogue around these topics. I am appreciative to my mom and i understand for laying the foundation of my beliefs, allowing me to express myself vulnerably and authentically, while giving me a platform to do so.
I graduated from Lake Forest College in 2020, during the height of the pandemic. I felt intimidated and confused as I tried to navigate life in the confines of my home as a soon-to-be post-college graduate. After working as a lasagna chef at a local Italian restaurant, to being a nanny, and then a host at a hot dog joint, I received a job at an addiction treatment center as a Resident Supervisor. This began my journey as a direct care professional at various mental health treatment centers, from Grand Rapids, Michigan to Salt Lake City, Utah. Working in direct care was emotional and physically draining, but this experience created an incredible foundation to continue to grow and learn new skills within this industry. Above all, I truly valued getting to know people beyond their diagnosis and helping them understand themselves and their journeys a bit better.
For the past two and a half years, I have worked in the Admissions department for different mental health treatment centers. I have worn the title Admissions and Operations Coordinator and Admissions and Outreach Assistant. My passion for this field grew even more as I received first hand experience managing every logistic of client enrollment through multiple different programs. As well as tracking, receiving, and managing all client and employee files. I have also assisted different companies in strengthening their marketing strategies and consulting with supervisors to maximize the facilities outreach. However, my favorite aspect of these positions have been the gratitude and the trust I have received from the families I have worked with.
My goal has always been to work in the mental health industry, however there has been countless different obstacles and challenges I had to hurdle in order to get to where I am now. Through each job and opportunity I have had, I have been pleasantly surprised to find that I have yet to receive the desired outcome of those experiences. Although this has been hard at times, I know that each stepping stone is bringing me to exactly where I need to be. I am immensely proud of who I am, what I have accomplished so far, and I am thrilled to continue to challenge myself and grow.
Woodrick Writes 