Bernice Pescosolido and Sara Evans-Lacko Discuss Danish Program Taking On the Stigma of Mental Illness

Stock Photo of a small-group discussion. Adobe Stock

Irsay Director Bernice Pescosolido and Sara Evans-Lacko (Scientific Advisory Board Member) were quoted in a New York Times article (subscription required) discussing One of Us, a program run by Denmark’s health ministry that works with people with mental health conditions to share their stories in schools, police stations, and hospitals and other health centers.

Ambassadors from the initiative speak with a focus on their recovery, framing their accounts not around indictments about encountering discrimination, but around solutions, what they wish had happened instead. In so doing, they break stereotypes and change how the public sees mental illness.