Susan-Elizabeth Littlefield loves sharing the good news. She hosts a show on Sunday mornings based on local "positivity and empowerment," leading right into CBS Sunday Morning.
It's a subject you hear about all the time these days, but not that long ago, mental health was rarely a public conversation.
One in five adults experiences mental illness and 1 in 20 adults has a serious mental illness. At least 17% of kids and teens have a mental health disorder, too.
Those are numbers Sue Abderholden, soon-to-be-retired executive director of National Alliance of Mental Illness (NAMI) Minnesota, wasn't afraid to share even when others were.
Abderholden was in college when she faced the subject that would guide her way.
"My first roommate in college had a suicide attempt, and then, of course, dropped out of school, so I had my own room for my first year in college," she said. "So it had been '72 and, yeah, no one really talked about mental illness back then at all. After college, I worked at a group home for kids with multiple disabilities who otherwise would have been in the institutions. And so I visited the institutions, and they were horrible."
Aberholden explains what drew her to this population.
"I think part of it was seeing what was underneath. And you know that there, you know that they were people, right, that they had interests and stories that went far beyond just a mental illness," she said. "I remember playing pool, you know, with some of the guys. I always let them win. I wasn’t that good anyway, but, you know, just wanting to have them win at something; I thought was important. But a lot of them had, frankly, amazing stories about their lives; so really trying to see them, and not just their illness."
Aberholden says she gets frustrated when others don't see people with mental health problems the way she does. She turned that frustration into action, taking the helm of what was a shoestring operation for Minnesota's NAMI office.
"When I came in 2001, even at the legislature, people didn't talk a lot about mental illness or mental health," Aberholden said. "People weren't sharing their stories. And now it's not uncommon, even in a legislative hearing, for someone to say, 'I have a family member.' Right? From a legislator saying this. So I think there's much greater awareness. People are much more willing to talk about it. Think about even things like actors and athletes, right? People are talking about it, which is just so critically important."
She's been part of many changes. NAMI went from two employees to 37, and the Capitol has become her second home. Aberholden has championed laws requiring mental health training for teachers, secured mental health screenings for people entering jails, expanded crisis and early intervention services, expanded the diversity of the workforce and pushed through a law for women with postpartum depression.
"Sue, in a classic Sue Alderholden way, listened to these families who were grieving and together they worked on legislation for postpartum education law," Dr. Helen Kim, director of Red Leaf Center for Family Healing at HCMC, said.
Kim says Aberholden's work has supported hers.
"That postpartum depression law is just one example of the work Sue has done in Minnesota," she said. "She has met me in the parking lot to hand off gifts for our mother baby program into work in the legislature, talking to senators and leaders. She does every level of service and she does it with such deep humility."
Aberholden is retiring her title, but not her drive.
"I just decided I wouldn't make any decisions for the first three months, and just frankly, really sleep, relax, go to exercise classes. I mean, do those kinds of things and then decide what's my next chapter," Aberholden said.
When asked her reflection on how far mental health has come, she said, "It has come a long way. We have a long way to go, but it has come a long way."
"I had a wonderful mentor back when I was at ARC in the '80s, and she said,'When you look ahead and see how much work you need to do,you need to look behind you and see how far you'vecome.'And I have kept those words all these years,because we have come a long way more to do,but we have come a long way,"Aberholden added.
As she tears down the accolades that cover her walls, Aberholden's work will stand firm.
"Sue has saved lives;clearly saved lives;so we are,in Minnesota;indebted to her,"Kim said.
Aberholden retires on Oct. 15 and hopes to take lots of pilates classes and spend some time in Europe.