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Stigma Fighters is an organization dedicated to spreading awareness about mental health issues in high schools and colleges around the United States
Stigma Fighters began as a blog series where people shared 1000-word essays about living with a variety of mental illnesses. The organization was founded by Psychology Today and Huffington Post Blogger, Sarah Fader. The basis of the program focuses on the invaluable benefits of sharing one’s story.
Stigma Fighters has been featured in Women’s Health Magazine, Psychology Today, The Huffington Post, Good Day New York, and most recently, on the cover of The Washington Post. Contributors to Stigma Fighters include ESPN Journalist Keith Law, Once Upon a Time Actor Michael Coleman, as well as people from around the world including the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, and Canada.
For further information or to bring Stigma Fighters to your community for speaking events, CONTACT US.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
SARAH FADER | CO-FOUNDER
A former member of the Board of Directors (now Board of Trustees), Sarah Fader is the Co-Founder of Stigma Fighters, a campaign platform that encourages individuals with mental illness to share their personal stories. She is an author and blogger, having been featured on Psychology Today, The Huffington Post, HuffPost Live, and Good Day New York.
Sarah is a native New Yorker who enjoys naps, talking to strangers, and caring for her two small humans and two average-sized cats. Like six million other Americans, Sarah lives with panic disorder. Through Stigma Fighters, Sarah hoped to change the world, one mental health stigma at a time.
Find out more about Sarah at SarahFader.com
ALLIE BURKE | CEO, CO-FOUNDER & CHAIR OF THE BOARD
Allie Burke is an author and journalist. she has written five novels and has been featured in VICE, The Washington Post, Women’s Health, GOOD, Psychology Today, and Refinery29.
Allie Burke worked hard to turn Sarah Fader’s blog into a nonprofit organization. She is also the founder and chair of ENABLE, a corporate resource group focused on disability.
She loves anime, lofi, her cats, and pineapples.
She currently lives in Long Beach. Allie blogs at https://transcendariemanuscript.com.
SARAH COMERFORD | VP & ASSISTANT CHAIR OF THE BOARD
Sarah Comerford is an interpreter, educator, and advocate living in Salem, Oregon. When not working, writing, or chasing her children through the park, she is likely found curled up with a book and relishing the silence. You can find her on Twitter @salem_sarah_c
KATIE WALSH | SOCIAL MEDIA DIRECTOR
Katie Elizabeth is a disabled, chronically ill activist with a life-long love of theatre. She is controlled by three cats and one coffee maker. She has received her 200 Yoga Alliance certification with specialties in trauma-informed and traumatic brain injury practices. Katie works in book editing and marketing. Along with being on the Stigma Fighters board, she sits on the National Council on Independent Living subcommittee for mental health. Her book, Untranslatable, came out in 2019 and she has bylines at Medium, The Good Men Project, Stigma Fighters, and Juniper Unltd.
STEPHANIE TRZYNA | ADMINISTRATOR
Stephanie Trzyna has struggled with chronic Depression since as long as she can remember with Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Postpartum Depression, Postpartum Anxiety and PTSD visiting at times in her life.
By day she is an architectural project manager, by night, a true crime addict. She is a wife and mother to one beautiful teenaged daughter, two cats, and a very cute puppy.
You can read about her struggles with her mental health on her blog, spaigewrites.com. She published her first novel, Rising From The Ashes, in 2018 with a republish in 2020. Also included in Stephanie’s resume, are her contributions to the book A Dark Secret, and Stigma Fighters Anthologies 2, 3, & 4. Other work can be found on stigmafighters.com and The Mighty.