On Oct. 15, Mariel Hemingway, Academy-Award nominated actress, best-selling author, mother of two and granddaughter of Ernest Hemingway, kicked off The Jefferson Series at The Jeanne B. McCoy Center with a discussion about her family’s legacy of mental illness.
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Courtesy of the New Albany Community Foundation
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Courtesy of the New Albany Community Foundation
From left to right: Mariel Hemingway, Dr. Julie Erwin Rinaldi of Syntero, Dr. David Axelson of Nationwide Children’s Hospital and Dr. John Campo of The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.
Her appearance onstage was followed by the announcement of the Mariel Hemingway Project, a program that aims to expand mental health care and support for students and the community of New Albany. The program is a collaborative effort between the New Albany Community Foundation, Healthy New Albany and New Albany Schools, with guidance from professionals at the Wexner Medical Center, Nationwide Children’s Hospital and Concord Counseling.
“The Foundation, through its donors and sponsors, wanted to remove the stigma surrounding mental health and suicide and begin a community dialogue. This inspired us to invite Mariel Hemingway to New Albany,” New Albany Community Foundation President Craig Mohre says in a written statement.
During her time in Columbus, Hemingway spoke about the importance of compassion and support for those struggling with mental illness with close to 1,000 high school students across the city. She also joined mental health professionals from Central Ohio in a discussion panel on the rising suicide rates of teenagers in the area.
Hemingway has become an outspoken advocate for mental health through her family’s struggles with mental illness, addiction and suicide. In 2013, she was featured in the documentary Running from Crazy, a look at her personal reflections on the Hemingway family’s tragedies. This year she has released two books, Out Came The Sun: Overcoming the Legacy of Mental Illness, Addiction, and Suicide in My Family and INVISIBLE GIRL, a novel for young adults.
