Earl Miller, certified peer specialist

Director of community supports at the nonprofit Wildflower Alliance, director at the Mental Health Association

Was repeatedly hospitalized for psychosis in his teens; recovered; has been off medication since 2014 (there is no publicly available information about his diagnosis).

He started hearing a voice in his head at the age of 13, spent a majority of his early adolescence in hospitals, experienced homelessness, was suicidal. After his recovery, he held leadership positions with, among others, Massachusetts Department of Mental Health and the Town ofAmherst, and was a speaker at an event hosted by the U.S. Department of Justice. Currently, he is a member of the board of directors of the Mental Health Association and the director of community supports at Wildflower Alliance. A turning point for him was the birth of his son. In his own words, “So much of my life getting better was about him, getting outside myself. The reason I didn’t kill myself back then was about him.” He describes experiences of Black men that compel them to be especially secretive about their mental health conditions. People of any race and gender with a history of psychosis and/or a psychiatric diagnosis suffer from stigma and discrimination, but the risk for Black men is the greatest and is “like living at gunpoint.” He advocates for racial and disability justice and for removing police from the mental health crisis response.

Web page: http://www.narpa.org/bios/miller