Meet the Model Who Wants to Change the Way We Talk About Mental Illness
Mackenzie Drazan may be known in fashion circles for her work on the runways of brands like Louis Vuitton and Chanel, but her most prominent campaign is her own: advocating for mental health. “One in five Americans are going to experience mental illness at some point in their lives,” Drazan explains over the phone from San Francisco. “People want to talk about it, it’s just they don’t know how to.” She started the nonprofit TEAM in 2014 after losing her sister Shelby to suicide, creating an online space where those whose family members and friends struggled with mental illness could access tools to help their loved ones. “When my sister was struggling, I wanted to help so badly, but for the longest time I didn’t say anything because I was so scared to say the wrong thing,” says Drazan. “That was the inspiration. I wanted to go back [because] there are things I wish I could have told myself that unfortunately finally clicked after Shelby passed away. It’s a pocket guide to help you understand how you can be supportive.”
Drazan’s new project, Champions of Science: Art of Ending Stigma, takes the concept one step further. The website partners with organizations like Mental Health America and arts foundation PeaceLove to provide both scientific information on the biological factors behind mental illness, and a platform where users can share artwork. By using creativity as the entry point—users can post poems, videos, photographs, and drawings—Drazan hopes the site will become a space where mental health can be discussed freely and without judgment. “Art allows us to communicate about a topic that is kind of tricky in a way that makes it accessible to everybody,” she says. “Ultimately, it doesn’t matter what form of expression it is—the beauty of this project is that people are sitting down and in creating this work.”
Since its launch at the start of the month, the site has already received hundreds of submissions and an outpouring of support, a fact that makes Drazan hopeful for the future. “So far we’ve had really positive reaction to this,” she says. “It’s exciting because it really lays the groundwork for amazing things to come.” Her goal of ending stigma, of course, means plenty of work still ahead. “I want to get to the point where we talk about mental health the way we talk about our physical health. We spend 5 minutes to brush our teeth, but what do we do daily for our minds?” she says. “Recent events have shown us that this is truly an equal opportunity issue. You can seemingly have it all and still be struggling, which just highlights the importance of starting these conversations.”
