Source: Radio One Digital / Radio One Digital
When it comes to speaking out and up for Mental Health issues Fonda Bryant is the person you want in your corner. She is a true advocate dedicated to educating anyone in her path. She speaks passionately and from the heart about mental health issues from first-hand experience and is not ashamed because someone identified her struggle 25 years ago. She has a story that needs to be heard. She tells it in a way that is not only motivational and inspiring but helps people to open up about their own struggles and realize, they aren’t alone.
Fonda is serving her second term on the state board of NAMI ( National Alliance on Mental Illness) NC, is a volunteer with the AFSP (American Foundation for Suicide Prevention), and MHA (Mental Health America) of Central Carolinas. She is a certified Mental Health First Aid Instructor for Youth and a certified QPR (Question Persuade Refer) Suicide Prevention Instructor. She also has several published articles on Mental Health with NAMI National, “You Can’t Pray Away a Mental Health Condition,” which is one of NAMI’s most popular blogs to date, as well for the International Parking and Mobility Institute about getting her Suicide Prevention signs in parking decks across the country. She spearheaded getting the ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference) on board to have an annual Mental Health summit to bring student/athletes together with coaches to understand and find better ways of helping them cope with the pressures of being a student/athlete as well as getting WSOC TV onboard to do ongoing shows on mental health and suicide prevention called, “Charlotte’s Hidden Crisis.” She filmed a mental health documentary on Depression with Silent Images and worked with the NC Justice Academy putting her story and ideas on film to help better train police officers across the state on NC when they come into contact with a person in a mental health crisis part of their BLET (Basic Law Enforcement Training). She has received the CIT (Crisis Intervention Team) Community Advocate Award, The Let’s Talk About It Peer Support Award, among others.
Fonda is well known for being a frequent guest speaker on numerous local radio and television shows such as Good Day Charlotte, Spectrum News, Bounce TV, WCNC, WCCB, Family Focus/WSOC, Radio One with Ron Holland and Community Focus with Linda Silver on iHeart Radio, along with numerous podcasts. She has gotten parking decks across the Charlotte area and starting to spread across the US to put up her Suicide Prevention signs to save lives. She has been featured for her work getting Suicide Prevention signs in the Washington Post and the Boston Herald. She has quickly become the “Face in Charlotte on Mental Health and Suicide Prevention.”
Whether on television, in the newspaper or radio, her passion for mental health and suicide prevention knows no boundaries.
