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Kyleigh Leddy is a Boston College graduate with her master鈥檚 in social work from Columbia University. In 2019, she won after writing a piece about grieving her sister. She then wrote 鈥溾�� to shed light on mental health and schizophrenia.
Leddy studied clinical psychology in college and took a writing class for enjoyment. Her professor encouraged her to submit an essay about her sister to a New York Times contest and it changed her life overnight.
Suddenly, a private family story was going to be published for millions of readers, but Leddy knew that her sister鈥檚 story needed to be shared. The book focuses on their relationship, her sister鈥檚 mental health struggles, and eventual diagnosis of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. It also focuses on how to recover from grief and loss.
Leddy鈥檚 family had all the resources they needed at their fingertips to care for her sister. Her parents got her an apartment and she was able to get treatment. The family had the resources and without them, her sister would鈥檝e been homeless.
But what happens to people who have limited or no resources? Leddy worked in homeless shelters and group homes, and she鈥檚 seen people struggle with no support system. Many people don鈥檛 get the help they need because our society doesn鈥檛 prioritize support for people with mental illness.
When Leddy鈥檚 sister was a freshman in college, she fell off the stoop of a brownstone and her head hit the concrete. She was placed in a medically induced coma and spent time in intensive care. When she finally came to, she was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury (TBI), after which, she was never the same.
They don鈥檛 know how much of her sister鈥檚 struggle with mental health was influenced by her TBI, but it likely played a part. Traumatic brain injuries are another part of the mental health conversation that isn鈥檛 talked about enough. Leddy shares that at least 25% of people experiencing homelessness suffered from a TBI at some point.
[1:30] Why Kyleigh wrote her book.
[3:31] How the book helped Kyleigh鈥檚 family heal.
[5:57] Her sister鈥檚 rebellious personality.
[9:14] The meaning behind the title, 鈥淭he Perfect Other.鈥�
[11:28] The lack of mental health resources for marginalized groups.
[14:23] The efforts being made to do better as a society.
[15:46] Why we need to end the stigma of mental illness.
[18:46] The connection between head injuries and mental illness.
[23:20] How Kyleigh started writing her book.
Listen to the member-only bonus episode to learn why it鈥檚 important to reject stigmas associated with mental health and how Kyleigh approaches her advocacy work from a place of love.
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