With over 25 years of field experience documenting true stories at the intersection of public health and advocacy, Brighid O'Shaughnessy, LSW, is the brain child and author behind this text and the larger initiative as a whole.
Brighid holds an M.A. from DePaul University, and MSW from the University of Chicago with a concentration in complex trauma and holds a certificate in Restorative Justice in Education from Eastern Mennonite University. She is also currently in a doctoral program in Social Work through Simmons University.
Brighid was the Founder and Long time Artistic Director of Erasing the Distance, a beloved Chicago non-profit using documentary theatre to spark awareness about mental health. She reached over 55,000 people with live performances around the United States and collaborated closely with such institutions as The Chicago School of Professional Psychology. She has gone on to create theatrical pieces about other topics including women's health and aging and the impacts of racism and segregation with MacArthur Fellow Tonika Lewis Johnson and her internationally regarded Folded Map Project.
She now turns her focus to adoption. As an adoptive mother, she is fiercely passionate about better supporting all members of the adoption constellation and reimagining the system of adoption itself using true stories, neuroscience based research and cross-disciplinary collaboration.
For her more comprehensive resume, click here.
