Leah Harris

Leah Harris (she/they) is a writer, consultant, and facilitator who has spent the last twenty-five years using her lived experience to fight for meaningful change in mental health care, primarily in the United States. Leah has worked with Institute for the Development of Human Arts, the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors, VOCAL Virginia, the Mental Health Association of San Francisco, and others to develop and adapt training curricula on topics including trauma-informed approaches, peer support, suicide care, worker burnout, disability rights, and overdose prevention. She has been a guest lecturer and speaker at numerous universities including Harvard, Georgetown, the University of Pennsylvania, and Marquette University Law School. Leah has consulted on research with the Mental Health Research Network, PCORI, UMass, and others. Leah is a voice-hearer and board member of the Hearing Voices Network USA and is a certified Hearing Voices group facilitator; she also serves as a board member of Project LETS and Arm & Arm. She is also a freelance journalist whose work has appeared in publications including Mad in America, The Progressive Magazine, Rooted in Rights, and Truthout. Leah's story and advocacy are featured in the 2017 documentary, The S Word. She lives in the Washington, DC area.