PEOPLE Teams Up With Bring Change To Mind For Mental Health Awareness Month Video Series Featuring Glenn Close, Billy Porter, Don Lemon, Jordin Sparks And More

NEW YORK, May 12, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Meredith Corporation's PEOPLE and its Let's Talk About It Mental Health Initiative is partnering with actor and advocate Glenn Close and her non-profit organization, Bring Change to Mind, in an effort to destigmatize mental illness. A four-part virtual panel discussion series on mental health and young people through the lens of masculinity, race, LGBTQIA, and digital life, Conversations with Bring Change to Mind in Partnership with PEOPLE, will be moderated by PEOPLE's editor in chief, Dan Wakeford; PEOPLE Every Day podcast host, Janine Rubenstein; filmmaker, co-founder of Wayfarer Studios, and author of the new book, Man Enough: Undefining My Masculinity, Justin Baldoni; and critically acclaimed actor and star of HAMILTON, Javier Muñoz, during Mental Health Awareness Month and will stream from May 24-27 on PEOPLE.com, PEOPLE's YouTube, Twitter and PeopleTV's social channels, as well as on BringChange2Mind.org.

Glenn Close, her sister Jessie Close and nephew Calen Pick are featured in the 5.24.21 issue of PEOPLE (on newsstands Friday, May 14), where they talk about the experiences they faced when Jessie was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and Calen with schizoaffective disorder. This inspired the family to become mental health advocates. "You can't solve problems unless you start talking about them and not whispering," Close said. "That changes everything."  

Schedule (subject to change):

• MEN and MENTAL HEALTH (May 24) – Moderated by Justin Baldoni with panelists Billy Porter (Emmy, GRAMMY, and Tony winner), Matt McGorry (actor/activist/feminist dedicated to racial justice and gender equality), and Bring Change to Mind ambassadors Solomon Thomas (Las Vegas Raiders' defensive tackle), and Chase Stokes (actor/activist).
   
• LGBTQIA and MENTAL HEALTH (May 25) – Moderated by Dan Wakeford with panelists Roxane Gay (writer), Alec Mapa (actor/comedian/writer), Gigi Gorgeous (author/advocate/content creator), and Wilson Cruz (actor/activist, he/him/his).
   
• RACE and MENTAL HEALTH (May 26) – Moderated by Javier Muñoz with panelists Don Lemon (CNN anchor/author of This Is the Fire), Matt James (TV personality/entrepreneur), MJ Rodriguez (actor/singer/activist), and MILCK (musician/writer/advocate).
   
• DIGITAL LIFE and MENTAL HEALTH (May 27) – Moderated by Janine Rubenstein with panelists Bethany Mota (founder, Atom&Matter, author/content creator), Jordin Sparks (multiplatinum recording artist/actress), Alyson Stoner (actress/activist/entrepreneur) and TikTok stars Ian Paget/Chris Olsen (synonymous with the platform and recently nominated for the first-ever TikTok x GLAAD Queer Advocate of the Year).

Panel discussions are generously sponsored by Talkspace and Pair of Thieves.

Bring Change to Mind recently celebrated its 10^th anniversary with a special that aired on PeopleTV featuring John Mayer, Will Smith, Whoopi Goldberg, Alanis Morissette, Conan O'Brien, and many others.  PEOPLE's Let's Talk About It Mental Health Initiative encourages readers to have vital conversations. It has been recognized with an Erasing the Stigma Award by Didi Hirsh Mental Health Services, a nonprofit providing mental health, substance abuse, and suicide prevention services. PEOPLE's partnership with the Crisis Text Line has also helped hundreds in their time of need.

"Almost all of us know or love someone affected by mental illness or have dealt with it ourselves," said Wakeford. "Bring Change to Mind and PEOPLE's Let's Talk About It initiative share a common goal: to destigmatize this sensitive topic, to provide resources about where to get help, and to offer support to help anyone in need."

"Bring Change to Mind is honored to renew its partnership with PEOPLE on this May discussion series.  Every opportunity to share authentic and vulnerable conversations about emotional health is a chance to save a life. Start a conversation and change someone's life," said Pamela Harrington, Executive Director, Bring Change to Mind. 

ABOUT PEOPLE
Meredith Corporation's PEOPLE revolutionized personality journalism when it launched as a weekly in 1974 with a mission to celebrate extraordinary people doing ordinary things and ordinary people doing extraordinary things.  Ubiquitous and still at the center of pop culture more than 47 years later, the PEOPLE brand is accessible across all media and platforms (print, digital, video, OTT, mobile, social) bringing more than 100 million consumers a unique mix of breaking entertainment news, exclusive photos, video, unparalleled access to the red carpet, celebrities, and in-depth reporting on the most compelling newsmakers of our time. An essential component of PEOPLE's editorial vision remains human interest stories, which touch and often mirror the lives of our passionate audience. ComScore ranks the PEOPLE/Entertainment Weekly Digital Network No. 1 in the entertainment news category. PeopleTV, the advertiser-supported OTT streaming service from PEOPLE and Entertainment Weekly that launched in 2016, features original series and specials focusing on celebrity, red carpet, pop culture, lifestyle and human-interest stories. PEOPLE (the TV Show!), a daily syndicated entertainment program, launched in Sept. 2020, and PEOPLE Every Day, a daily podcast produced in associated with iHeartMedia, launched in Feb. 2021. PEOPLE is an award-winning 24/7 news organization headquartered in NYC with reporters worldwide. For more information visit PEOPLE.com and follow @people on Twitter and Instagram, @peoplemag on Facebook, and the PEOPLE channel on YouTube and on Snapchat's Discover.

ABOUT BRING CHANGE TO MIND
Bring Change to Mind (BC2M) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to encouraging dialogue about mental health and to raising awareness, understanding, and empathy.  Actor and advocate Glenn Close co-founded Bring Change to Mind in 2010 after her sister, Jessie Close, was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and her nephew, Calen Pick, with schizoaffective disorder. BC2M was founded ten years ago with the mission to end the stigma and discrimination that surrounds mental illness, advocating for equality, inclusion, and diversity across all issues; race, sexual orientation, gender identity, and ability. Its work has become even more vital as the organization helps teens navigate mental health challenges during the recent COVID-19 pandemic and a reckoning with racial injustice throughout our country. Every individual who speaks out inspires another. And another. That's how we will end the stigma and discrimination around mental illness. That's how we will Bring Change to Mind. For more information: https://bringchange2mind.org/.

SOURCE PEOPLE