Kristen Lee (SSW’00) Creates & Hosts New Comedy Show to Destigmatize Mental Health

Dr. Kristen Lee
Courtesy of Dr. Kristen Lee

Dr. Kristen Lee (SSW’00) has turned the idiom “laughter is the best medicine” into a new show that uses humor to address and destigmatize mental health. “Crackin’ Up with Dr. Kris” seeks to flip the mental health model in lieu of the pandemic’s corrosive effect on our minds and our society.

Humor is identified as an essential protective factor for resilience, and even though there’s much to grieve and be serious about, it can help create space for joy, healing, and recovery,” says Lee in a recent interview with Cision by PRWeb. “Now isn’t the time for hiding. We all are affected by mental health issues–whether ourselves or our loved ones. This is simple brain science, all of us responding to devastating circumstances, within broken and fraught systems, grieving the losses of critical aspects of our lives that are known to be protective towards our mental health. Gone are the days when this should be seen as a weakness or moral failing; we need to move from outdated framings of mental health condition to human condition.”

Event poster Crackin Up with Dr. Kris

The show will feature comedians Tooky Kavanagh and Emily Ruskowski, and will be hosted by Lee. Part of the comedy event proceeds will  benefit the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the nations’ largest grassroots mental health organization that supports all individuals and families affected by mental illness by providing advocacy, education, support and public awareness; and to the African American Knowledge Optimized for Mindfully Healthy Adolescents (AAKOMA) Project, focused on supporting youth of color and their families through racial justice and mental health access. In addition, the first 150 guests will receive a free copy of Lee’s latest book, Mentalligence: A New Psychology of Thinking–Learn What It Takes to be More Agile, Mindful, and Connected in Today’s World.

Get tickets for “Crackin’ Up with Dr. Kris” on Thursday, August 12 at 7:30pm

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