Jared Worwood

Mental health became a key issue in Jared’s life when, in 2002, his family adopted a little boy. Due to child abuse in his previous home, Jared’s brother struggled with a variety of mental health problems, sexual reactivity being chief among them. Because of his little brother, Jared not only learned about the scarcity of treatment available for children with issues of sexual health, but also the stigma surrounding mental health in general that create barriers for those with mental illness and their families. In his own research in the field of communication, he studies how individuals experience seemingly contradictory values and discourses from within their own families and the personal, relational, and health implications thereof. This fall, he will be attending Illinois State University’s master’s program in Communication.

At the Global Mental Health Programs, Jared worked with Dr. Annika Sweetland, developing an online course on interpersonal counseling (IPC). Toward this end, Jared created drafts of course modules, designed sample quiz formats, and aided in interviews with professionals in the field of interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT). This online course, meant to train health care workers in Brazil, is one important step in increasing the accessibility of mental health services throughout the country.