Kristin has a bachelor’s degree in mass communications from the Ohio State University. She spent several years in health care sales and marketing and was then transferred to Colorado, a dream of hers since childhood. Once in Colorado, she became a ski bum and left corporate America to become a professional ski patroller/EMT, and obtained an explosives permit for avalanche control. She began a new life after a diagnosis of and recovery from bipolar disorder and moved to California to work for NAMI Santa Clara County. Kristin is now the Associate Program Director for NAMI Colorado and strives to bring advocacy into her work daily. She is an IOOV speaker, Connections Facilitator, Peer to Peer Leader, and enjoys speaking at Crisis Intervention Team trainings for police and security officers. She is bringing NAMI programs into the criminal justice system where mental health education and support are often lacking. Kristin loves to travel, is an avid scuba diver and enjoys her first love which is skiing in beautiful Colorado.
Kristin wholeheartedly identifies with her favorite quote by Rick Warren of Saddleback church: “Your greatest ministry will come from your deepest pain”.