Kelly Wofford is a veteran community engagement professional in the field of health care. This past March, after five years as director of community relations at Erie County Medical Center, a major teaching hospital and Level 1 Trauma Center on Buffalo’s East Side, Wofford joined the University at Buffalo School of Nursing. There she works as community engagement coordinator in research efforts looking at how a mindfulness-based stress reduction intervention can best be delivered in marginalized communities.

Her passion is supporting mental health, especially for people of color and women. She does that as a speaker, minister, and popular podcaster, and through peer-based workshops she facilitates as founder and principal of Front Seat Life, LLC. She is a certified provider of mental health first aid, mindfulness life coaching, and mental health peer support.

To all this work Wofford brings extraordinary candor about her own experience of mental illness—including a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder and a suicide attempt—and about the practices she maintains to keep herself healthy.

Read the full article about mental health at Local Initiatives Support Corporation.