Jerk Brain is a master at leaving me feeling hopeless, exhausted, and disconnected from the world around me. Recovery is a challenging process, but the love and support of family and loved ones has made all the difference.
For many people, support from their family of origin may not be available. Instead, close friends (i.e., chosen family) may fill the gap. Family support can take many forms, including emotional support, practical help with daily tasks, and encouragement to seek professional treatment. Emotional support involves being present and available to listen to the someone’s thoughts and feelings, offering empathy and understanding, and providing a safe and non-judgmental space to express themselves.
Practical help can include assistance with household chores, grocery shopping, and meal preparation, which can be difficult for someone experiencing a major depressive episode. These tasks may seem small, but they can make a big difference in helping someone feel supported and cared for.
Encouragement to seek professional treatment is also crucial. Help the person struggling with depression find a qualified therapist or psychiatrist, schedule appointments, and provide transportation to appointments. Even these simple tasks can feel overwhelming in the midst of severe depression. Encouragement and support throughout the treatment process, which can be a long and challenging journey, can mean everything. We know it can often be frustrating or difficult to be around those of us living through major depression. The fact that you stick with us when we are at our worst means more than most of us will ever be able to express.
Research has shown that social support, including family support, can significantly improve recovery outcomes for individuals with major depressive disorder. A study published in the Journal of Affective Disorders found that social support was associated with improved symptom severity, quality of life, and functional impairment in individuals with major depressive disorder.
From history major, with side quests in Medieval Studies and chemical engineering, to nonprofit finance leader, Big 4 tax partner, technologist, researcher, and now co-founder of Divine, nothing about my career has been linear. The throughline has always been systems: financial systems, organizational systems, technological systems, and human systems. I have an MBA in Operations and Supply Chain Management and a PhD in Organizational Leadership Psychology, and I’ve spent my career trying to understand how complex systems shape people’s choices, opportunities, wellbeing, and sense of belonging. Today, my work sits at the intersection of psychology, technology, human-centered design, and digital trust. I am co-founder of Divine, an open-source, decentralized social video app built to put creativity back in human hands and replace doomscrolling with joyscrolling. Divine is part of a bigger question I care deeply about: how do we create online spaces that support safety, creativity, identity, and belonging without defaulting to surveillance, extraction, or control? At Divine, I wear a lot of hats across engineering, finance, operations, and strategy, while helping shape the app’s trust, safety, and values work. I focus especially on teen online safety, human-generated content, participatory design, and healthier relationships with technology. I am a postdoctoral alum of Vanderbilt University’s Department of Computer Science, where I worked with Dr. Pam Wisniewski’s Socio-Technical Interaction Research Lab. I continue to write, speak, and research at the intersection of online safety, digital trust, decentralized technology, and youth wellbeing. I was named a Distinguished Fellow at the Institute for Data Integrity in 2023. In 2025, I had the honor of serving as President of Division 13 of the American Psychological Association, the Society of Consulting Psychology. I also live with major depressive disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder. In 2020, I took a leave from PwC to focus on my mental wellness, and I now speak and write openly about mental health, especially in the workplace and in relation to digital wellbeing. This blog, Seriously Jerk Brain, chronicles much of that journey.
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1 Comment
This is a powerful post. So true. Thank you for making this point. I am living proof that family support can change the outcome.
Seriously, Jerk Brain?! 
This is a powerful post. So true. Thank you for making this point. I am living proof that family support can change the outcome.
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