Susan Bergeson brings over 30 years of senior level experience in the mental health fields to the OPEN MINDS team. Ms. Bergeson currently serves as a Senior Associate, leading projects related to developing strategic plans, mental and behavioral health knowledge, program development and marketing strategy.

Prior to joining OPEN MINDS, Ms. Bergeson served as the Principal and Owner of Recovery, Resiliency, Empowerment and Activation Partners, LLC. In this role, Ms. Bergeson was responsible for assisting clients with various projects and initiatives in the behavioral health field. Client projects include a Managed Care Use of Peer Services survey and dissemination products, RFP writing, and developing patient activation and shared decision-making tools.

Before creating her own consulting group, Ms. Bergeson was the Vice President of Consumer Affairs for United Health Care. This position was responsible for the enabling of system contracting with innovative community care resources, including peer and family provider groups and services. Ms. Bergeson was also responsible for building an intensive peer support model for individuals with 10 plus hospitalizations a year, averaging savings of over $110,000 per participant.

Prior to United Health Care, Ms. Bergeson was the President and Chief Executive Officer of Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance. Ms. Bergeson was responsible for building product lines and implementing marketing strategies that brought DBSA’s audience from 600,000+ per year to over five million per year in the course of 7 years. She was also responsible for boosting media impressions from one million to 1.62 billion impressions and revamping the corporate website to attract 90 million visitors over 50,000 in the same time span. Finally, Ms. Bergeson was key in representing the consumer perspective within national meetings to policymakers, providers, funders, legislators, and within systems.

Ms. Bergeson has earned several awards for her actions and work in the mental health field including the 2016 Timothy Coakley Award from the College of Behavioral Health Leadership, the Clifford Beers Award from Mental Health America in 2015, the Copland Center Leadership Award in 2014, the 2012 Leadership Award from the International Association of Peer Specialists, and the 2010 Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association President’s Award. Ms. Bergeson earned her Master of Business Administration in Organizational Development from Aurora University in Aurora, Illinois.