Linda has been an advocate for reform in public policy, law, insurance and treatment protocols for people living with serious neurobiological brain disorders for over 12 years. She began her career as a lobbyist on Capitol Hill for Xerox Corporation, moved on to working for the U.S. State Department in Boston, and then as U.S. Senator Alan J. Dixon’s Government Affairs/Legislative Analyst Assistant in Chicago and Washington, D.C. As the creator and manager of the Public Relations and Employee Communications Department for Quill Corporation, Linda authored and edited seven informational books and manuals on business productivity, with over 100 articles and business tips published nationally in newspapers, magazines, newsletters and catalogs. She has been a featured speaker at several national meetings, including the Capitol Hill Briefing on “People With Schizophrenia Face Severe Treatment Barriers: Regulatory, Policy Solutions Urgently Needed To Address Inequity”, May 2023, the Public Policy Panel at the Schizophrenia & Psychosis Action Alliance 2020 symposium, The Hill 2021 national event “The New Role of Telehealth” and Center Forward’s 2022 Capitol Hill Healthcare Summit. She was the keynote speaker for the 2024 Wisconsin State NAMI Convention. She currently serves on the CARE Act Ad Hoc Committee on Training, Technical Assistance & Communications. Linda’s podcasts, commentaries and editorials addressing the current lack of the continuum of care and criminalization of those with serious brain disorders, one of the greatest injustices of our time, have been published nationally, statewide and locally. Linda earned an M.A. in Public Policy from Duke University and a B.A. in Anthropology from Lawrence University. She was Vice Chair of the Schizophrenia & Psychosis Action Alliance from 2020-2024, a member of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), the California Coalition for CARE/Grave Disability Workgroup, and the National Shattering Silence Coalition (NSSC). She serves on Lawrence University’s President’s Advisory Council. In 2020 she established the Lawrence Fund for Serious Mental Illness Advocacy Internships to give students the opportunity to learn about serious brain diseases, their criminalization and how to build solutions for better access to medical treatment with supportive care and housing.