I began my ministry by being asked to officiate at a wedding of a high school friend and his fiancee, and I was honored but unable to attend due to illness. I did assist in getting an alternative friend ordained and able to officiate in my place.
From there I was already ordained and did some advocsacy on mental health and also on LGBTI issues. It was helpful having my Bachelor's degree in Religious Studies from a liberal arts college in Vermont. I have since studies at UMASS Boston and other universities especially Asian Religion, but also Judaism and the Bible.
While working as an on-call Day Treatment Co-ordinator, I officiated at memorial prayer services for mental health consumers and their providers. It was very rewarding work.
I later was a board member for M-POWER and the Transformation Center which brought Peer Specialists to Massachusetts to focus on Recovery-Based practices in mental health, by peer-led specialists.
Having left Massachusetts in 2006, I moved to the Poconos, Pennsylvania with my parents. There I remained involved in mental health advocacy sitting on the advisory board of the local department of mental health. I also spoke at trainings for the regional peer support and advocacy organizations and at local suicide prevention walks and so forth.
Having seen an online friend from Uganda, a fellow minister encounter discrimination and brutality, I volunteered to be the web designer for Saint Paul's Voice Centre of Uganda, a Human Rights Organization. I have still been doing that volunteer work until this day.
I have been involved politically and socially in social justice movements. I continue that advocacy when I feel called to do so.
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