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A Passion To Serve

David Bartley is known as a dynamic speaker, storyteller, and trainer. With real-life anecdotes that evoke laughter and tears, David informs and captivates audiences. Along the way, David provides insights that enable listeners to see mental illness from a different point of view; a fresh perspective that creates an opening for mental wellness for those who suffer, their family, friends, and members of the community where they live, work and fellowship.

Through keynote and other group presentations, interactive workshops, and specialized training programs and seminars, David helps unravel the myths and flat-out lies surrounding mental illness. Once laid to rest, David substitutes fiction with truth and reality, and then equips audiences with tools and resources that lead to greater understanding.

David’s goal for each speech and workshop is the same: to shed light on the issue of mental illness, teach others how to create hope, and open doors to the possibility of mental health for all.

From Isolation to Inclusion

Like all people, David’s life experiences have shaped who he is. Some of these have been heartbreakingly bad, while others have been positively amazing.

David has endured the early death of a parent, inherited the genetics of depression, suffered repeated sexual trauma at the hands of a trusted community leader, come face to face with the monster known as PTSD, and battled crippling depression for more than 40 years.

But in the six plus years since David was stopped from jumping to his death from the 730-foot-tall Foresthill Bridge, and his subsequent admittance into a psychiatric hospital, David has successfully navigated from the isolation of mental “hellness” to the inclusive space of mental wellness.  

Along the way, David has learned how to manage his condition with a host of supportive measures that are centered around the notion of Whole Person Care (WPC). This is an approach to wellness that believes the best way to care for people with complex needs is to consider their full spectrum of essentials—physical, psychological, social, and spiritual—in a coordinated and integrated way.

David has made this model of care the centerpiece of his life. As he puts it, “I have put my self-care on a pedestal, and that’s where it will stay!”

David knows what it’s like to feel disconnected, isolated, and hopeless, to be standing on the very edge of death. But, David has come to experience the feelings of connection, inclusion, and hope, of being anchored in a safe harbor of life.

Because of this, David believes it is possible for people to travel from the place where a soul is left to perish, to a place where a soul can flourish.

David has made that journey and wants to help as many others as he possibly can, not just the person who suffers, but all those around them. David's commitment is to help ease the burden of both, and in doing so, point the way from isolation to connection, from despair to hope.  

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“From the beginning, it was clear you truly cared about every person in attendance, and your inclusive speaking style immediately grabbed our interest and attention. You invited us to look at mental illness and recov (7).png

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“From the beginning, it was clear you truly cared about every person in attendance, and your inclusive speaking style immediately grabbed our interest and attention. You invited us to look at mental illness and recov (15).png
“From the beginning, it was clear you truly cared about every person in attendance, and your inclusive speaking style immediately grabbed our interest and attention. You invited us to look at mental illness and recov (18).png
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“From the beginning, it was clear you truly cared about every person in attendance, and your inclusive speaking style immediately grabbed our interest and attention. You invited us to look at mental illness and recov (24).png
“From the beginning, it was clear you truly cared about every person in attendance, and your inclusive speaking style immediately grabbed our interest and attention. You invited us to look at mental illness and recov (19).png
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Currently, David is a member of the Placer County Mental Health Drug and Alcohol Advisory Board (MHADAB). David also sits on the Board of Directors for the local chapter of the Depression Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA), and Bread of Life, a community-benefit educational non-profit.

David is a member of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the International Association for Youth Mental Health, the National Storytelling Network’s Healing Story Alliance, and the Stability Network.

David holds certifications in:

  • Mental Health First Aid for Adults

  • Mental Health First Aid for Youth

  • QPR (Question, Persuade and Refer)

  • SafeTALK (Suicide Awareness for Everyone)

David has given more than 200 presentations across the country to

  • Students at the elementary, middle, high school and college grade levels.

  • Executives, managers, and employees at small and large companies.

  • Numerous law enforcement agencies and community organizations.

  • Government agencies, including the FDA and the California DHCS.

  • Congregations of diverse faiths.

David is proud to be a member of The Stability Network. Comprised of leaders who are living proof you can thrive with a mental health condition, its mission is to change the culture of silence, shame, isolation and discrimination by openly sharing their stories and lived experience.