Taking the mic for mental health

Nonprofit seeks to help people with mental illness

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Last August, Kym Lebak was sitting in the audience at Glitterbox Theater in Bloomfield, watching quietly as someone else performed her story. She had written “Beautifully Broken Girl” a month earlier after the two-year anniversary of her diagnoses with two chronic illnesses.

Ms. Lebak, 30, of Ross, had submitted the piece to be performed anonymously by a volunteer at an event called Anonymous Open Mic.

“I didn’t know the volunteer at all, but she performed my piece perfectly with her intonation and speech,” she recounted. Still, there was something missing: her own voice.

In June, at another Anonym o u s Open Mic at the Millvale Community Library, Ms. Lebak performed an update, “Beautifully Broken Girl — One Year Later,” herself.

The Anonymous Open Mic, now in its fourth iteration, is hosted by Inside Our Minds, a Pittsburgh-based nonprofit whose goal is to elevate the voices of those who have experienced mental illness in their lives.

“When you feel so helpless and you feel that no one is listening to you, the act of telling your story and empowering your voice makes you feel like you actually belong in the world,” said Alyssa Cypher, the founder and executive director of Inside Our Minds.

Ms. Lebak’s performance blended poetry and metaphor into an embrace of human imperfection, offering a powerful message of self-acceptance. In many ways, Ms. Lebak’s story encapsulates what the Anonymous Open Mic series is about.

The event offers a space for those who have experienced mental illness to reclaim their own narratives, openly and uncensored. Oftentimes, recovery narratives with “triumphant endings” overshadow the stories of those who have experiences with mental illness that may not fit an inspirational mold, said Ms. Cypher.

Inside Our Minds is run completely by a small team of volunteers, all of whom have had experiences with mental illness themselves.

When Ms. Lebak was first diagnosed in 2016, she felt alone and invisible. “I remember I didn’t want to be a burden for anyone or waste their time,” she said. Eventually, with the support of an aunt who had gone through a similar experience, she found her voice and decided to use it as an outlet to encourage others.

But she wanted to show that recovery isn’t always a simple linear narrative. Ms. Lebak spoke about the time between her performances, when she had lost a job she loved and her boyfriend had experienced a health scare.

“In performing the update