Michigan State University psychology graduate student Anna Benedict has been named to the University of Notre Dame's 2025 Domer Dozen, a prestigious recognition that honors outstanding young alumni for their significant contributions to learning, service, faith, and work.
The recognition celebrates Benedict's work to fight mental health stigma through the power of storytelling. As a graduate student at MSU, she is researching narrative identity and resilience in people with serious mental illness, particularly psychosis. Her innovative Our Stories Project has educated future healthcare leaders, built allyship with and empowered vulnerable communities, and fought stigma around serious mental illness through three published books of lived narratives.
“To be recognized among this year's top 12 young alumni by my alma mater, and to be the youngest awarded this year, is such an honor and a bit surreal,” said Benedict. “Currently being in such an intense phase of my career development, it’s easy to get caught up in my own weaknesses and growth points. So, it’s nice to receive this validation that the work I’ve been doing for years can speak for itself. And it’s encouraging to know that institutions are paying attention to this kind of interdisciplinary work that speaks to real needs in the mental health world.”
Benedict created the Our Stories Project as a Notre Dame undergraduate during the pandemic, merging her passions for mental health advocacy and storytelling. The project partners university students with adults navigating serious mental illness at Clubhouse psychosocial recovery centers to co-write the members’ life stories.
The Our Stories Project has published three books of these lived narratives, which have raised thousands for Clubhouse communities and received international translation requests. The books are now being used in graduate courses, and the Clubhouse in South Bend, IN has adapted this work into a play to fight stigma around serious mental illness. With the support of Clubhouse International, Benedict is expanding the Our Stories Project to a curriculum for use by university-Clubhouse pairings around the globe.
As a clinical psychology graduate student at MSU, Benedict’s work centers on strength-based recovery in people with serious mental illnesses such as psychotic disorders. Her research addresses epistemic injustices by including own-voices narratives and mixed methods with advisor Dr. Henry Cowan.
“This work is important to me since I’ve seen the difference that psychosocial intervention that draws on people’s wellness, instead of on their illness, makes in helping people live meaningful lives,” said Benedict. “The folks whom I've worked with are used to being silenced and ostracized, and they are heavily stigmatized by media which labels them as ‘crazy’ and ‘dangerous.’ In the public eye as well as in research and healthcare, this frequently leaves little room for centering their humanity, their right to autonomy, their ability to recover, their ability to give back to their communities, and their ability to live meaningful lives despite their illness. This orientation on strengths is a vital missing piece that I’m excited to explore.”
She is completing a Community Engagement Certificate at MSU and aims to continue lifting the voices of those marginalized by serious mental illness and socioeconomic hardship. Her goal is to contribute to building more effective, whole-person-oriented approaches to mental healthcare.
“The field, though it has done much good, has an unfortunate history of not listening to the priorities of the people it serves, which is why it’s important to be intentional and sensitive about the way we approach research with this population,” said Benedict. “It's true that these illnesses do attack a person’s sense of self and their ability to think straight. But a whole person does exist in the meantime—a person who has a rich internal and external life and is able to bring their own strengths to the table, especially as they embark on their own road to recovery. I hope to continue working alongside people with lived experience to expand our idea of what that recovery looks like."
Benedict graduated cum laude from Notre Dame in 2021 with degrees in neuroscience and behavior and English with an honors concentration in creative writing. She won four English department awards, including the top creative writer in her graduating class, during her undergraduate studies and researched in two psychology labs.
To learn more about the University of Notre Dame’s Domer Dozen recognition, click here.