For community audiences
Personal storytelling and education designed to deepen understanding and reduce assumptions about serious mental illness.
Speaking & Advocacy
When lived experience meets medicine
Bringing lived experience, clinical expertise, and compassion together to help improve mental health care.
Ruth Manning speaks about living with Bipolar I disorder, recognizing warning signs, recovery, family support, and the importance of treating people with dignity during a mental health crisis.
When Lived Experience Meets Medicine
A mother and her ER physician son building better mental health care.
In this collaborative presentation, Ruth shares the lived experience of mania, psychosis, hospitalization, and recovery. Her son, John Manning, MD, brings the perspective of emergency medicine and clinical informatics. Together, they explore how communication, practical tools, and compassion can support better crisis responses.
For care teams
Discussion of how people experiencing crisis may be perceived, and how lived experience can inform respectful communication and de-escalation.
For families and advocates
Practical conversations about support, boundaries, early warning signs, and working with clinicians.
Featured Presentation
Avoiding Transference for Mental Health Behavior by EMS, Hospital Staff, and Law EnforcementIn 2023, my son, John Manning, MD, and I were featured in a NAMICon Express Talk exploring how lived experience and medical expertise can work together to improve mental health care.
Our presentation, Avoiding Transference for Mental Health Behavior by EMS, Hospital Staff, and Law Enforcement, highlights the importance of responding to people experiencing a mental health crisis with understanding and compassion.
Invite Ruth
Please use the contact page for inquiries regarding stigma support education and public initiatives for media, law enforcement, or mental health professionals. Because disability prevents me from traveling or managing email, I am available exclusively for virtual meetings or scheduled visits at my senior living facility.