Dottie Pacharis is retired from a law firm in Washington, D.C. and now lives in Fort Myers.

She is the author of Mind on the Run: A Bipolar Chronicle, a book about her son’s 13-year struggle with bipolar disorder and her family’s efforts to help him obtain treatment. As a result of her personal experience, she has become a mental health advocate working to eliminate barriers to treatment and improve the care for individuals suffering from severe mental illness.

Dottie is a speaker at many mental health and community organizations and has written numerous editorials about mental illness that have been published in major newspapers in this country and in the UK. She is currently serving a one-year term as a citizen member on the editorial board of the Fort Myers News-Press.

She is a big supporter of the Clubhouse Model and feels every community should have one.