Marty Parrish
Marty Parrish is a senior technology project manager with a large national health system and a mental health advocate. He has lived with serious mental illness, including major depressive disorder, since his teenage years and is currently in recovery through a combination of TMS treatment, medication and regular talk therapy.
Marty’s mental health advocacy began in 2016, when he encouraged his wife, Peggy, to become Executive Director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Iowa. He became more actively engaged in 2019 after sharing his experience with major depressive disorder with the Des Moines Register.
That year, Marty also completed NAMI’s Provider programme training, beginning seven years of teaching Provider classes to medical students, state institution staff and clinicians nationwide. He also spoke at the Mental Health for All forum in Des Moines and has since participated in numerous panel discussions and national media interviews to educate clinicians and elevate the patient perspective on serious mental illness.
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