Dec. 15, 2025

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EASA graduate Emily Nguyen

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Emily Nguyen, 26, practices skating in Evelyn Schiffler Memorial Park in Beaverton, March 6, 2023. While struggling with her mental health in 2018, Nguyen received support from the Early Assessment and Support Alliance Center for Excellence (EASA). She graduated from the two year program, and now works for EASA as a service coordinator and part of the young adult leadership council.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB

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As part of her recovery, Nguyen is learning to roller skate. She says it has been a good way to be socially active, as she had a tendency to isolate in the past.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB

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"Everyone deals with their own mental health and if they are not, then they are denying it," says Nguyen. "It's a journey and it's nothing we should be ashamed of."
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB

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Nguyen compares her lived experience of mental illness to learning to skate. “It’s a journey, it’s a process. You have these little spurts of hitting a rock or a wall, or falling, and you keep getting back up.”
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB

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Nguyen takes off her skates after practicing. She hopes that talking about her lived experience can help reduce the stigma of mental illness.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB

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