Katelyn Baker created AIR along with her parents, Tricia and Kurt, soon after her brother Kenny died by suicide. Katelyn came up with the statement, “Mental illness is like air. Just because you can’t see it, it doesn’t mean it isn’t there. It’s all around us.” This profound statement earned Katelyn an Ambassador’s Award from the Governor’s Council on Mental Health Stigma in 2010. Katelyn is a student at The College of New Jersey and will continue her college career. Katelyn is a certified Youth Mental Health First Aider. She is also a dog trainer at a PetSmart store, enjoys writing fiction and is a big fan of the television show Supernatural.
“It’s important to my family and me to tell people it’s okay to get help. We don’t want anyone else to have to go through what we did.”