See a photo of John, his bio, Part 1 of this Q&A, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4.
Q&A with John Randall, Question 5
Q: What’s your favorite story about a transformation that came about through a story or storytelling act?
A: A little over 10 years ago, my friend Todd was severely depressed, 
fixated, as he himself wrote, on “death by revolver.” Isolated from everyone he had ever loved or who loved him, he lived in “the hollows” of existence. But a chance encounter with an old friend gave him just enough energy to begin reclaiming his life, to stop believing he was “no good.” He began challenging these thoughts and taking better care of himself in many ways. But perhaps most important, he began telling his story at schools and colleges all over Iowa. Amazingly, he overcame severely debilitating “stage fright and discovered he was good at public speaking.”
Todd is now the president of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) and executive director of the Iowa Advocates for Mental Health Recovery (IAMHR). I am overjoyed that he has invited me to present some of my ideas on narrative as it relates to recovery at this year’s IAMHR Conference in Des Moines.
Todd’s story appears in a little self-published book simply entitled Recovery, by another friend of mine, Dodie Fuhr.