Today, Eileen interviews Nathaniel Ekman, one of The Paths We’ve Traveled speakers at reunion. Nathaniel opens up about his mental health struggles while at Harvard, being diagnosed with bipolar disorder at age 21, and living an authentic, hope-filled life ever since. He talks about his work with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), reflects on lessons from his “dark days and brighter ones,” including the gift of empathy, and speaks about how mental health care in the U.S. has changed since we were in college—and how it can still improve. He also shares his advice for discovering, as he did, “the beauty in the beast” we might meet along life’s way.

At Harvard, Nathaniel lived in Weld Hall and Lowell House, and did a special concentration in Urban Studies.