First Leadership Institute Speaker of 2015 Announced

The Regina Dominican Leadership Institute is proud to present Brighid O’Shaughnessy ‘91, founder and executive artistic director of Erasing the Distance, as its first speaker in 2015. She will speak to Regina Dominican students and the local community in a presentation on Jan. 28 in Regina’s O’Shaughnessy Theater at 9:30 a.m. O’Shaughnessy will speak on how leadership has played a vital role in her 15-year career as an advocate for social change.

Since 2005, O’Shaughnessy has reached over 50,000 people with theatrical performances about mental health issues in which she has acted in, directed, devised and/or produced.

A nationally sought after speaker and instructor, she has taught the ETD methodology at locations across the country, including the Chicago School of Professional Psychology as well as at University of Illinois at Chicago through the Asian American Studies Program. O’Shaughnessy was granted DePaul University’s prestigious David O. Justice Award for her use of theatre to educate communities about mental illness in non-traditional and creative ways. She was also chosen by Extra Mile America as one of 200 heroic leaders in the United States making a difference in their communities and received a 3Arts Vision Award to support her artistic work at ETD.

O’Shaughnessy’s presentation is sponsored by the Regina Dominican Leadership Institute Speaker Series. For more information about this presentation and the Leadership Institute, contact Jodi McLawhorn, director of the Leadership Institute, at jmclawhorn@rdhs.org.