Meet Mitzi Perdue

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Mitzi Perdue. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Mitzi, we’re so appreciative of you taking the time to share your nuggets of wisdom with our community. One of the topics we think is most important for folks looking to level up their lives is building up their self-confidence and self-esteem. Can you share how you developed your confidence?

If you see me today, possibly on YouTube or in person, you probably wouldn’t guess that when I was in my 20s and 30s, I was almost too shy to use the telephone, and entering a room full of strangers was something I almost couldn’t do. The idea of being on a stage, addressing them, was inconceivable.

However, today there are few things I enjoy more than addressing a large crowd, preferably close to 1000. What changed?

In my late 30s, I met a man whose IQ was above 200. He had always planned to write a great book, and in this book, he’d share the wisdom of the world that he had acquired through his great knowledge on practically every subject. However, as the years rolled by, he never wrote his book.

One day I realized why this was so. I knew him well, and I came to understand that he was afraid of failure. He was afraid that if he wrote the book and the public didn’t like it, his whole life would have been wasted. He kept putting it off, with the result that he did the one thing that absolutely guarantees failure, he didn’t try.

On the day I understood that fear of failure was what held him back, I also realized that fear of failure had held me back. I had dreamed of being a speaker and for that matter, I had dreamed of being on TV, but I had never lifted a finger to try for what I wanted. That day, I decided to redefine failure, and that for me, the only real failure was failure to try. If I flubbed an audition, my plan was to congratulate myself for trying.

Part of trying included giving it my all. And if I wanted to speak, I’d better learn how, as opposed to just wishing and daydreaming. I began taking every speaking course I could find, including the 12-week Business and Professional Women’s Clubs (BPW) Individual Development Course, and the Dale Carnegie Public Speaking Class.

I remember the first BPW speaking class. The teacher, Robbie Robinson, told me later that when I entered the room, she had my number. “You were insufferably shy,” she told me years later.

The first task for this new class was we were to say our names and where we were from. She told the class, but I learned later that it was directed at me, “You can hold onto the back of the chair in front of you if you need a little extra courage.”

I held onto the back of the chair in front of me for dear life and managed to get out, “I’m Mitzi, and I’m from Davis, California.” To my surprise, I lived through that first exercise.

Bit by bit, by doing it, I began to get over my shyness. The more I did the speaking exercises, the more classes I took and the more tips and tricks and practice I got, the less shy I became. I went from a phobia of speaking and being in public to someone who enjoys it more than just about anything (that I could mention publicly.)

At the end of the class, I dared audition for a job in television, and in the biggest surprise of my life, I got it. It was at the CBS affiliate in Sacramento, and eventually the show became syndicated to 76 stations.

I didn’t stop taking speaking classes. The biggest investment in the self-confidence that can come when you know what you’re doing. was taking the year-long public speaking course with the US National Speakers Association. I was 75 at the time and twice the age of the 12 others in the class. It was a fabulous experience, having a chance to be coached and critiqued by professional public speakers.

Even today, at 83, I’m still taking classes. In this case it’s an improv class, on the theory that adding humor to a talk lifts it into a whole new level of enjoyment for the audience.

In contrast to me in my 30s, I probably have more than my share of confidence. The magic key for getting it is doing everything I can think of to get good at what I do, and then practice every chance I can get.

I love public speaking, but it’s a tool for something bigger. To me, communication is the magic “open sesame” for having influence and getting things done. My goal these days is to operationalize an idea I have for helping bridge the gap between the mental health needs of countless individuals and the number of mental health providers needed to help them.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

Please tell our readers about what you do, what you feel is most exciting or special about it
According to the WHO, as many as 15 million Ukrainians are suffering debilitating mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety, panic attacks, or insomnia. The number of mental health professionals available to these individuals is only a small fraction of the number that’s needed.

It’s hard to get exact figures on the number of mental health therapists in Ukraine, but you can hear estimates of 11 therapists per 100,000 people in Ukraine. In the US, the comparable figure is 267 per 100,000. These figures should be taken with caution, but directionally, the figures are correct: Ukraine, a country that’s almost three years into a brutal war, and has a desperate need for a new approach to helping millions of people for whom, as of now, no mental health support is available.

What is Mental Help Global (MHG)
MHG is a non-profit that aims to provide additional mental health support to Ukrainians 24/7 at no cost. We use ChatGPT-type artificial intelligence tools with RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) in a Large Language Model (LLM) to help address the gap in Ukraine between the number of mental health professionals and the mental health needs of the Ukrainian people.

We are making use of RAG, which combines the capabilities of a language model with real-time access to data bases relevant to Ukraine. Our project uses relevant and up-to-date information from trusted sources (e.g., clinical guidelines, therapeutic exercises) before generating a response. When someone in Ukraine seeks support, the AI will pull tailored mental health advice or coping strategies from resources that Ukrainian professionals have vetted and updated to reflect local needs and cultural sensitivities. For example, it might access information specifically related to trauma or PTSD management in a war-torn context, ensuring the support is accurate and relevant.

Our RAG-enabled system will be able to handle thousands, and eventually hundreds of thousands of interactions simultaneously, providing support to a vast number of users 24/7. Mental Help global has provided funds that the American University Kyiv has used to hire eminent mental health specialists along with information technology specialists, and they now have a $40,000 server for the initial pilot. We hope to roll out the pilot in early January of 2025.

Mental Help Global does not aim to replace professional therapy. However, it can serve as an accessible first point of support, offering psychoeducation, self-help strategies, and crisis intervention techniques that align with Ukrainian professional standards. It will also guide users on when and how to seek in-person professional help.

When an individual accesses the MentalHelp.global website, he or she will learn as part of the on-boarding that this is general talk therapy type AI, which functions like ChatGPT, but mental health professionals have trained it in the Ukrainian context for Ukrainian needs. We’ll let them know its limitations and what it can and can’t be used for.

We’re rolling it out slowly, with small demo groups. We’ll have users rate their sessions, and knowledgeable Ukrainian mental health professionals will be monitoring and assessing the interactions.

The interactions are text-based, and people accessing the service don’t have to download anything. However, individuals using MHG can have the interactions come from their speaking voice if they choose, and their spoken words will be automatically converted to text.

Legal Guidance and Oversight
We are working with the Paul Weiss law firm, which is offering its expertise pro bono to address pitfalls we might encounter in rolling this out. Anna Gressel leads the Paul Weiss AI practice, and she’s aware of areas of vulnerability across the entire value chain, such as content, compliance, governance, consumers feeling deceived, consumer confusion, privacy issues and more. “We’ve seen all these kinds of issues,” she said in an October 25th Zoom call. She and her colleagues will consult with us and point out areas of concern across the spectrum of what MHG is doing.

Academic Benefit
The effort will be housed at the American University Kyiv, but we’re coordinating with other universities such as Harvard, Stanford, and the University of Arizona–so far. While providing services, we’re building a big data component with the expectations that this data will drive academic articles about, for example, the impact of AI on the economics of mental health care.

Privacy
We know that health data is particularly sensitive in a country at war. Health data, especially concerning military personnel, injured civilians, and individuals receiving psychological care, can be exploited by adversaries for military advantage. Or health data can be weaponized in disinformation campaigns. Being aware of the problem, we are prioritizing cyber security. Fortunately, General David Petraeus is offering advice, and as a former Director of the CIA, he has experience with situations involving zero trust.

Summary
Mental Help Global (MHG) aims to address the immense mental health crisis in Ukraine by leveraging advanced AI technology and expert collaboration. With the severe shortage of mental health professionals, MHG’s AI platform, enriched with culturally relevant and up-to-date information, offers scalable support to millions of Ukrainians in need. While it does not replace traditional therapy, MHG serves as a critical first line of support, providing essential guidance, psychoeducation, and crisis intervention. Part of the hope is that what we learn in Ukraine could be useful to other mental health interventions in other parts of the world.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

I’ve always had as a goal to be the “architect of my own life.” I reasoned long ago that the more knowledge and the more skills I had, the better chance I had of living an exciting and fulfilling life. I therefore developed a rule for myself that I eagerly share with others.

The rule is, every year take a course in something new. I’m 83 now, and I’ve been following this since I was a teenager. The amazing thing (so amazing that it feels kind of woo-woo) is that I feel that everything I ever studied has in some way been either useful or incredibly useful to me.

I’ve already mentioned that I’ve taken public speaking classes, but some of the others which have proven priceless to me include:

• Computer data base programming
• Red Cross First Aid courses
• How to Get the Best from ChatGPT
• Modeling
• Nutrition
• Ukrainian language
• How to Write Magazine Articles
• Persuasion
• Voice
• Guitar
* Management

I recommend to anyone starting out, that you develop you stack of talents. The more skills you have, the broader the range of solutions you can bring to solving problems. Taking a course once a year has been one of the best commitments I’ve ever made.

Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?

The ideal collaborator would be someone who shares a passion for creating transformative change in mental health. This person understands the immense challenge ahead and is drawn to the opportunity to make a meaningful impact for the people of Ukraine, many of whom are living with mental health conditions such as insomnia, panic attacks, and depression. They’re intrigued by the potential of artificial intelligence and large language models to reach those in need and are motivated by the idea of building something groundbreaking from the ground up.

I envision collaborators who are not only industrious and innovative but also a resilient problem-solver. This individual thrives in a team setting, bringing a balance of creativity and optimism to each challenge. While the initial work will be volunteer-based, the potential exists for future growth into compensated roles. If successful, this model could extend far beyond Ukraine, potentially helping nearly a billion people worldwide who, according to the World Health Organization, endure serious mental health challenges. Ultimately, I’m looking for someone who sees themselves as part of a team with a shared mission to support Ukraine in this critical time.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://MitziPerdue.com

Image Credits

Helene Delilo