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Dragonfly Mental Health's Annual Fundraiser brings together people who care about mental well-being in academia. Your support helps us provide proactive, preventative resources for students, researchers, faculty and staff under real pressure.
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By securing your ticket today, you help build compassionate, healthier academic environments where seeking support is normal, and no one has to struggle alone. Thank you for standing with brilliant minds and valuing their mental health.
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Join us at the picturesque Sarasota Garden Club to convene with others in the community and afar that understand the people teaching and studying to become our future doctors, researchers, artists, business owners, and community leaders are under incredible but far too often silent pressure leading to mental health struggles and even suicide.
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Our event this year is titled "From Knowledge to Impact: Advancing Mental Health Literacy" and will highlight both our past speaker and treasured advisor, Retired Two Star General Gregg F. Martin, PhD along with a keynote leader in Mental Health Literacy.
Annual Fundraiser Keynote Speaker:
Glenda Wrenn Gordon, MD, MSHP, DFAPA
A board-certified psychiatrist, mental health equity leader, and Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, Dr. Wrenn Gordon serves as Chief of Clinical Strategy at Mindoula Health, Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Morehouse School of Medicine, chairs the APA Council on Quality, and has spent over two decades training clinicians, shaping health policy, and advancing integrated care for underserved communities.
But the most important thing to know about Dr. Wrenn Gordon may be this: expertise does not make you immune.
Despite her encyclopedic knowledge of mental illness, systems of care, and evidence-based treatment, she has navigated the profound humbling experience of watching her own family struggle — and discovering that knowledge alone is not enough. Her son's journey through bipolar disorder and substance use recovery taught her what no textbook could: that even the most informed among us can feel lost, inadequate, and afraid. That stigma does not stop at the clinician's front door. And that the path forward requires more than clinical skill — it requires vulnerability, community, and the kind of resilience that is actively built, not simply inherited.
In this fireside chat, Dr. Wrenn Gordon opens an honest conversation about the gap between what we know and what we can actually do when it hits close to home — and why closing that gap, for clinicians and caregivers alike, depends on our willingness to be human first.
Special Guest:
Maj. Gen. Gregg F. Martin, PhD, USA (Ret.)
General Martin served on active duty for thirty-six years and commanded an engineer company, battalion, and the 130th Engineer Brigade in combat during the first year of the Iraq War. General Martin served multiple overseas tours, commanded the Corps of Engineers Northwest Division, was Commandant of the Army Engineer School, commanded Fort Leonard Wood, was Deputy Commanding General of Third U.S. Army/Army Central in the Middle East, Commandant of the Army War College, President of the National Defense University, and Special Assistant to the Chief of Engineers. Martin holds a PhD and two master's degrees from MIT, master's degrees in national security strategy from both the Army and Naval war colleges, and a bachelor's degree from West Point (class of 1979).
Last year, General Martin joined us as our Keynote speaker addressing stigma, sharing his story and answering questions from interviewer, Greg Stikeleather, and the audience. As one of the only top level military leaders in the world to speak openly and vulnerably about his illness and journey back to living a purposeful and powerful life, General Martin continues to show us what true leadership looks like. We welcome him back to share some remarks on his journey and how Dragonfly’s Comprehensive Framework maps onto it - pointing out critical points when the five pillars of excellent mental health (Wellness Committees, Mental Health Literacy, Peer Networks, Skills Workshops, and Fighting Stigma) would have helped him or those he served with and possibly have averted catastrophe and unnecessary suffering.
Following Dr. Wrenn Gordon’s Fireside Chat, General Martin will join her for an intimate discussion with the audience.