Date: Monday, May 5, 2025
Hi everyone! I’m Dr. Kinsey Simone, an educator and evaluator passionate about community-driven mental health literacy. I founded Mad Topics Symposia & Praxis in Education (MT) based on both my 26 years lived experience with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and from my 2023 research findings on widespread misconceptions of mental illness among preservice teachers in my college. Mad Topics is a groundbreaking scholarly framework which blends clinical expertise with lived experience to reduce stigma and increase awareness about mental health in educational settings. Today, I’m sharing lessons learned from evaluating MT24 and MT25—two participatory events focused on obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), ADHD, anxiety, and depression.
Inclusion Takes Intention. At MT24, we noticed that students and professionals alike responded most strongly to stories that reflected both shared lived experience and intersectional identities. For MT25, we intentionally expanded panel diversity and accessibility tools. Evaluation responses showed that these adjustments significantly improved emotional safety and relatability. Don’t wait for inclusion—build it in from the start.
Formative Feedback Isn’t Just a Step—It’s a Strategy. After MT24, we conducted focus groups with attendees and volunteers. One suggestion stood out: “More follow-up, please.” So, we restructured MT25 to include Mad Scholars and resource fair partners in year-round collaboration. The result? A 30% increase in volunteer engagement and deeper partnerships across campus and community mental health groups. Formative feedback shouldn’t just improve the next event—it can reshape the whole model.
Funding Matters, But Isn’t Everything. We operated on more money in 2025, and more money helped—but what made the biggest difference was people power, or how we used the money to empower voices. Volunteers, students, and lived-experience advocates stepped in as storytellers, survey designers, and peer reviewers. If you’re working with limited funds, invest in human connection and co-leadership structures. Evaluation is easier when participants feel ownership.
Inclusive Evaluation Builds Trust. To evaluate MT25, we used surveys, open-text responses, and participatory data review sessions with our Mad Scholars. Rather than position ourselves as evaluators “of” the event, we positioned ourselves as evaluators “with” the community. This shifted our metrics from “Did it work?” to “How did it feel?”—and that nuance was critical in capturing impact. Evaluation should be an invitation, not an inspection.
If you’re curious, you can check out more about Mad Topics and our evolving work here: tntech.edu/madtopics. Email us at madtopics@tntech.edu. Thanks for reading! Feel free to connect if you’re working at the intersection of mental health, education, and evaluation—I’d love to learn from you too.
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