Rosalynn Carter's mental health advocacy changed journalism — and journalists

Former first lady Rosalynn Carter discusses a report on mental health and addiction during the 21st annual Rosalynn Carter Symposium on Mental Health Policy at the Carter Center, Nov. 3, 2005, in Atlanta. The advocacy of Carter, who died Nov. 19 at age 96, created a framework for much of the progress on mental illness in America. (Ric Feld/AP)

So much of who I am today is the result of receiving a Rosalynn Carter Mental Health Journalism Fellowship from The Carter Center 15 years ago.

When I met former first lady Rosalynn Carter in Atlanta in 2008, I was accomplished — having written one book and under contract for a second — but I was also broken after three years reporting in Iraq and an equal amount of time chronicling challenges veterans faced back home. I wrote without purpose, drifting from story to story and full of rage at what I saw as the U.S. government's failure to take seriously the human consequences of the war it began.