Hartland to Capitol Hill : the journey of a wounded healer
(Book)

"The daughter of Danish immigrants, Mary Gunderson tells the heartrending tale of settling in rural Minnesota just before the Great Depression. She describes her checkered career as a country school teacher in the 1940s, which ends in a crushing nervous breakdown. She goes on to marry a farmer and raises eleven children, two of whom succumb to mental illness and suicide. Mary's recovery from tragedy begins when she volunteers to start a chapter of NAMI {National Alliance on Mental Illness} in her hometown, becoming a personal and political advocate for others suffering from mental illness. After disclosing her experience of mental illness and the family tragedy as a national forum, Mary was invited to Washington to tell her story to congressional delegates on Capitol Hill." --cover.