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Second Act: Former Chief Justice Reinvents Himself as Mental Health Advocate

This story is part of a series about behavioral health in New Hampshire as part of the Granite State News Collaborative’s Granite Solutions reporting project. www.collaborativenh.org

The New Hampshire Bar News is a founding member of the collaborative.

By Kathie Ragsdale
New Hampshire Bar News

While asleep in his bed on a spring night in 2002, then-New Hampshire Supreme Court Associate Justice John T. Broderick Jr. was beaten unrecognizable by his son.

Now, 16 years later, Broderick is on a mission to raise awareness about what triggered his family tragedy and visits suffering on many others: mental illness.

The pursuit has seen him travel more than 65,000 miles and speak at more than 320 venues — many of them high school auditoriums and gymnasiums — with the same message: mental illness is common, often treatable, no cause for shame, and something all should be alert to in themselves and those around them.

It’s time, he says, to have a “new conversation” about mental health to prevent the next generation from suffering in silence. More than 68,000 people have now heard the message.

Read the full story in The New Hampshire Bar News here.

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