Chandler Groce
National Youth Peer Ambassador & Alliance Co-Chair
"I didn’t choose schizophrenia, but I can choose what I do with it—and I choose service. When we replace myths with knowledge, we replace fear with compassion."
"Chandler represents the exact future we are fighting to build. Her courage to step onto a national stage and speak the unfiltered, clinical truths of neurobiological brain disease is nothing short of revolutionary. I am profoundly honored to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with her as Alliance Co-Chair. Together, we are bridging generations of lived experience to ensure that immediate medical access, dignity, and systemic accountability become an unassailable reality for every peer and family across this nation." — Kerry Martin, Senior VP, Strategy & Impact, NSSC & Peer Alliance Co-Chair |
Chandler GRoceNational Youth Peer Ambassador | Peer Alliance Co-ChairChandler Groce serves as a National Youth Peer Ambassador and Peer Alliance Co-Chair for the National Shattering Silence Coalition. Utilizing her lived experience, extensive public platform, and a passion for community health education, Chandler is a vital voice driving systemic reform and medical accountability for neurobiological, no-fault brain diseases.
Chandler’s advocacy journey is deeply personal. Raised in the Appalachian mountain region, she experienced her first vivid hallucinations at age 15. Navigating a schizophrenia diagnosis—which was later updated to schizoaffective disorder, bipolar type—she faced the isolating, terrifying, and widely misunderstood realities of a fragmented mental healthcare framework. In 2023, she made the pivotal decision to relocate to Washington State in search of a higher standard of intervention. It was there that Chandler experienced the life-changing impact of early intervention, compassionate providers, and Coordinated Specialty Care (CSC). Having stabilized, thrived, and reclaimed her voice, she refused to let stigma dictate her path and instead transformed her personal battle into a nationwide mission. As Miss Washington Volunteer, Chandler brought unprecedented visibility to severe neurobiological conditions on the national Miss Volunteer America stage. She established her core S.E.R.V.E. initiative, "Shattering Stigma: Schizophrenia Awareness & Education," using the platform to bridge the gap between public perception and clinical reality. |
Connect & Support Chandler’s Mission
Explore Her Network
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Visit the Evergreen Psychosis Network foundation to access community resources, read personal peer perspectives, and explore community engagement initiatives.
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