Harry Bruell

Harry Bruell joins us on the Giftedness and Mental Health Panel to share perspective as the father of Taya Bruell, a profoundly gifted 14-year old who died of suicide in 2016. Taya was a brilliant, talented, charismatic, beautiful, fun and creative high school student who loved to write and who wanted to be a surgeon, a writer, or both. She battled bravely against Borderline Personality Disorder which went undiagnosed through various ongoing attempts to seek help. After Taya's death, Harry and his wife moved from Boulder to Santa Barbara, CA where Harry is now the President/CEO of PathPoint, a nonprofit human services agency that supports 2,700 people with mental health diagnoses and/or developmental disabilities. Before joining PathPoint Harry served as President & CEO of Conservation Legacy, a national organization that operates conservation corps and public lands internships across the country. Harry has published parts of Taya’s story on Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation blog and in Faces of Suicide (Volume 5), and is currently seeking a publisher for a book about Taya and the importance of diagnosing Borderline Personality Disorder in adolescents.