Skid Row survivor pushes trauma-informed mental health reform

By AI, Created 5:18 PM UTC, May 18, 2026, /AGP/ – Teri Rushawn Rogers, founder of Breaking Stigmas Treatment Operation, is using Mental Health Awareness Month to call for trauma-informed reform, PMDD awareness and rehabilitation-centered support. The Los Angeles advocate says her work is aimed at people navigating mental health systems, incarceration and recovery.

Why it matters: - Rogers is trying to shift mental health and justice responses toward compassion, rehabilitation and recovery support. - Her advocacy centers on people who say they are retraumatized or silenced while trying to comply with systems meant to help them. - The push also elevates PMDD awareness, women’s mental health and community-based healing.

What happened: - Teri Rushawn Rogers, an award-winning author and founder of Breaking Stigmas Treatment Operation, is drawing attention to trauma-informed mental health reform and rehabilitation advocacy. - Rogers survived homelessness on Skid Row and later appeared in the documentary Game Girls. - Rogers is speaking publicly during an ongoing mental health diversion case in California. - Rogers said, “Mental health recovery should be rooted in compassion, dignity, and healing — not prolonged stigma and retraumatization.” - Rogers is seeking media partnerships, public speaking opportunities, documentary collaborations, legal advocacy partnerships, philanthropic support and strategic community partnerships.

The details: - Rogers is the author of America’s Game Girl: Bridging the Gaps – A Journey of Love, Mental Health, and Overcoming Stigma and Living Through the CYCLE: My PAIN is REAL. - Both books are reaching incarcerated readers through correctional facility distribution networks nationwide. - The books are intended to spark conversation about trauma recovery, PMDD awareness, rehabilitation, women’s mental health and systemic reform. - Living Through the CYCLE: My PAIN is REAL focuses on PMDD, trauma, medical gaslighting and mental health misdiagnosis. - Rogers says those issues remain underrepresented in healthcare and justice systems. - Through Breaking Stigmas Treatment Operation, Rogers provides peer-led emotional wellness groups, recovery support services, domestic violence survivor advocacy, housing stabilization resources, mindfulness programming and trauma-informed community initiatives across Los Angeles County. - Rogers participated in JCOD Incubation Academy, which provided capacity-building support for leadership development and trauma-informed community programming. - Rogers’ IMDB profile is available here.

Between the lines: - Rogers is framing lived experience as a credential for reform work. - The message pairs personal recovery with a broader critique of stigma in both healthcare and criminal-legal systems. - Mental Health Awareness Month gives the campaign a wider public platform.

What’s next: - Rogers is looking for partners to expand advocacy work, public education and recovery-centered programming. - Her public campaign is likely to keep focusing on trauma-informed justice reform, diversion accountability and support for justice-impacted people.

The bottom line: - Rogers is using her platform to argue that mental health systems should support healing, not add to trauma. - Her work ties together homelessness recovery, PMDD awareness and rehabilitation reform.