What makes a leader?

In the face of challenges including addiction and incarceration, Mark Stewart has persevered. After suffering the loss of his partner, Taylor Joy, to mental illness, something clicked for him, and he has been relentlessly serving his community since then. With support from our Community Impact Team as well as his employer, faith community and friends, Mark has planned several inclusive community mental health events, helped start a suicide prevention coalition and launched the mental health nonprofit Unspoken Truth.

Following his own path to leadership

A nontraditional leadership journey like Mark’s has steep highs and lows. He has kept going through them all.

“My counselor she was awesome, and she always said, ‘If you just take the next right step, life will untangle itself.’ And it has. And that statement is so true. All you’ve got to do is take one next right step,” Mark said.

Growing up in the Worthington community, Mark didn’t picture himself as someone who has what it takes to be a leader. He dropped out of high school and spent time in prison. In fall 2022, Mark entered drug court on a 5th degree possession charge. The next year, his life changed in unexpected ways that would bring him to his knees and refine his sense of purpose.

On July 5, 2023, Mark’s long-time partner Taylor Joy — the love of his life and the mother of their three children — died as the result of a mental health crisis. While Taylor was known for her contagious smile, she also struggled with mental health challenges over many years. In the wake of losing her, Mark channeled his energy into raising awareness of mental health resources. He had a lot of ideas but found it hard to gain momentum.

“It doesn’t matter how good you do or how hard you fight; when it comes to your past, from small communities, it doesn’t matter if you want to help people or not, you don’t really get that chance because no one looks your way,” Mark said.

Finding support and taking the next step

A fellow mental health advocate, Suree Sompamitwong of Creative Healing Space, helped Mark find the next right step, connecting him to Amy Brustuen at Southwest Initiative Foundation. Amy’s role supports the growth and success of nonprofits with resources for training, leadership development and funding.

“Southwest Initiative Foundation has been behind me for everything and supported all of this. To even get me to a position to I feel like I can even do this and be on my own, it came from strength of that encouragement. I didn’t know where to go. I didn’t know what to do. I had all these ideas, but I didn’t believe in myself. I didn’t feel like I had a voice. And little by little, Amy came and encouraged me, she listened and heard what I had to say, and then said, ‘Let’s accomplish this.’ The support has been there ever since,” Mark said.

It started with a Mental Health Awareness Lake Run-Walk October 2023 in Worthington, just months after Taylor’s passing.

“It really struck me how everything fell apart in July, and then by October, Mark had an event planned,” Amy said.

Establishing Unspoken Truth

Mark kept the work going and this year realized his goal of making Unspoken Truth a registered nonprofit, the name a nod to the thoughts, feelings and struggles often faced in silence.

“Every time we hit a dead end when it came to Taylor’s mental health, it was always an insurance reason, or put on a waiting list, or transportation,” Mark said. “There was always something. And then when it came to me with recovery, same thing: Recovery is expensive, not only with transportation, but missing work for everything. I see all the money that a person has to spend. I want to be the one that can just say, ‘Hey, you know, you don’t ever have to worry with Unspoken Truth. You can come here, and we’ll find a way.”

Unspoken Truth uses a Certified Peer Recovery Specialist (CPRS) model. Placed on a continuum of services, a CPRS falls between the role of recovery sponsor and substance use disorder or mental health counselors. A peer recovery specialist acts as a role model, mentor, advocate and motivator. So far, Unspoken Truth has two specialists certified.

“It’s building a solid relationship with them and just helping them along the way through their hurdles with our lived experience,” Mark said.

Ultimately, Mark’s goal is to be certified as a Peer Recovery Specialist with an additional endorsement to serve in the criminal justice system, drawing on his incarceration experience to help others.

“I would love to meet them where they’re at, and offer something that I didn’t have,” said Mark, who graduated from drug court last year and now volunteers with the program.

Right now, Mark makes time for nonprofit work alongside his full-time job as a diesel mechanic at Tri State Truck Wash, where he says employer support has made it possible for him to start and grow Unspoken Truth.

Redefining what makes a leader

Dropping out of high school and later earning his GED puts Mark well in the minority of nonprofit leaders in Minnesota, where more than 90 percent have a bachelor’s degree or higher, according to Who Leads in Minnesota, a project of Minnesota Compass and the Bush Foundation. But education does not define anyone’s full potential.

“One of the things I love most about Mark’s story is how he busted through the things that others might think of as barriers — and how this could potentially inspire people who want to do something but think they can’t,” Amy said. “The point of all of this is to keep your eyes open for the next leader in our communities; it doesn’t cost us anything to hear someone out, and sometimes we take a chance on people. The bottom line is the power of community. The community of support is an integral part of this story, and it makes all the difference.”

What makes a leader in Mark’s eyes is not that they have followers, but that they encourage more leaders.

“A lot of people think leadership is winning the goal or being the number one person,” Mark said. “To me, leadership is about being a part of a team, bringing community together … not the one that stands out, but that one that stands together. Just like the captain of a football team, they want their teammates to do better as well.”