Ruby Brown-Herring, MEd, BSW, is a National Trainer and a mental health programming consultant. She has over 20 years of experience in program management, adult and higher education and is the former Mental Health First Aid Coordinator for North Carolina where she implemented and coordinated North Carolina’s plan for reducing stigma using the Mental Health First Aid Curriculum. She is recognized as a leader in community mental health education, as evidenced by the work she has done to increase statewide mental health literacy.

Ruby currently serves as a Human Services Program Consultant for the NC Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse Services where she oversees the state’s MHFA initiative, juvenile justice mental health and substance abuse programming and the NC Drug Education School Program. She also serves as an advisor for the National Center for Child Traumatic Stress Network, where she provides feedback and insight on family resources, trainings.

Recently, she contracted with Eastern Area Health Education Center and the North Carolina Agromedicine Institute to train over 150 agriculture extension agents in MHFA as well as the East Coast Migrant Head Start to train their NC staff in MHFA and to develop a plan to implement the training in across the organization as part of their staff wellness initiative in their strategic plan.

She holds a Bachelor of Social Work from UNC Wilmington and a Master of Education in Student Personnel Services from the University of South Carolina.

Most importantly, she is the mother of twin girls – one with major depression and anxiety and one with ADHD and anxiety and is passionate about reducing the stigma around mental illness, particularly in the education system.