TAMPA, Fla. — Hey, you know what? There are a lot of talented and great people here in the bay area. But today for National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, I want to introduce you guys to one lady. Her name is Sharon, and she uses her own life experiences to help others today in their own mental health journeys.
Sharon Fekete wrote a book called Road to Mental Health in Life and in Business to honor her 25th anniversary of sobriety and her mom's birthday.
Sharon got sober at 21 years old. She had been through two rehabs, a halfway house, and a 12-step recovery program.
After Sharon worked on her sobriety, she went on to run large medical practices in New York and here in Tampa Bay. This eventually led her to run her own business called The Doctor Whisperer and 13th Ave. Media.
"And I brought that design for life into my business. I've been running medical offices and consulting for doctors for over 20 years," she said.
Today, Sharon is a big supporter of mental health and speaks to organizations all over the country about her own previous struggles with addiction, depression, and the journey to overcome adversity. She now offers companies practical and effective ways to encourage a safe space for employees to navigate through a broken road to mental health in life and business.
"What I learned in recovery is community and support and being kind to each other. Before I released this book in 2019, like here I was sober all these years and survived so much. And I had all of these resources that I could offer to people just applying all of these abilities to be able to communicate with others in the workplace really makes a difference and really makes people feel safe," she said.
If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, you can call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org to reach the national 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Here in Florida, you can also call 211 to contact the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay.