Jackson Free Press

At 28, Zandrea King is a self-described up-and-coming professional who decided to take the path less traveled with her career choice.

"I was about 8 years old when I decided I wanted be a psychologist. I liked to talk to people about their problems," King says. "I've always been that go-to person."

However, the trajectory of King's career path changed while she was in the graduate counseling program at University of Memphis. A recipient of numerous college scholarships and listed in a "Who's Who of American College Students" survey, King encountered limitations in her work.

"I had one client in particular that was severely affected by Hurricane Katrina, right before I graduated," King says. "There was only so much I could do for her in the room where I counseled her ... (because of) the public policy issues she faced."

King's frustration with mental-health public-policy issues led her to then pursue her law degree at Mississippi College, after which she did extensive pro bono work for the Mississippi Volunteer Lawyers Project, along with an externship with Jim Kitchens of the Supreme Court and volunteer work with the Ronald McDonald House. She is a member of the Mississippi Bar Association and the Mississippi Women Lawyers Association.

The young woman now fuses her loves of mental health and political advocacy as the newly appointed chief executive officer for the Mississippi Association of Community Health Centers, acting as a liaison between Mississippi's community mental-health centers and devising strategies to help the state's mental-health system better suit the needs and budgets of its oft-uninsured populace.

The association's mental-health centers provide a variety of services for Mississippi's mentally ill, including crisis-intervention services, case-management services, group therapy, individual therapy, parent education resources and family therapy, and all centers use a sliding fee scale based on the client's ability to pay. As CEO of the association, King ensures the efficiency and humanity of these services.

"One of our primary goals is to tackle stigma--the stigmatization of mental illness--to educate parents, families, children, or anyone who has been in contact with a mentally ill person," she says.

This stigma, King says, applies to parents of the mentally ill as well. "Parents often fear that if they go seek help (for their child), they've done something wrong, they've caused the mental illness, and as a result they don't seek those services. That is a major obstacle for parents. We (the association) help to provide educational resources to let parents know not their fault," King says.

King directed the association's first joint event, Raindrops to Rainbows, which was at the Mississippi Children's Museum Sunday and offered workshops and information related to various children's mental-health issues.

"There's a rainbow after the storm has passed. We created the event to help children understand that you might cry, but there's a rainbow out there," King says.

As for King, her personal "rainbow" lies in "giving back."

"One of my favorite quotes is, 'To whom much is given much is required,'" she says. "I truly believe that everyone in some form should use their talents and resources to help someone in need, and that's my primary goal in life."

King is engaged and has a 7-year-old daughter, Mia.