Jessie Close is an internationally recognized speaker, author, poet and advocate for mental health reform. She lives with bipolar disorder in the foothills of the Tobacco Root Mountains outside Bozeman, Montana with her Service Dog, Snitz, and three other dogs. She is the author of THE WARPING OF AL (Harper & Row, 1990), and she writes a regular blog for Bring Change 2 Mind, an anti-stigma organization that her sister, Glenn, created at Jessie's request. 

Jessie has received awards from the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the largest grassroots mental health organization in America with more than 600,000 members, and Mental Health America, the largest grassroots group of persons living with mental disorders. She also has received the Jed Foundation Award and The McLean Award. Along with her son, Calen, Jessie is a much sought-after inspirational speaker. 

Books by Jessie Close

Resilience: Two Sisters and a Story of Mental Illness

by Jessie Close with Pete Earley - Nonfiction

Jessie Close first started to exhibit symptoms of severe bipolar disorder as a child. She embarked on a series of destructive marriages as the condition worsened, and her mental illness was passed on to her son, Calen. It wasn't until Calen entered McLean's psychiatric hospital that Jessie herself was diagnosed. In RESILIENCE, she and her sister, actress Glenn Close, share their story of triumphing over her illness.