Friday Ombuds: Mary Seguin
Mary Seguin, Culinary Creative, Mental Health Advocate & Author of A Dish of Hope: Cooking to Uplift Friends & Family
“Food can be the social gesture that says, “I see you, I know you are struggling, but there is hope.””
Read Mary’s story about the inspiration for her cookbook, “A Dish of Hope: Cooking to Uplift Family & Friends” with updated takes on the covered dish. Read to the end to learn about Mary’s idea for a citywide singalong. You can support NAMI and get the cookbook here.
Name: Mary Seguin
Neighborhood: College Hill
Tell us about a small or brief civic problem/issue you have tackled. What was your key to breaking through?
The issue: How to support families going through a mental health crisis and help remove the stigma of mental health treatment and conditions in the process.
My husband and I attended the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) SW’s Family-to-Family classes. Family-to-Family changed our journey with our child’s mental health challenge. There have been so many unknowns and a lot of discouraging times with unrealistic expectations. The Family-to-Family program gave us the foundation of knowledge we needed many years ago to navigate the now and the future of mental illness in our lives. The 6” course binder is a tome of information we physically walked away with, but the thing that could not be contained in a binder, not even a refrigerator box, was HOPE.
A friend was experiencing “unknowns” with her family’s mental health. Like us, they have a team of support: doctors, counselors, teachers, and family. I knew they needed one more team member: NAMI Family-to-Family. You really cannot make grown people do anything, but you can support them, so I insisted that I would come to their home for 11 weeks with dinner and be with their children while they went to class. They said yes.
That ‘yes’ turned into many meals shared with four very interesting, wonderfully gifted, and entertaining young individuals. I asked for input: “What do you like?” and, “Have you had this dish?” They were adventurous – my kind of dinner companions. And on our last night, one of the children cooked for us.
The experience, as my father would say, made me “available for the inspiration,” of this cookbook. Small in stature but rising with possibilities to initiate conversations about mental illness, raise awareness, and support others without stigma.
The recipes are not the traditional covered dishes brought in times of need, but they are not far out. These dishes include spices that comfort and awaken your palate. The preparations of fresh ingredients to accompany the main dish and simple already prepared foods that can complete a meal make sharing food doable. It is important that the food can be carried to a family or shared with a family with some assembling but may be ready to serve with minimal effort.
Food, of course, strengthens us through nutrition. but the act of giving food feeds and strengthens the part of a person that can’t be seen. Food can be the social gesture that says, “I see you, I know you are struggling, but there is hope.”
The Friday Ombuds Questionnaire:
Your favorite Cincinnati place?
Mom 'N Em Coffee & Wine in Camp Washington.
What is an “unwritten public etiquette rule” of Cincinnati-area life?
I find that people just don’t say hello and make a lot of eye contact when two people cross.
Who are your favorite Cincinnatians? Why?
Favorite People: Marge Bishop at St. Clare Church. She works on the Bereavement Committee and she has an amazing can-do attitude – find a need and fill it. Yogi Weiss, director, Little Brothers Friends of the Elderly. If I can get a Little Brother Friends of the Elderly plug in here – it’s pretty awesome.
New place or institution you would bring to Cincinnati?
This is coming already, but I’m extra excited about the Over-the-Rhine Museum. It is an emulation of the Tenement Museum in New York City, one of my favorite places.
If they would just make me mayor for a day, I would "__________."
... call a 3 P.M. singalong to the song “It's Only a Paper Moon.”
You should have asked me, "__________."
About the Rhinestones, my synchronized swim team that meets at Ziegler Pool and why they are so great. They are women ages 21 through 71 who are moving and shaking in the pool on Sunday mornings and learning new routines.
Mary Seguin is a culinary creative, wife, mother, and mental health advocate. “We are fortunate to have had a team of counselors and doctors for our family over the years, but we never fully understood our situation and what we could do about it until we took the Family-to-Family class. A dear friend introduced us to NAMI and we are forever grateful. Mental health is BIG. We all have mental health. I’m hoping the awareness grows bigger and the stigma ceases to exist.”
Her cookbook A Dish of Hope: Cooking to Support Friends & Family is about food that nurtures people and celebrates connection and hope.
Find Mary on Instagram @marymakesithappen61
Why stop reading now? You might also like:
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Issue #3: Case of the Sloshy Beer Vault
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Rachel Hastings — Case study in crime reduction in Covington and that Cincinnati question
Regina Carswell Russo — Real talk on diversity and the dish that is addicting, delicious, soothing, and medicinal
Dr. Amber Kelly Pro networking tips using Cincinnati’s strengths and the question I really should have asked her
Steve Ramos Animal control and his favorite “urban, egalitarian Jewish community” leader
Jeffrey Miller Food waste reduction through the tax code and York Peppermint patties
Geralyn Sparough What neighborhood felt like home for this Californian and how she weaves this City together
Be the next Friday Ombudsman by clicking the “Be the Friday Ombudsman” button on the home page and send your answers.