When Linea Johnson was hospitalized at Harborview, her mother took her on an outing to a nearby coffee shop. There, the two saw a homeless man talking to himself outside the store, apparently psychotic. When they went in, they found a barista had taken video of the man and was showing it around. People were laughing.
The scene unnerved Johnson and her parents. Unbeknownst to anyone at the coffee shop, Johnson had something in common with the homeless man being mocked. At Harborview, doctors were treating her for bipolar disorder.
Johnson had waved off the depression she'd had since her high school days in Bellevue by staying busy. Her piano playing and singing earned her a scholarship to Chicago's Columbia College.
By the time she was a sophomore, in 2006, she could no longer drown out her disease with music. She fell into a paralyzing depression and was talking about hurting herself.
Johnson's then-boyfriend called her parents in Bellevue and told them they had to come and get her.
Today, Linea Johnson travels the country talking about life on the other side of the diagnosis she eventually got -- bipolar disorder -- so that others can get help and break through the stigma of mental illness.
She and her mother, Cinda Johnson, are scheduled to join Jessie Close, sister of actress Glenn, and other mental health advocates this weekend at a University of Washington symposium titled "Fighting Stigma