Geneva Jonathan isn’t wedded to the idea that smartphone apps will turn out to be an effective tool to treat mental illness. But motivated in part by her older brother’s yearslong struggle with bipolar disorder, the 22-year-old research assistant is trying to help answer the question “Could apps fit into patients’ and providers’ toolboxes?” through research about psychosocial interventions.
“There’s thousands of people who are working on developing drugs and working with the pharmaceutical companies, and that’s just not for me,” Jonathan says. “I think we’re not spending enough time looking at the system and other methods of support that we put in place for people with mental illness. That’s sort of been my driving force.”
The daughter of a “free-spirit hippie” pastor mother whose ancestors immigrated to Boston on the Mayflower and a South Sudanese father who teaches Arabic at the University of Vermont, Jonathan began learning about mental health through personal research — calling it “me-search” — on how to be a good sister for her brother, who she says is still trying to figure out what his diagnosis means for him 10 years after receiving it.
Through that research, “I sort of realized how messed up . . . the system was,” she says, worrying that psychiatrists too often “just kind of prescribe and don’t really get to know the (patient’s) full picture.”
Jonathan also has a twin sister, Orelia. They’ve always been very close, spending but six months apart until they both graduated from Wesleyan University in Connecticut in May. Orelia now studies at the University of Pennsylvania.
“It is painful every single day,” Jonathan says. “I miss her a lot.”
Since July, Jonathan has spent her days at Geisel School of Medicine’s Center for Technology and Behavioral Health in downtown Lebanon, working with patients in a randomized control trial for an app developed by Dror Ben-Zeev, an associate professor of psychiatry and the project’s principle investigator. The app sends multiple prompts a day — for example, it might ask about a patient’s mood — and, based on the patient’s response, sends a text or video with tips about how to move forward.
“It’s an intervention — this isn’t supposed to last forever,” says Jonathan, who checks in on and troubleshoots for patients with severe mental illness. “This is simply teaching them tips, skills, suggestions to live a better life. My job is to help facilitate that.”
In addition to her spirited interest in broadening mental health research, Jonathan had hands-on health care experience in India in summer 2014 and South Sudan after graduation this spring, when she traveled with her father, sister and two UVM students to an area near her father’s home village. There they laid the foundation for a women’s health clinic — but the village was recently “burned to the ground by the government,” Jonathan says, setting back their plans.
She nevertheless spends much of her time charting the clinic’s next steps, in between working on the app and thinking about how she can help people like her brother, who lives elsewhere in New England.
“I am very driven by my goals,” Jonathan says. “What I do might not immediately affect my brother, but if I can help sort of change the path for families in the future, then I will have beyond exceeded my goals.”
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Geneva Jonathan
Age: 22
Hometown: Williamstown, Mass.
Current town: Hanover
Where were you five years ago? Graduating from boarding school at Northfield Mount Hermon, going into her first year of college and preparing for the track and soccer seasons. “I was super motivated. Sports were my life in college, so it’s hard to say that I thought beyond sports.”
Where do you see yourself in five years? Living somewhere near her sister and pursuing her Ph.D. “I think really striving to make a difference in the mental health field. … I really want to try to explore things that people have warned me not to explore, so hopefully I will feel that testy in five years, which I’m pretty sure I will.”
What does the Upper Valley offer 20-somethings? “Outdoors galore! So if you love the outdoors, this is the perfect place for you. I do love the outdoors, and I love running. I get the scenic stuff. I’m by mountains. In the summertime I explored my fair share of water holes.”
What is lacking for 20-somethings in the Upper Valley? “If you’re not tied in with Dartmouth . . . it’s really difficult to network and bridge with other people outside of the workplace. So I’m very lucky . . . I had a boyfriend who had thousands of teammates (from Dartmouth football), and I also know a lot of people from boarding school who ended up at Dartmouth. I can see for people who don’t, it would almost feel very lonely.”