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Letter: Huntsmans step up for a great need

(Leah Hogsten | Tribune file photo) Karen Huntsman and her family gave a $150 million gift from the Jon M. Huntsman family to establish the Huntsman Mental Health Institute to bolster the existing University Neuropsychiatric Institute and psychiatry department, Nov. 4, 2019.

On announcing the Huntsman family’s $150 million gift to establish the Huntsman Mental Health Institute at the University of Utah, Peter Huntsman was perfectly succinct. And eloquent. And accurate.

"This is a collective failure of a state that has one of the youngest populations, the state that has one of the strongest budgets ... and greatest foundations of faith in the United States."

I am a lifelong Utahn. My family tree branches are laden with generations of chronic depression, anxiety and bipolar disorders and, too often, the accompanying shame that prevented us from getting professional help. That is, if help was even available.

I look forward to witnessing this incredible contribution bear fruit in our state. My deepest gratitude to the Huntsman family for stepping up to address one of humanity's greatest health challenges. Heroic, really.

Holly Mullen, Salt Lake City

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