Kat Dolan is a performance poet and mental health advocate who has found her passion & purpose in writing and performing original poetry to help increase mental health awareness and understanding. Over the past 7 years, Kat has performed in 8 States and all over New Zealand's North and South Islands at events including music festivals, radio hours, open mics, weddings and business retreats. She has guest lectured numerous times at Appalachian State University on the topic of 'Public Speaking with a Purpose' and has guest taught ASU's Poetry Club - "Lyric", and Watauga High School's poetry club. Since moving to Boone in 2014, Kat founded a creative writing club called The Curious: A space for writers who have not yet written, which later evolved into Out of Your Mind, a mental health non-profit organization that combats social isolation through creative peer support and reframes mental illness as a mental opportunity. It wasn't always like this. Having been treated for anxiety and depression as a teen, and struggling with suicidal ideation, Kat draws her passion from her journey towards accepting herself and all her mental opportunities. Today, Kat has dedicated her life to normalizing mental health as a topic of day-to-day conversation and inspiring others through the power of performance poetry. When she isn't writing, Kat can be found performing at open mics, traveling the country for inspirational speaking planning or hosting Out of Your Mind events for her local Boone, North Carolina community and trying her best to share her passion with the intention of inspiring others to choose life.
