Peeling Back the Curtain: Former News Anchor Bryan Piatt Talks the Importance of Visibility and Vulnerability

At just 26, Bryan Piatt landed his dream job as a morning reporter for KARE 11. Three years out from graduating from St. Cloud University, Piatt had been in the industry for three years and never expected to work for a major network so soon. Piatt reflected on the beginning of his broadcast career, when he spent much of his time connecting with members of the community.

“I first got hired as a morning reporter … So, I got sent out to all these fun wacky live shots … to this day, I feel like [the segments] I did at the beginning of my time at KARE 11 were some of the most meaningful work I did,” Piatt says.

For seven years, Piatt appeared on the air, bringing stories and traffic reports to the Twin Cities, but reality was not as glamorous as what people saw on screen. Behind the scenes, Piatt was reaching a breaking point, struggling with panic attacks every time he went on the air.

Lavender sat down with former news anchor Bryan Piatt to peel back the curtain on mental health, discussing the importance of visibility and vulnerability.

“There was a lot of pressure with that job, probably a lot of pressure I put on myself,” Piatt reflects. In 2018, his symptoms became unbearable, and he had to address his mental health struggles, stepping away from the camera and prioritizing his emotional well-being.

Piatt’s mental health had been a lifelong struggle, one he traces back to middle school. Originally from Denver, Piatt’s family relocated to Fargo, N.D., when he was 12.

“The move … was huge for me,” Piatt reflects. “Here I was, a very sensitive, expressive 12-year-old, who in many ways didn’t fit the mold of what it means to be a ‘man’ in our society.”

Piatt remembers when obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) began to affect his life, filling his mind with disturbing intrusive thoughts that made him question himself and his value as a person. Simultaneously, Piatt’s sexuality began to trouble him, as he started to develop crushes on other boys in school. Shame weighed heavily on young Piatt, as his compounding differences made it challenging to fit in with his peers. It was a lonely existence, not knowing anyone like himself.

Eventually, Piatt went to college at St. Cloud State University, where he would come out about his sexuality, but his mental health still burdened him, growing worse with time. Convinced there was something wrong with him, Piatt kept his unwanted thoughts a secret into his early 30s, until 2018, when his OCD and anxiety became unbearable, and he realized he needed professional help. As he sought treatment, Piatt confronted the shame that had hung over his head for so many years, inviting the people in his life to support him.

“[Shame] can take us out real fast if we don’t trust in people and invite other people into our experience to support us and love us through it,” Piatt says.

After a year of working on his mental health, Piatt stepped back into the public eye with a message: You are not alone. With the platform he had built with KARE 11, Piatt wanted to use his voice to tell his story, touching on even the more difficult symptoms.

“It was really scary,” Piatt recalls, but he felt it was important to speak out. “There’s far too many people walking around experiencing these taboo themes of OCD, and thinking there is something terribly wrong with them, when the reality is they’re living with a mental health disorder.”

Piatt thought that if he could even reach one person with his story, it would all be worth it. After the interview aired, there was an overwhelmingly positive response, with strangers approaching him in public, thanking him for his courage.

“I feel like it opened up a portal for other people to be vulnerable … It’s really special that I was given a platform to reach a lot of people,” Piatt says.

Piatt’s career took a turn as he accepted public speaking opportunities and went on podcasts to talk about his journey. The more time he spent doing advocacy work, the more he felt compelled to enter the mental health field professionally. During the pandemic, Piatt made a life-changing decision: to leave the job security of KARE 11 to pursue a new dream as a mental health therapist. Piatt graduated from Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota with a Master’s degree in Counseling and Psychological Services in January 2024. He specializes in treating OCD and anxiety, helping people with his same condition overcome intrusive thoughts and compulsions.

While he is grateful for his time at KARE 11, Piatt has no regrets about his career pivot. “This work aligns with who I am at the core,” Piatt says. He can harness his lived experiences as a member of the LGBTQ+ community and as someone living with OCD to create a safe haven for clients to be “heard, validated and loved through what they’re going through.”

Piatt’s own mental health journey isn’t over, and he expressed that there are good days and bad days. “Living with mental health challenges is less about what I need to do to never feel uncomfortable emotions,” he says. “It’s more about how I can shift my relationships with those things and show up for my life the best I can with those things along for the ride.” He emphasized that now more than ever, we need to be gentle with ourselves.