Erie, Pa, January 31 2023—A recent organization that I stumbled upon was To Write Love On Her Arms.  A nonprofit organization that’s mission is to advocate and spread hope for those who are struggling with mental health.

The organization began as one man’s journey in helping a friend struggling with addiction, depression, suicidal thoughts, and self-harming to tell their story.  The founder, Jamie Tworkowski of this organization wrote of the five days he spent with his friend before entering treatment and selling t-shirts to cover the costs.

After uploading this story and thinking that was it, Jamie was surprised that him and his friends were soon answering messages from people around the world.

These messages came from people looking to free themselves from their own burdens of mental illnesses, self-harm, addiction.  Ones who lost loved ones due to these struggles. They reached out to understand how to bring hope to their community.

Since 2007, Jamie Tworkowski has made the company To Write Love On Her Arms has been an official nonprofit organization.

They have responded to 210,000 messages from people around the world.  $3 million dollars donated to treatment and recovery organizations. There have been 1,100 blog posts and a podcast to demonstrate that no one is alone.

Brands and companies speaking out and spreading awareness is the only way to have more people struggling to reach out and seek help.

The more we talk about it, the easier it is for those who are struggling to open up.

In 2020 alone, suicide was the 12^th leading cause of death in the United States and 45,979 deaths.

The impact of suicide plagues our nation, and it is a conversation that many of us are uncomfortable with having.

Just alone on the Gannon campus, students and faculty have felt the strong impacts of suicide.  They have felt the grief and immense pain that suicide can have on everyone.

Having platforms that exist to hear our voices is not going to end the pain and suffering that people feel, but it can relieve some of it.  Having your voice hear and knowing that there are others just like you out there can be comforting in a time of loneliness.

A platform that To Write Love On Her Arms has partnered with The Mighty, that provides just that—a platform for those feeling lonely to know that they aren’t going through it alone.

The Mighty is a story based community for all those struggling with mental health, disabilities, diseases, addiction and anything else to tell their own story and provide hope and help for others.

It is organizations like this that can help save lives.

More brands and organizations need to advocate for mental health awareness and one day more lives will be saved from these struggles and a more positive conversation will emerge.