It started witha story on Myspace about a young woman who needed help。Now it’s an organization that helps people around the world dealing with depression, addiction, self-injury, and suicide. With a dedicated staff of around 25, To Write Love on Her Arms lets people know — through encouragement and treatment — that they’re not alone.
We sat down with the founder, Jamie Tworkowski, to talk about World Suicide Prevention Day and their latest campaign.
这次采访是为了清晰和简洁而编辑。
在她的手臂上写爱的信息是什么希望社区听到，特别是今天？
Every year, for the last several years, we’ve built a campaign around a statement, so this year’s statement would probably be the best answer to your question: “Stay. Find what you were made for.” Stay to think about a bigger story and what you were made for. And even if it’s a really difficult moment, or season, or chapter in your story, you could stay alive to see things change.
显然是当你的时候think about suicide当你想到有人挣扎着令人想起的时候，如果他们能够或应该继续前进，我们想对那个人说的最大，单身就是留下来。
We love to invite people to think about that part of it as well. We believe in hope, and healing, and redemption, and surprises. So, not just staying to suffer. Not just staying to struggle, but staying to think about your dreams and what you hope this life can turn into.
How did the Stay campaign come about?
Every year when it comes time to choose a statement, we kick around a handful of options. Thiscame from an excerpt of a book叫“当希望说话。”它实际上是由我们的前任实习生写的，一个名叫在澳大利亚的Jessica Morris的女孩。我们在博客上分享了摘录，这只是一个响应的声明。
Speaking of your organization, how did the vision start and how has it evolved?
我们的开始绝对是一个令人惊讶的人。它并非打算在2006年成为慈善机构。
I was introduced to a girl named Renee Yohe. When I met her, she was struggling with the issues that as an organization we speak to today. When I met her, she was dealing with drug addiction, depression, self-injury. We later learned that she had attempted suicide previously. And I had the privilege of sharing part of her story in a written story that was given the title, “To Write Love on Her Arms.” And essentially that story went viral.
2006年是社交媒体的开始正常。这是MySpace时代的一点，所以我在MySpace上给了这个故事。然后我们开始将T恤作为[帮助]支付Renee治疗的方式。
这个故事占据了自己的生活，T恤也一样。几个月后，我辞掉了我的工作，决定跳进这个全职。它觉得远离的东西太特别了。
So that’s our beginning. Now 16 of us are full-time staff, with interns and freelancers who bring us to a team of 25. There’s always another seven or eight interns who come to us from all over the world. We continue to talk about these issues. Continue to let people know if they struggle they’re not alone. We continue to let people know it’s okay to be honest.
And more than anything, to let people know可以寻求帮助是可以的。And with that we get to give money to treatment and counseling, and we get to do our best to connect people to resources.
有一个在过去的几个月里,或一年,that really stands out in your mind where you said to yourself, ‘Wow! I’m so glad I quit my other job and chose this path’?
老实说，它经常发生同样的时刻 - 只是遇到一个人说他们仍然活着的人，因为在她的怀里写爱。也许这是关于Instagram的推文或评论。也许这是一个在大学活动中面对的谈话。
这对我来说真的永远不会变老。很难想象更特别或更高的谦卑，遇到一个站在你面前的人（他们会说他们可能不会站在你面前，如果它不适合在她的手臂上写爱）。
And depending on the time we have, people can unpack their experience of finally getting help, or opening up to a friend or a family member — but those are the moments that remind me and remind our team what’s at stake and why this whole thing is such a privilege.
That’s truly amazing. In relation to the topic of mental health, we also came across a report that shows more Americans are living with anxiety, depression, and stress right now. What do you think could be contributing to this?
I think there’s a lot of reasons [leading tothe report]. Obviously there’s a lot of uncertainty. You look at our president. You look at the talk around North Korea. Climate change. The idea of whether we’re all still going to be here tomorrow. It’s certainly one that could cause anxiety. And then add that on top of people’s everyday challenges and stresses of work and providing for a family.
I do think we live in a unique time, certainly in this moment politically. We wake up to new challenges and difficult headlines pretty much every day right now, and so it makes sense if you’re a person who feels things that you’re going to feel the weight of that.
From an insider’s perspective, how do you think we can bridge the gap so more people understand what living with depression, anxiety, feelings of hopelessness is like?
In general, something that we love to point out (and this isn’t even an idea I came up with) is that the brain is part of the body. Mental health shouldn’t be treated differently than physical health.
Because when you think about it, almost every condition, or illness, or broken bone is invisible unless someone shows you an X-ray. When someone is sick, or when something is going on internally, we don’t询问证明。
我是一个挣扎的人沮丧。And I think它倾向于以很多不同的方式影响我们的生活。抑郁症和焦虑，可以影响饮食习惯和睡眠习惯，可能导致你孤立。你可以接受曾经是非常社交或外向的人，当他们在萧条的季节时，可能会导致他们只想独自一人。心理健康可以急剧改变行为。
Right.
So we dream about a day in which mental health does not have an asterisk, when it can be viewed as treatable as something as simple as the flu or something as terrible as cancer — the bottom line is if someone needs help, they would be able get the help that they need.
最近,一个女人写了一个注意到她的办公室saying she was taking time off for her mental health. Her boss responded, ‘This is amazing. More people should do this.’ What do you think of that?
I actually did not see这个故事, but I love it. I absolutely do. If someone was fighting感冒或流感, everyone would understand that person staying home until they were well. So I love the idea of mental health days or of people in workplaces prioritizing mental health.
We’re made up of a staff and at times it’s a really cool challenge for us just to live out our message. We have folks (myself included) who leave the office once a week to go to counseling maybe in the middle of the day. We love to celebrate that. It may be inconvenient for the workday, or for certain meetings or projects, but we’re saying this deserves to be a priority.
And the idea is if you support an employee to be healthy, in general they’re going to do better work for you. It’s a win for everyone. So even if you’re an employer and you don’t really understand mental health, you can at least understand, “I want my employees to be healthy enough to produce.”
And how do you help yourself if you’re experiencing anxiety or depression one day, or going through a period?
I’ve taken抗抑郁药for several years now. That’s something that happens every day. No matter how I’m feeling, I take something before I go to sleep.
我倾向于将他们称为季节。我有几个不同的季节要咨询，通常每周一次每周一次。这是一种往往是一个更具界面的东西，但如果我正在挣扎，我就学会了这一点best thing I can throw at my depression是我每周坐一次参加顾问，并有时间来处理事情并谈谈我的感受。
然后超越了，我已经学会了value of self-care，有些非常简单。晚上睡得好。锻炼。做让我微笑的事情，而那些事情对于每个人来说显然是不同的。对我来说，它可能正在冲浪或与我的侄子一起玩。
也许另一件事就是relationships。We believe that people need other people, and so for me that means having honest conversations with friends and family members in general, but especially when I’m struggling.
Thank you for sharing that. So many people will find your advice valuable. What’s the biggest thing that a mental health community, and people in general, can do to help your organization and others?
有许多方法可以回答这个问题。当然，我们是打破沉默的粉丝，因为存在这样一种耻辱，围绕着心理健康，并且有这样的耻辱，让这种谈话发生在发生。
我们希望这一天和这一天[世界自杀式防止日]可以让人们说话，但除此之外，我们正试图为人们筹集资金，以获得他们需要的帮助。
We’ve set this goal of raising $100,000 that’s going to turn into scholarship dollars for people who need counseling or need treatment but can’t afford it. There’s totally value in the talking and communicating, but we love that we’re also going to invest in making sure people get help.
我们的网站有很多关于我们的竞选活动和世界自杀预防日的筹款方面的信息。我们正在销售包装，有一个T恤，贴纸和一张海报......真的，我们可以让别人带来这个竞选和对话给他们的社区。
This day is much bigger than just our organization. We work really hard on our campaign, but we’re also aware that so many people who work in mental health and suicide prevention are doing their part to acknowledge September 10 and also here, in America, National Suicide Prevention Week.
好吧，谢谢你，杰米。我们非常感谢您花时间与我们交谈，我们真的很高兴与健康联盟社区分享您的故事。雷竞技app官网
I’m super honored by that and super grateful. Thank you so much.
使用hashtag加入社交媒体上的对话#IWasMadeFor。您还可以通过访问来了解更多有关该活动的信息在她的怀里写爱or by watching the video below:
自杀预防：
如果您认为有人是自我危害或伤害他人的立即风险：
- Call 911 or your local emergency number.
- 留在这个人，直到帮助到来。
- Remove any guns, knives, medications, or other things that may cause harm.
- Listen, but don’t judge, argue, threaten, or yell.
If you think someone is considering suicide, get help from a crisis or suicide prevention hotline. Try the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at800-273-8255。