by Josh Seech
Mental illness, substance abuse and suicide plagued me growing up. I’ve witnessed so many people fall victim to these things, and at the end (while you are at their funeral) you wonder, “What could have I done to help them?”
To Write Love On Her Arms is a group of people available to help answer questions. I first heard of them when I was in the Hawthorne District, and was walking around the little shops. I stumbled upon a shirt and was intrigued by the card hanging on its sleeve. It featured the bass player from the band Anberlin and had a message of hope and how the company came about. On the inside of the shirt, where washing instructions are normally found, was an excerpt from one of my favorite songs “For Miles” by the band Thrice:
“I know one day, all of our scars will disappear”
I purchased the shirt. I went home and logged onto the website. There I read an inspiring story about a young girl battling substance abuse and self-injury. I suggest going and reading it at http://www.twloha.com/vision. After reading it, I thought about how many people that I have known, and even know now who could use some help, who could use help but aren’t quite sure how to ask or where to go. TWLOHA takes all the mystery out of it. They have a family of people waiting to hear from anyone seeking help. If you want to join that family and help support the people who may need someone to talk to, you can also volunteer. No matter your religious background or beliefs, no one needs to go un-noticed and everyone deserves to be helped. Go check them out. You may save a life—maybe even your own.
Below you will read the conversation I had with Jason, the music and events coordinator for TWLOHA.
Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us today. When you guys first hit the scene, you were suicide prevention and assistance group, is that still the primary focus of TWLOHA?
Our Mission is still the same; we are a non-profit movement dedicated towards sending hope and finding help for people who are struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide. We also exist to encourage, inspire, inform and invest directly into treatment and recovery. Now, our mission is the same, but the ways that we are able to help and provide hope has evolved over the years. Just with the development of the internet and using social media. With the internet becoming more popular than going to a library or going to an outreach support, places were kids would have gone to get resources are now available online. So with that change, we are now evolving the ways that we are able to get people involved and get them connected to help.
So what do you see as the future of TWLOHA?
I think that we will continue with our mission, but what I would like to see is… I’ll cite my friend Aaron, who is a counselor, and he said “Mental health is where AIDS/HIV were 15-20 years ago”. So The level of understanding that HIV and AIDS had 15 years ago was so minimal, because it was a disease that no one understood; people were dying, no one knew how to deal with it and that is exactly how mental health is currently. So as year’s progress, we are hoping that the stigma associated with mental health, as it was with AIDS, is reduced. And it’s that stigma that prevents people from seeking help. So we are hoping that the stigma surrounding it becomes reduced and we’re open to doing that in a number of different ways: We have the tent the travels around on the Warped tour, we go to different universities, our founder still goes and speaks at colleges and churches all across the country to educate and promote awareness. That way people who may have issues or a friend that does, find it easier to ask for help, once they heard what we are about.
I think that, using the AIDS analogy, one reason it took so long for it to gain awareness is because it wasn’t “your” problem. Whereas now, the statistics are through the roof and 1 in every so many people are affected by it. I think that people need to see that mental illness is much the same way. It may not be a tangible thing, and many people may not know how to diagnose it, but it is affecting people at an alarming rate these days.
I think we are learning more as time goes on that psychology is becoming more biology. As we learn more about the brain and the way that it controls the chemicals in your body, and the imbalances that can occur. It is showing us more. Going back to the AIDS analogy, I really hope that it doesn’t take us 15 years before we can get people talking about mental illness more and help those people who feel like they are isolated.
For anyone reading out there, what would like to say?
For anyone out there who has a friend, or a family member out there and they are struggling; Visit our site and use those resources to reach out, talk to a friend on there. We have built a community of people who are there to help. Being heard and having someone know that you are having difficulties is the first step to getting out of that isolated place. So please, reach out. That is usually the hardest step; reaching out. You are not alone.
Again, I’d like to thank Jason and all of the TWLOHA family for everything that they do. I encourage you to go check out the website, www.twloha.com and if you know anyone who may need help, maybe just share the link with them and they can find the help there themselves. TWLOHA says it best: Rescue is possible.
I’d like to dedicate this to my mother, Brenda Seech, who took her life 9/02/2010… I hope you found peace.