TWLOHA: World Suicide Prevention Day

Jamie Tworkowski started the To Write Love On Her Arms organization over 10 years ago with the hope that others would find hope while struggling with diseases such as addiction, depression, self injury and thoughts of suicide. Since beginning this organization, To Write Love On Her Arms has gained exposure from outlets such as the Vans Warped Tour, Rolling Stone Magazine and NBC. Celebrities such as Sophia Bush, Switchfoot and Jared Padalecki have all showed support in the cause and have donated with their fans through social media. A film dramatization starring Chad Michael Murray and Kat Dennings was released in 2012 documenting the story behind the start of TWLOHA and Tworkowski recently published a book titled If You Think Too Much.

As part of National Suicide Prevention Week, the theme is “We’ll See You Tomorrow”. Tworkowski published this on the official website:

The lie is that depression and suicide are things that we can’t talk about.

It’s a lie that causes people to feel alone and live alone when it comes to their pain. The truth is that, as people, we all relate to pain. We all struggle from time to time, we all experience sadness, and we all encounter huge questions in this life. All of that is part of this human experience that you and i keep waking up to.

And with all of that in mind, welcome to National Suicide Prevention Week. This week, people all across America are pushing back at the lie. Thousands more will join them on Thursday for World Suicide Prevention Day. Together we will say that it’s important to talk about mental health and suicide. Together we will say that it’s okay to be honest and it’s okay to ask for help. Together we will say we’re not alone.

Here at TWLOHA, we’re asking folks to think about tomorrow. Suicide means a story ends too soon. Hope means believing that tomorrow can be different, that life is worth living, that it’s possible to change.

Our “We’ll See You Tomorrow” campaign was born from some words i wrote at the end of National Suicide Prevention Week one year ago. i want to share those here:

Above all else, we choose to stay. We choose to fight the darkness and the sadness, to fight the questions and the lies and the myth of all that’s missing. We choose to stay, because we are stories still going. Because there is still some time for things to turn around, time for surprises and for change. We stay because no one else can play our part.

Life is worth living.

We’ll see you tomorrow.

Stage Right Secrets attended Tworkowski’s book tour this summer and got to listen to him discuss the book as well as attend a showing of the film. We couldn’t think of a better day to talk about this book than today, a day where these words matter most. We highly recommend getting your hands on a copy, whether you can relate to this topic or not.

If you’d like to donate to the organization, their Classy page is looking to raise a goal of $75,000 and every penny of it will go straight to treatment and recovery. You can also download this printable PDF and share on social media why We’ll See You Tomorrow.

If you or someone you know needs help, this is what they’re here for. Please reach out to www.twloha.com .