10% of revenue is donated to To Write Love On Her Arms, Inc. 

Let’s use art and creativity to challenge the stigma around mental health, and invest in treatment and recovery options.

To Write Love On Her Arms (TWLOHA) is a non-profit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury, and suicide. TWLOHA exists to encourage, inform, inspire, and invest directly into treatment and recovery. 

Those who know me personally would attest to the fact that TWLOHA plays a very significant part in my own story. I've felt deeply connected to the work this organization does since they began engaging in the difficult dialogue surrounding mental health issues back in 2006. What caught my attention immediately about the non-profit was the unique way they encouraged honest conversations about issues that really matter, but were seldom talked about due to stigma and stereotypes. I also really admired the emphasis they placed on community, the simple idea that we were not meant to do life alone - that people need other people. I loved everything about this. 

Throughout high school I always found myself wanting to help others, especially those closest to me who were struggling with these very same issues - depression, addiction, self-injury, even suicidal thoughts. Truthfully, I felt un-equipped to help in the way I genuinely wanted to, often doubting whether or not I made a difference in these individuals' lives without having had any professional training. But learning about TWLOHA's mission and vision changed all of this. I began to realize how much of an impact I could have on another person's life every single day - whether that meant loving someone harder than they've ever been loved, being present with someone when all they've come to know is loneliness, or believing in hope for someone else when all they've experienced is loss and heartbreak and hopelessness. In hindsight, TWLOHA transformed the way I understand community in my life and has forever shaped the person I have become today. 

Fast forward a couple of years and I find myself blessed with opportunities to continue to support TWLOHA's message, helping others hear a simple statement that often sounds foreign to most, but no less honest and true: you were created to love and be loved, and your story is important. I helped spread this message to friends and mentors while in college through the non-profit's University Chapters Program. I was also fortunate enough to spend the Summer of 2013 in Melbourne, FL as an Intern at TWLOHA headquarters, living in community with people I am happy to call my best friends today. I was even lucky enough to dedicate my whole self to this movement as a full-time staff member in 2014 as the organization's Operations & College Engagement Coordinator. 

TWLOHA has opened my life to some of the most life-giving relationships, conversations, perspectives, and honest love that is forever loud in this world we currently live in today. The courage I have witnessed in others, while facing their demons, is what continues to inspire me to confront my own. I have experienced community at its best and continue to look for it in new places. Most of all, I have learned how sacred of a privilege it is, to be invited into another person's story...an experience we often take for granted, but one that is worth recognizing and celebrating for all of its beauty. I am not perfect by any means and I am a story still going. I am a hopeless romantic at times, but more than anything, I am simply hopeful. I am hopeful that TWLOHA's mission and vision will continue to reach those that need it most. And I am hopeful about the better days still ahead, for each and every one of us. 

If you or someone you know is struggling, please visit TWLOHA's FIND HELP page, email info@twloha.com, or contact 911 for local emergencies.