Today we’d like to introduce you to TWLOHA.
Hi TWLOHA, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself
Our founder, Jamie Tworkowski, didn’t set out to start a nonprofit organization. All he wanted to do was help a friend and tell her story. When Jamie met Renee Yohe, she was struggling with addiction, depression, self-injury, and suicidal thoughts. He wrote about the five days he spent with her before she entered a treatment center, and he sold T-shirts to help cover the cost. When she entered treatment, he posted the story on MySpace to give it a home. The name of the story was “To Write Love on Her Arms.” It was more than a story, and soon Jamie and his friends were answering messages from people around the world. Jamie knew that he had stumbled onto a conversation that couldn’t be ignored, and in 2007 TWLOHA become an official nonprofit organization. We recently celebrated 15 years since TWLOHA’s message was spread in March 2021, and we cannot thank people enough for their support of our mission, being 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.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Talking about mental health is never an easy feat; it requires vulnerability and openness, courage and bravery. While it has taken time, we know that the conversation surrounding mental health has changed within the last 15 years since the start of our organization.
The most recent challenge that we have faced was with the pandemic. Since 2006, we have traveled 3,952,590 miles bringing the message of hope and help to festivals, colleges, and community events. We meet more than 1 million people face to face with this life-saving conversation at the 100+ events we do every year. With the cancellation of in-person events, we were forced to transition to meeting people where they are, online rather than in-person.
The pandemic spiked anxiety, depression, and other mental health conditions that people have been facing, and we aim to continue to be a resource to people who are struggling.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Our FIND HELP Tool allows people in the US to access free or reduced cost mental health resources in their area by inputting their zip code and choosing a keyword.
Additionally, we have a Treatment and Recovery Scholarship, because we believe that finances should never be a barrier to treatment, and people deserve mental health help despite their financial situation. The scholarship is our way to help those who are looking to take that step into treatment and recovery, whether that be seeing a counselor, or attending a support group.
As an organization, this is one of the things we are most proud of, being able to help people gain access to the resources that they deserve, and showing people that their lives are worth living and knowing.
Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
As mentioned before, we didn’t set out to start a nonprofit, or to effect as many people as we did. We initially set out to help just one person, Renee, get the hope and healing that she deserved. What we have learned along the way is the importance of impacting the community around you, to build something larger, and something more sustainable.
Throughout this, we have also learned how to adapt to unforeseen situations, as many people have had, throughout the pandemic. As an organization that was primarily focused on meeting people where they are, in person at events, we had to adapt and start meeting people online. While this was a difficult transition amidst some difficult times in the world, we are grateful for the struggles and lessons that we have learned in order to continue to bring the mission of TWLOHA to more people around the globe.
Contact Info:
- Email: info@twloha.com
- Website: https://twloha.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/twloha/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/towriteloveonherarms
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/twloha
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/TWLOHA
- Other: https://twloha.tumblr.com/
