The nonprofit To Write Love on Her Arms just announced its 5th annual campaign to honor National Suicide Prevention Week (September 5 – September 11) and World Suicide Prevention Day (September 10) today. This year’s campaign theme is “And so I kept living.”
“And so I kept living” comes from Matt Haig’s book “Reasons to Stay Alive.” After considering suicide, he wrote:
“I think life always provides reasons to not die, if we listen hard enough. Those reasons can stem from the past – the people who raised us, maybe, or friends or lovers – or from the future – the possibilities we would be switching off.
And so I kept living.”
Earlier this year, The New York Times reported that suicide rates in the United States are at a 30-year high. In 2014 alone, 42,773 people died by suicide in America. But this isn’t just a problem in our country. The World Health Organization estimates that 800,000 people around the world die by suicide each year. This year, TWLOHA hopes its campaign will invite people to challenge the stigma surrounding these issues, to fight the darkness, and to keep living.
In a blog post announcing the campaign, TWLOHA founder Jamie Tworkowski wrote, “At the heart of all of this is an ask, that you will keep going. That you will stay and fight. And not just fight but rest, and let others fight as you recover. We should win and lose together, for that’s the way it’s meant to be. That’s a life best lived.“
People can participate in this year’s campaign by buying the organization’s World Suicide Prevention Day pack, joining the conversation by using #IKeptLiving on Instagram and Twitter, and donating to the Classy fundraising page. TWLOHA will directly invest every dollar from the “And so I kept living” campaign into treatment and recovery.
For more information on To Write Love on Her Arms, please visit: www.twloha.com
To get involved, please visit: twloha.com/blog/world-suicide-
