End the Stigma: Mental Illness Awareness

Please help me spread awareness about mental illness to let people know that there are many others who are suffering silently, just as they are. It is time for that to change! I am selling t-shirts to raise money to enrich the music program at Norwood Mental Health Clinic in Marshfield, WI in an effort to encourage healing through music.
Did you know that 1 in 4 adults and 1 in 5 children will experience a mental illness this year? Did you also know that 50% of adults and 40% of children will not seek help? Mental illness is something that has this stigma around it saying that you are different. But why? Why is it okay for people to go to the optometrist when our eyes are bad, physical therapy when our bodies are bad, but when there’s something wrong with our minds, we are told that it’s all in our heads and to get over it. Why is my question.
Today I am asking you to leave behind that stigma and open your eyes to this epidemic that has taken the world by storm. If we don’t talk about it, we are going to lose our sisters, brothers, children, parents, and friends. Nobody likes to think about suicide. But did you know that suicide is the number one killer among men between the ages of 20-49. It ranks higher than road accidents, cancer, and coronary heart disease.
Today I am inviting you to treat someone with a mental illness no different than you would treat your best friend. Today I am asking you to be the change. We can do it but we have to do it together.
Together we can “End the Stigma!”