INFOBOOK

To Write Love on Her Arms 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 also to invest directly into treatment and recovery.

TABLE OF CONTENTS 01 MISSION STATEMENT

02 WHAT WE DO

03 TWLOHA, THEN + NOW

04 THE STORY

08 WHAT WE KNOW

10 FIND HELP: HELPLINES + TREATMENT AND COUNSELING

12 HELP WITH ADDICTION

13 HELP WITH SELF INJURY + HELP WITH EATING DISORDERS

14 GET MORE INVOLVED

16 FAQ

18 LEARN MORE

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MISSION STATEMENT: To Write Love on Her Arms 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 also to invest directly into treatment and recovery.

WHAT WE DO:

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CONNECT TO HELP PRESENT HOPE

CHALLENGE STIGMA INVEST IN TREATMENTTWLOHA is proud to offer grants to organizations

and treatment centers and support counseling through scholarship funds. We’ve given more than $1.5 million to treatment and recovery.

At TWLOHA, we act as a “bridge to help” by pointing people to credible national, local, and community resources which address a

variety of mental health issues and illnesses.

We aim to create a positive community that believes in the reality of recovery. We provide

encouragement and inspiration through creative campaigns, online media, and events.

The misconceptions surrounding mental health are many. TWLOHA promotes education and awareness through merchandise, speaking, tours, social media, and various programs.

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TWLOHA, THEN + NOWThis began in the spring of 2006, when To Write Love on Her Arms founder Jamie Tworkowski wrote a story about a friend struggling with depression, addiction, and self-injury. The words and the life it represented shed light on the reality of contrast—pain and peace, addiction and sobriety, regret and freedom. The title, “To Write Love on Her Arms,” also represented a goal—to believe that a better life was possible. A MySpace page was created to give the story a home, and T-shirts were sold to pay for the friend’s treatment.

As the days passed and the blog was shared, it became clear that this story was not just about one person. These are issues of humanity, problems of pain that affect millions of people around the world, regardless of age, race, gender, religious belief, orientation, and background.

Through musician support, tours, and social media, the message of hope and help has reached an audience broader than we could have ever anticipated. We’ve expanded from a computer screen to conferences, campuses, programs, and events around the country and the world, where we challenge the stigma and stereotypes that have surrounded mental health issues for so long. And we’re investing into treatment and recovery, offering financial support to organizations, centers, and individuals laboring in the priceless work of healing. TWLOHA is honored to be a bridge to the better life we continue to believe is possible.

AT A GLANCESINCE 2006, TWLOHA HAS:

• Answered 200,000+ messages from 100 countries.

• Invested over $1,500,000 in treatment and recovery.

• Spoken at over 300 high schools, colleges, churches, conferences, and special events.

• Online community has grown to over 2.2 million people.

• Hosted 21 MOVE Community Conferences in the United States and Canada.

• Launched 100 University Chapters on college campuses in the United States, Canada, and New Zealand.

• Reached 510 high schools in 37 states and 9 countries with The Storytellers High School Campaign.

• Been welcomed by headlining bands on 13 tours across the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.

• Spent seven summers on the Vans Warped Tour.

• Hosted the national TWLOHA HEAVY AND LIGHT tour, taking an evening of songs, conversation, and hope to 17 cities in 2013.

• Participated in over 40 festivals in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand.

• Worked with supporters to organize nearly 300 benefits to raise awareness and funds.

• Hosted 900 virtual runners and 620 local runners at the second annual TWLOHA Run For It 5K in Satellite Beach, FL.

• Spread the message of hope to the surfing community through the Hope Goes Surfing campaign.

• Awarded $1,000,000 grant from Chase Bank at the first-ever American Giving Awards in December 2011.

• Won the 2007 MySpace Impact Award, the 2009 Shorty Award for “Best Non-Profit on Twitter,” the “#AmericaWants” contest for a full-page ad in USA Today, and the 2010 Mashable Award for “Must-Follow Non-Profit.”

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THE STORYby Jamie Tworkowski

Pedro the Lion is loud in the speakers, and the city waits just outside our open windows. She sits and sings, legs crossed in the passenger seat, her pretty voice hiding in the volume. Music is a safe place and Pedro is her favorite. It hits me that she won’t see this skyline for several weeks, and we will be without her. I lean forward, knowing this will be written, and I ask what she’d say if her story had an audience. She smiles. “Tell them to look up. Tell them to remember the stars.”

I would rather write her a song, because songs don’t wait to resolve, and because songs mean so much to her. Stories wait for endings, but songs are brave things bold enough to sing when all they know is darkness. These words, like most words, will be written next to midnight, between hurricane and harbor, as both claim to save her. Renee is 19. When I meet her, cocaine is fresh in her system. She hasn’t slept in 36 hours and she won’t for another 24. It is a familiar blur of coke, pot, pills and alcohol. She has agreed to meet us, to listen and to let us pray. We ask Renee to come with us, to leave this broken night. She says she’ll go to rehab tomorrow, but she isn’t ready now. It is too great a change. We pray and say goodbye and it is hard to leave without her.

She has known such great pain; haunted dreams as a child, the near-constant presence of evil ever since. She has felt the touch of awful naked men, battled depression and addiction, and attempted suicide. Her arms remember razor blades, fifty scars that speak of self-inflicted wounds. Six hours after I meet her, she is feeling trapped, two groups of “friends” offering opposite ideas. Everyone is asleep. The sun is rising. She drinks long from a bottle of liquor, takes a razor blade from the table and locks herself in the bathroom. She cuts herself, using the blade to write “FUCK UP” large across her left forearm.

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The nurse at the treatment center finds the wound several hours later. The center has no detox, names her too great a risk, and does not accept her. For the next five days, she is ours to love. We become her hospital and the possibility of healing fills our living room with life. It is unspoken and there are only a few of us, but we will be her church, the body of Christ coming alive to meet her needs, to write love on her arms.

She is full of contrast, more alive and closer to death than anyone I’ve known, like a Johnny Cash song or some theatre star. She owns attitude and humor beyond her 19 years, and when she tells me her story, she is humble and quiet and kind, shaped by the pain of a hundred lifetimes. I sit privileged but breaking as she shares. Her life has been so dark yet there is some soft hope in her words, and on consecutive evenings, I watch the prettiest girls in the room tell her that she’s beautiful. I think it’s God reminding her.

I’ve never walked this road, but I decide that if we’re going to run a five-day rehab, it is going to be the coolest in the country. It’s going to be rock and roll. We start with the basics—lots of fun, too much Starbucks and way too many cigarettes.

Thursday night she is in the balcony for Band Marino, Orlando’s finest. They are indie-folk-fabulous, a movement disguised as a circus. She loves them and she smiles when I point out the A&R man from Atlantic Europe, in town from London just to catch this show.

She is in good seats when the Magic beat the Sonics the next night, screaming like a lifelong fan with every Dwight Howard dunk. On the way home, we stop for more coffee and books, Blue Like Jazz and (Anne Lamott’s) Traveling Mercies.

On Saturday, the Taste of Chaos tour is in town and I’m not even sure we can get in, but doors do open and minutes after parking, we are on stage for Thrice, one of her favorite bands. She stands ten feet from the drummer, smiling constantly. It is a bright moment there in the music, as light and rain collide above the stage. It feels like healing. It is certainly hope.

Sunday night is church and many gather after the service to pray for Renee, this her last night before entering rehab. Some are strangers but all are friends tonight. The prayers move from broken to bold, all encouraging. We’re talking to God but I think as much, we’re talking to her, telling her she’s loved, saying she does not go alone. One among us knows her best. Ryan sits in the corner strumming an acoustic guitar, singing songs she’s inspired.

After church our house fills with friends, there for a few more moments before goodbye. Everyone has some gift for her, some note or hug or piece of encouragement. She pulls me aside and tells me she would like to give me something. I smile surprised, wondering what it could be. We walk through the crowded living room, to the garage and her stuff.

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She hands me her last razor blade, tells me it is the one she used to cut her arm and her last lines of cocaine five nights before. She’s had it with her ever since, shares that tonight will be the hardest night and she shouldn’t have it. I hold it carefully, thank her and know instantly that this moment, this gift, will stay with me. It hits me to wonder if this great feeling is what Christ knows when we surrender our broken hearts, when we trade death for life. As we arrive at the treatment center, she finishes: “The stars are always there but we miss them in the dirt and clouds. We miss them in the storms. Tell them to remember hope. We have hope.”

I have watched life come back to her, and it has been a privilege. When our time with her began, someone suggested shifts but that is the language of business. Love is something better. I have been challenged and changed, reminded that love is that simple answer to so many of our hardest questions. Don Miller says we’re called to hold our hands against the wounds of a broken world, to stop the bleeding. I agree so greatly.

We often ask God to show up. We pray prayers of rescue. Perhaps God would ask us to be that rescue, to be His body, to move for things that matter. He is not invisible when we come alive. I might be simple but more and more, I believe God works in love, speaks in love, is revealed in our love. I have seen that this week and honestly, it has been simple: Take a broken girl, treat her like a famous princess, give her the best seats in the house. Buy her coffee and cigarettes for the coming down, books and bathroom things for the days ahead. Tell her something true when all she’s known are lies. Tell her God loves her. Tell her about forgiveness, the possibility of freedom, tell her she was made to dance in white dresses. All these things are true.

We are only asked to love, to offer hope to the many hopeless. We don’t get to choose all the endings, but we are asked to play the rescuers. We won’t solve all mysteries and our hearts will certainly break in such a vulnerable life, but it is the best way. We were made to be lovers bold in broken places, pouring ourselves out again and again until we’re called home.

I have learned so much in one week with one brave girl. She is alive now, in the patience and safety of rehab, covered in marks of madness but choosing to believe that God makes things new, that He meant hope and healing in the stars. She would ask you to remember.

WE AT TWLOHA BELIEVE THAT RESCUE IS POSSIBLE AND ARE COMMITTED TO COMMUNICATING HOPE TO OTHERS WHO KNOW THE DAILY STRUGGLE OF LIVING IN A BROKEN WORLD.

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[1] World Health Organization, “Depression Fact Sheet” [2] National Alliance on Mental Illness, “Women and Depression”[3] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Mental Illness Surveillance Among Adults in the United States,”

350 MILLION People Suffer From Depression Worldwide [1]

= 50 Million People

25% OF ALL U.S. ADULTSHave a Mental Illness

NEARLY 50% OF U.S. ADULTSWill Develop at Least One Mental Illness During Their Lifetime

[3]

2/3 of People With Depression Do Not Seek Treatment [2]

Each year, we share statistics that reflect the current state of mental health.

But every day we’re aware that these numbers represent our brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, and friends and colleagues. We’re reminded by the people we meet, the messages we receive, and the stories they share. We’re reminded that those numbers tell us of lives filled with dreams of a better tomorrow.

We believe the only way to change these numbers is to challenge the lie that says we can’t talk about these issues.

what we know

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AN AVERAGE OF 108 LIVES ARE LOST TO SUICIDE EACH DAY

That is 1 Life Lost Every 13.3 Minutes.

SUICIDEis the

[4] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Web- based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System” (2010) [5] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,, “Suicide Fact Sheet” [6] SAMHSA, “National Survey on Drug Use and Help 2013”

[7] Healthy Place, “Self-Injury, Self-Harm Statistics and Facts”

[4]

[5]

[7]

3RD Among People Aged 15 – 24 Years

4TH Among People Aged 35 – 54 Years

22.7 MILLION People 12 or Older Needed Treatment for an Illicit Drug or Alcohol Problem

20.2 MILLION of Those People Did Not Receive Treatment

[6]

EACH YEAR, 1 IN 5 FEMALESAND 1 IN 7 MALES ENGAGEIN SELF-HARM.

2ND Leading Cause of Death Among People Aged 25 – 34 Years

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HOPE IS REAL. HELP IS REAL.

FIND HELPPart of the mission of TWLOHA is to connect people to treatment and sources of help. Regardless of what you may be facing, reaching out for help from a counselor, joining a support group, or even calling a hotline can be a great place to start.

The resources listed here are just a few of many. When reaching out to treatment providers, we always encourage people to begin by connecting with resources from licensed mental health providers. While TWLOHA believes in the power and efficacy of treatment, you are responsible for interviewing and selecting the provider or treatment. As TWLOHA does not provide treatment services, TWLOHA cannot accept responsibility for any of the services provided by these or any other providers.

TWLOHA is not a 24-hour helpline, nor are we trained mental health professionals.TWLOHA hopes to serve as a bridge to help.

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HELPLINES•National Suicide Prevention Lifeline

www.SuicidePreventionLifeline.org—1.800.273.TALK

•National Child Abuse Hotline www.ChildHelp.com—1.800.4.A.CHILD

•National Domestic Violence Hotline www.TheHotline.org—1.800.799.SAFE

•Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network www.RAINN.org—1.800.656.HOPE

•The Trevor Project www.TheTrevorProject.org—1.866.4.U.TREVOR

FIND TREATMENT OR COUNSELING •American Psychological Association

Counseling Services Locator Locator.APA.org

•American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy Counseling Services Locator www.TherapistLocator.net

•Befrienders Worldwide Counseling Services Locator www.Befrienders.org

•Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration (SAMHSA) Substance Abuse Treatment Locator www.FindTreatment.SAMHSA.gov

•Department of Veterans Affairs Resource Locator for Veterans www.VA.gov/landing2_locations.htm

•American Association of Christian Counselors Christian Counseling Services Locator www.AACC.net/references/treatment-centers

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FOR HELP WITH ADDICTION Alcoholics Anonymous—www.AA.orgAA is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from alcoholism. The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking. There are no dues or fees for AA membership. Their primary purpose is to help people stay sober and help other alcoholics to achieve sobriety.

The Al-Anon Family Groups—www.Al-Anon.AlaTeen.orgThe Al-Anon Family Groups are a fellowship of relatives and friends of alcoholics who share their experience, strength and hope in order to solve their common problems. They believe alcoholism is a family illness and that changed attitudes can aid recovery. There are no dues. Al-Anon has but one purpose: to help families of alcoholics.

Narcotics Anonymous—www.NA.orgNA is an international, community-based association of recovering drug addicts with more than 43,900 weekly meetings in over 127 countries worldwide. Today, NA is well established throughout much of the Americas, Western Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, with newly formed groups throughout the Indian subcontinent, Africa, East Asia, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe.

Nar-Anon—www.Nar-Anon.orgNar-Anon members are relatives and friends who are concerned about the addiction or drug problems of another. The Nar-Anon Family Group is for those who know or have known a feeling of desperation due to the addiction problem of someone close to them. Nar-Anon members share their experiences, strength and hope at weekly meetings.

InTheRooms.com—www.InTheRooms.comInTheRooms is an online global recovery community for people seeking help, in recovery, or are friends and family of people in recovery. InTheRooms.com offers a free database of anonymous 12- step meetings available all over the world, as well as forums with message boards where members can connect with one another in recovery.

Cumberland Heights—www.CumberlandHeights.orgCumberland Heights is a nationally recognized alcohol and drug treatment center located west of Nashville on the Cumberland River, offering both in-patient and out-patient services for individuals as well as programs for family members.

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FOR HELP WITH SELF-INJURY S.A.F.E. Alternatives—www.SelfInjury.comS.A.F.E. Alternatives is a nationally recognized treatment approach, professional network, and educational resources base, which is committed to helping you and others achieve an end to self-injurious behavior.

Self-Injury Foundation—www.SelfInjuryFoundation.orgSelf-Injury Foundation provides funding for research, advocacy support and education for self-injurers, their loved ones and the professionals who work with them.

Self-injury Outreach and Support (SiOS)—www.SiOutreach.orgSiOS is a non-profit outreach initiative providing information and resources about self-injury to those who self-injure, those who have recovered, and those who want to help.

FOR HELP WITH EATING DISORDERS National Eating Disorders Association—www.NationalEatingDisorders.orgNEDA supports individuals and families affected by eating disorders, and serves as a catalyst for prevention, cures and access to quality care. They campaign for prevention, improved access to quality treatment, and increased research funding to better understand and treat eating disorders. They work with partners and volunteers to develop programs and tools to help everyone who seeks assistance.

Anorexics and Bulimics Anonymous (ABA)—www.ABA12Steps.orgABA is a fellowship of individuals whose primary purpose is to find and maintain sobriety in eating practices, and to help others gain sobriety. Rather than about food, ABA considers eating disorders to be about an illusion of control over food and body weight. They believe sobriety is about surrendering that illusion of control to a Higher Power of one’s own individual understanding. There are no dues or fees for ABA membership. ABA is not affiliated with any other 12-step fellowship or outside organization, not are they allied with any religion. You can find meeting in Canada, the US, Israel, New Zealand, Australia and Europe, as well as phone meetings here.

Overeaters Anonymous (OA)—www.OA.orgOA is a fellowship of individuals who, through shared experience, strength and hope, are recovering from compulsive overeating. There are no dues or fees for members. OA is not affiliated with any public or private organization, political movement, ideology or religious doctrine, and they take no position on outside issues. OA has about 6,500 registered meetings in over 75 countries.

Remuda Ranch—www.RemudaRanch.comRemuda Ranch treats women, adolescents and children with anorexia, bulimia, and related issues. Additionally, they treat those struggling with binge eating disorder, obesity, and compulsive overeating in our Binge Eating Disorder Program. Remuda Ranch also offers a residential OCD Program in Arizona. They also treat women, 18 and older, struggling with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), panic disorder, social anxiety disorder and body dysmorphic disorder.

FINDINGBalance—www.FINDINGBalance.comFINDINGBalance is a faith-based non-profit that addresses eating and body image issues. They provide community and connect individuals to a variety of practical resources, from support group curriculum and research to self-tests and treatment finders.

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GET MORE INVOLVED Start a conversation. Use your voice to help us share a message of hope and help by connecting with us on social media.

Host a supporter benefit. Supporter benefits are independent events that raise funds for TWLOHA. They’re a great way to build awareness in your local community and become more involved with the organization. Supporters are also invited to be as creative as they want with the event they’d like to host. In the past, individuals and groups have hosted benefit concerts, coffee house nights, 5Ks, fashion shows, penny drives, car washes, and pancake breakfasts. Host a MOVE Community Conference. MOVE is an in-depth, engaging workshop led by professional counselors. It is designed to begin a conversation about issues that are often avoided—depression, addiction, self-injury, suicide, anxiety, eating disorders—and the role a trusted community plays in bringing hope to those who feel broken.

Join or start a University Chapters. UChapters is program is a network of student organizations on college and university campuses that exists to embody the mission and vision of To Write Love on Her Arms. Through organized meetings and events, each chapter serves as a voice of inspiration and support for students and their surrounding communities. Become an Intern. Our Intern Program is a great way to be directly involved and immersed in the mission of TWLOHA. Interns are invited to join us in Melbourne, FL for a three-to-four month term to live in community together while developing both personally and professionally. They present hope and act as a bridge to help for those struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury, and suicide.

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FAQGENERALQ: What is To Write Love on Her Arms?A: To Write Love on Her Arms 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 also to invest directly into treatment and recovery.

TWLOHA began in Orlando, FL in 2006 when our founder, Jamie Tworkowski, wrote a story about a friend who struggled with self-injury and addiction and the five days preceding her entry into treatment. The story, which was entitled “To Write Love on Her Arms,” went viral, and T-shirts were initially printed and sold as a way to pay for that friend’s treatment. Since then, TWLOHA has become a non-profit which serves as a bridge to hope and help for people facing the same issues.

Q: Are you a non-profit organization? A: Yes, TWLOHA, Inc. is a registered 501(c)(3) organization. Tax ID number 26-0789229. A copy of our IRS approval letter can be found in the Finances section of our website. To see where donations to TWLOHA go, visit our Donate page.

Q: Does TWLOHA provide counseling or treatment?A: Though we believe in the power of counseling and treatment, we are not trained mental health professionals and do not personally provide these services. TWLOHA’s mission is to connect people to and invest in mental health resources as we create a better and safer conversation about issues like depression, addiction, self-injury, eating disorders, and suicide. If you would like more information about counseling or treatment resources that are available, check out our Find Help page.

Q: Why is merchandise important for TWLOHA as a non-profit?A: In the beginning, before TWLOHA was a non-profit, there was only one shirt, and it served the purpose of helping to pay for one person’s treatment. But as TWLOHA began to grow, we continued to use merchandise as a way to finance our work, like many organizations do. While we do receive additional income from programs, supporter donations, and speaking honorariums, TWLOHA is somewhat unique in that the sale of our merchandise remains a primary source of funding for the ways in which we give back. Every piece of merchandise also has a much bigger purpose. It’s a conversation starter. It’s something that ties supporters together as a community. It spreads the TWLOHA message to someone who might not have found out about us otherwise. It shares hope.

To see the merchandise TWLOHA currently has available visit our online store at store.twloha.com.

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FINANCIAL/DONATIONSQ: Where does the money go?A: TWLOHA gives a large portion of all proceeds to treatment and recovery through the organizations listed below. For a breakdown of how our money is used, you can view our financial reports on our site. We also invest in our Street Team, UChapters Program, MOVE Community Conferences, intern program, counseling scholarships, and other ways we can connect people with hope and help. Listed below are some of the organizations we have financially supported:

NATIONAL Kristin Brooks Hope Center—www.Hopeline.com—(1-800-SUICIDE)

IMAlive—www.IMAlive.org

Suicide Prevention Initiatives—www.SuicidePreventionInitiatives.org

Self Injury Foundation—www.SelfInjuryFoundation.org

Minding Your Mind Foundation—www.MindingYourMind.org

In the Rooms—www.InTheRooms.com

American Foundation for Suicide Prevention—www.AFSP.org

USA Cares—www.USACares.org

Cumberland Heights—www.CumberlandHeights.org

INTERNATIONALKids Help Line (Australia)—www.KidsHelp.com.au—(1-800-55-1800)

LOCALTWLOHA calls Central Florida home, and we have been able to offer a scholarship program for people seeking counseling in the area who have little or no insurance.

Solace Counseling—www.SolaceCounseling.comChristopher Counseling Group—www.TheChristopherCounselingGroup.comNew Hope Counseling Center—www.NewHopeCounselingCenter.orgFlorida Counseling Centers—www.FloridaCounselingCenters.com

Although not listed here, we have been able to offer financial assistance to other counseling centers in Central Florida, as well.

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LEARN MORE ABOUT TWLOHA:

twloha.comtwitter.com/twlohafacebook.com/towriteloveonherarmsstore.twloha.com

ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH:

International Foundation for Research and Education on Depression—www.IFRED.orgiFred is dedicated to helping research the causes of depression, to support those dealing with depression and to combat the stigma associated with depression.

Mental Health America—www.NMHA.orgMental Health America is dedicated to promoting mental health, preventing mental and substance use conditions and achieving victory over mental illnesses and addictions through advocacy, education, research and service.

National Alliance of Mental Illness—www.NAMI.orgNAMI has established itself as the most formidable grassroots mental health advocacy organization in the country. Dedication, steadfast commitment and unceasing belief in NAMI’s mission by grassroots advocates have produced profound changes.

American Foundation for Suicide Prevention—www.AFSP.orgThe American Foundation for Suicide Prevention is dedicated to understanding and preventing suicide through research, education, advocacy and to reaching out to people with mental disorders and those impacted by suicide.