happy, brave, loved.

we are underdogs. Happy, Brave, Loved is a charity, support group and friend for anyone who is struggling with sadness and depression. Our events raise money for mental health research, our blog unites strugglers and sufferers together to smile and talk, and our core mission is to be your friend when you need it most. view our: main feed - love feed - fun feed.

[sapphire-burns]

Please reblog this yellow ribbon to show your support for suicide prevention and potentially help save a life.

Some facts about suicide and depression.

As of 2011, around one million people per year die by suicide. That’s about a death every 40 seconds or about 3,000 every day.

And for every successful suicide, there is twenty who failed. So there is an attempt of suicide  every three seconds. 

Suicide is the third leading cause of death for people aged 15 – 24.

It is the 13th leading cause of death worldwide and accounts for nearly half of all violent deaths in the world. 

121 million people worldwide suffer from depression, with 2/3 never seeking out treatment.

The number of people who die by suicide is expected to reach 1.5 million per year by 2020, one every 20 seconds.

September 9th is when National Suicide Prevention Week starts. Depression screenings are given by health organizations, including self-administered and online tests. September 10th is known as World Suicide Prevention Day.

Just because next week is devoted toward prevention does not mean that every other week isn’t. Suicide is year round, so prevention is, too. Here are some things anyone can do to help raise awareness:

Become a Facebook Fan of the IASP 

Show your participation by clicking “attending” on the Official 2012 World Suicide Prevention Day Facebook Event page

Follow the IASP on Twitter, tweeting #WSPD or #suicide or #suicideprevention

Create a video about suicide prevention

Wear yellow in support of prevention; a bracelet, t-shirt, socks, anything helps

Write “Love” on your arms, in support of TWLOHA

Light a candle, near a window, at 8 PM on September 10th in support of: World Suicide Prevention Day, suicide prevention awareness, survivors of suicide and for the memory of loved lost ones.

Also, on November 17th, there is a survivor campaign where you can attend a local conference in your area or watch online. Afterwards, you can participate in a live online chat with other survivors.

Depression Hotline: [phone]  Suicide Hotline: [phone] LifeLine: 1-800-273-8255  Trevor Project: 1-866-488-7386  Sexuality Support: 1-800-246-7743  Eating Disorders Hotline: [phone]  Rape and Sexual Assault: 1-800-656-4673  Grief Support: 1-650-321-5272  Runaway: 1-800-843-5200, 1-800-843-5678, 1-800-621-4000  Exhale: After Abortion Hotline/Pro-Voice: 1-866-4394253 

For more information on World Suicide Prevention Day, go here.

“The vast majority of people don’t commit suicide because they want to kill themselves, but as a way to end the torment of not being able to cope with their problem,” says Major David Reynolds. If we could give them a better way to cope and heal, we could help save so many people.

[happybraveloved-blog]

Welcome to Happy, Brave, Loved.

Yesterday I sat on my computer and scrolled through the 'depression' tag on Tumblr. I was feeling ill at ease, and I wanted to see if anyone else was feeling the same way. I don't think anyone realizes until they see it complied into an easy, scrollable list just how many people these days are utterly and unequivocally sad. Hundreds of pages of self-harm, expressions of anguish and loneliness, cries for help and confusion about why exactly we're here to begin with. It affected me far more than I thought it would, and it caused me to want to make a change.

There are a lot of charities out there for mental health. They support research, they support therapy, they tell you to be strong and to be brave and that you'll make it through this. These are all good things to raise money for and to tell people, but that's not what I want to do with Happy, Brave, Loved. I want to make people happy. It's far less simple than it sounds, and I realize that wholeheartedly, but I feel like that's a missing piece in the support system today. You'll find plenty of people saying, "Look, the world is shit, you just have to be strong and push through it and wait for those good things to come along, and it'll have all been worth it." 

I want to tell people that the world isn't shit, that the good things are already here, that the good people are out there and those good people want to love you just as much as you want to be loved by them. I want to tell people that there's nothing wrong with love, and I want to change the meaning of the word. You can love thousands of people you've never met before because love isn't just reserved for your husband, your wife or your family. Love is so much wider than that. Love is this innate joy you get from other people's joy, love is the desire to see happiness in every day life. Love is when you sit on a bench and you watch a woman smile at her child and you think, "I am so very happy at how good her life is at this moment."

I've always viewed love as a bigger, wider thing than movies portray it, stumbling couples unsure if they should say 'I love you' yet. I'm not afraid to say I love you. I do love you. If you're reading this, I love you. And that is what I want to spread through this world. So if we come together and we smile, maybe after a while we'll be smiling without realizing it, and maybe after some time it'll just come naturally and we won't feel weird smiling at all.

I want Happy, Brave, Loved to be more than just me talking about how I feel and what I want, I want the people to express themselves, use this blog as their canvas for happiness. Ask me anything, and submit your thoughts and feelings and images and passions; I won't restrict the form you display your happiness through, just as long as it's happiness and not negativity. I want you to come to this blog on your down days and be picked back up again.

Stay Happy, Brave, Loved and I hope to talk to all of you very soon.

xx

HBL