Seattle, Wa- With everything that is going on in the world, from bullying to school shootings, the We Rise Campaign wanted to get in front of topics that relate to mental health and make people aware of it. “In honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, WE RISE will feature over 150+ artists presenting original pieces of art, over 50-hours of creative programming and workshops along with other performances and panels with the biggest names in pop culture, art, activism, and sports focused on using the arts to break stigmas around mental health, especially in youth communities.”
“WE RISE is free and open to the public and will run until Monday, May 28th. WE RISE is a project of the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health and its WHY WE RISE campaign.”
On Tuesday, Former NBA star, and future Hall of Famer Kobe Bryant surprised 300 students at the We Rise event. In his own words, he explained how he had gotten passed obstacles that he faced on and off the court, how he dealt with insecurities and talked about mental health. “It’s easy for us as people to kind of ignore the emotional side of it, especially when it comes to things that deal with negativity, things that deal with insecurity, things that deal with fear. It’s very easy to take the fear and just push it down, try to act like it doesn’t exist. The reason why it starts with imagination is because you first must imagine the life that you want to have. You must first imagine what it is you dream of becoming.”
Many people suffer from mental illness and some have felt that they do not have an outlet to talk about it without being judged. The Netflix series 13 Reasons touched on mental illness, depression, suicidal, and many other problems that Americans face daily.
The slogan We Rise is uplifting people who suffer from any type of mental illness and brings awareness to what these people have to go through on a daily basis.
