WHAT IS #QUIETINGTHESILENCE?
The Blue Dove Foundation created #QuietingTheSilence as a platform to help individuals and organizations create programs and events focusing on mental health and substance use. Our goal is to offer members of the community a chance to come together to share their own experiences in this arena.
We have found that hearing personal stories of struggles and loss directly from those living through them makes a stronger impact and helps foster new perspectives, personal connections, ideas, and hope. The stories come from individuals with a Jewish background who have gone through a life-changing experience, either personally or through a loved one. We hope by sharing them, we can show others with similar stories they are not alone. And we can begin to eliminate the shame and stigma many feel when it comes to mental illness and addiction.
We know accomplishing that goal will take time. It isn’t easy to speak out publicly. At times people wish to remain anonymous. Ideally, everyone would be comfortable sharing his or her name, but not everybody is ready. That’s OK. Telling their stories at all is a start, and the more we talk more about these issues, the faster we’ll get there.