Ashley Schellhase

Mrs. Corbett

AP English Literature

9 April 2012

Raising Awareness of Depression and Suicide

Have you ever considered the seriousness of mental illness such as depression? I

did not until it was too late to help my loved one suffering. (Show 40-second intro).

Tragically, my cousin, Chris, was one of the 121 million suffering from depression, and

the people surrounding him were not aware of how serious depression really is; therefore,

they could not help him, and he sadly committed suicide this past summer. My Senior

Project solely focuses on raising awareness in his loving memory because with the

dramatically increasing percentages of the suicide rate, as many people as possible need

to be educated, warned, and inspired about this issue.

For my Senior Project, I knew that I wanted to incorporate an organization called

To Write Love On Her Arms who has been raising awareness for depression and suicide

for over six years. I began my research on the organization, and I found that they began

through an online blog about a girl named Renee who was found on the streets by Jamie

T, the founder of TWLOHA. Renee’s story went viral, and soon after, the organization

became very popular, very quick. After researching about TWLOHA, I looked into what

types of mental illness lead to suicide, what precautions can be made, what help is

available to those suffering, and finally what can be done to prevent suicide as a whole. A

few interesting things that I learned from my research as whole include: (show video with

facts). My research as a whole inspired me to design my own blog, as my product,

because it is a good way to publicly display my research, share my loved one’s story, and

simply raise awareness.

Through my blog, my main goal is to raise awareness of depression and suicide

just like TWLOHA has already done. My blog consists of pictures, videos, and stories to

further explain how serious and dangerous suicide really can be. The steps I took in

creating my blog include: 1) created a Tumblr blog, 2) spent time with my project

facilitator to discuss what all my blog would consist of, 3) began research, 4) began

writing posts, taking pictures that I will share, 5) made a donation link, on my blog, for

visitors who would like to donate to TWLOHA in loving memory of my cousin, Chris, 6)

edited all posts and pictures to make them appealing and enjoyable for my audience, 7)

finalized blog. After my blog was completely finished, I began to share the link so that

others would be able to read and view everything I had worked so hard on. I shared my

product through social medias including Facebook and Twitter. This allowed me to meet

my goal of raising awareness because my visitor count has been continuously growing

rapidly. (Show blog) I feel very confident that I have made an impact on people through

sharing Chris’ story, but I would not have been able to accomplish all that I have without

my project facilitator, Glenn Reynolds.

I was looking for someone with experience in web design to help me create my

blog, and also someone with photography knowledge so that I could get appealing

pictures onto my blog! I chose Mr. Reynolds because he has personally managed his own

Photography business for over ten years now where he also runs the website for his

business. Mr. Reynolds did not attend school for his job because he always used

photography as just a hobby until he moved to Alaska in 2005. After 2005, photography

became a full time job for Mr. Reynolds, and I am thankful for his desire to help me

along my nine-month journey of creating pictures and posts for my awareness blog! Mr.

Reynolds and I spent most of our time together through iChat video chatting, and he

spent the most time explaining how to get different items onto my blog. Video chats

allowed for us to work with our busy schedules, and without them I would not have been

able to complete my blog!

Through my journey, I have learned many facts about depression and suicide that

I did not know before, and this will help me to continue to raise awareness so that maybe

lives will be changed or even the suicide rate will soon decrease. Also, I have learned

positive work habits because I felt very organized throughout my entire Senior Project!

On the other hand, I did procrastinate some photo editing; therefore, I ended up spending

long nights editing and publishing my photos towards the home stretch of my blog. My

Senior Project has also helped me realize how I would pursue this topic.

I would like to pursue this topic as a hobby. For example, I want to join a club in

college that supports TWLOHA. But I do not want to study the topic of mental illness,

such a Psychology, in college because I do not want to deal with sad topics for the rest of

my life. Instead, I will be attending the University of Georgia in the fall where I will

study Sports Communications.

As a whole, I feel that my research and blog have helped me realize that many

people do not see the full affects of depression, how it begins, or how to help someone

suffering. My whole project has opened my mind to new perspectives on how to help

people surrounding me. As I conclude, I would like to challenge you to always be kind to

people no matter what because you never know what someone is going through. A little

kindness can go a long way!