Friends Don’t Let Friends Go Through Mental Health Awareness Month Alone

Thank you to all those who took action with us this Mental Health Awareness Month! Every day we strive to raise the visibility of mental health and break the stigma that silences far too many of us. With the help of our proactive community of Agents of Impact and Partners in Prevention, we are able to continue inspiring others to speak out and confront their mental health BEFORE crisis. Here are a few things we did together this month!

1 Year Anniversary of Sip of Hope

This month we celebrated the 1 year anniversary of our social enterprise, Sip of Hope Coffee Bar. The coffee shop is the first coffee shop in the world where 100% of proceeds support proactive suicide prevention and mental health education programs. The coffee shop provides a safe space for all to acquire mental health resources and talk about mental health. Over the past year we have been proud to serve 20,000+ customers and distribute 45,000+ resources into the community. Sip of Hope would not be possible without our first ever Partner in Prevention, Dark Matter Coffee.

Hops For Hope

At the top of the month we released a brand new beer, Hops of Hope in partnership with Old Irving Brewing Co. Old Irving Brewing Co. helped us create the first beer (that we know of) to list mental health resources and suicide prevention hotlines on its can. The Old Irving crew has been impacted by mental health themselves and were inspired to help de-stigmatize the conversation on mental health in their community. In celebration of Mental Health Awareness Month and the release of this new brew, we teamed up with OIB to host an indoor beer fest in support of Proactive Prevention.

Threadless x HFTD Artist Shop

Recognizing that mental health is a global issue that we can’t afford to stay silent about, we unveiled our new Threadless Artist Shop, featuring our first collection of multilingual “It’s Ok Not To Be Ok” tees. This is a growing collection and we welcome anybody to teach us how to say this impactful phrase in their language. We hope to add as many languages as possible to the collection, but we can’t do it without you. Also on Threadless: Illustrator, Steven Rhodes created the first design for our Art Gives Me Hope collection. We can’t wait to collaborate with more artists in the upcoming months, so stay tuned for fresh releases!

Race For Hope

On May 4th, our Partners in Prevention, Lance CPA Group hosted Race For Hope, a fun filled day at Westmont High School that included a special 7 lap run, representing the 7 days in a week that mental health is a 24/7 process. The event brought community members of all ages out to the track dressed in Star Wars themed costumes to harness the force within, and celebrate physical AND mental wellness.

IT’S OK Exhibition Opening

Matthew Hoffman and You Are Beautiful have been dedicated Partners in Prevention, contributing the “it’s ok not to be ok” installation to Sip of Hope last year. This month You Are Beautiful hosted the “IT’S OK” exhibition opening at the YAB HQ Gallery where a portion of the proceeds from sales went towards HFTD proactive prevention and mental health education programs. We were on site, performing outreach at this event, and next month on June 2nd and 5th You Are Beautiful will host 2 HFTD Things We Don’t Say workshops in their gallery space. RSVP here!

Kambs Jennings Group of Compass Mortgage

We are thrilled to welcome Kambs Jennings Group of Compass Mortgage into our family of businesses supporting Proactive Prevention. For every mortgage they close on our new Partners in Prevention are donating $121 to HFTD, regardless of loan amount. Their donation amount is representative of the 121+ individuals who die by suicide each day in the US. Kambs Jennings Group is also hosting a FREE benefit show on June 9th at Rosa’s Lounge in support of HFTD!

PEERvention Workshop

In anticipation of The 4th Annual Humboldt Mile, our May Proactive Prevention Workshop at the Logan Square Public Library was hosted by the running club that inspired the original Humboldt Mile, Three Run Two. Three Run Two is the proud sponsor of The 4th Annual Humboldt Mile on June 1st, alongside Dark Matter Coffee. Our monthly PEERvention workshop is our pioneering program, focusing on reducing suicide rates by disrupting, and eliminating the highest risk factors of mental health crisis. Register for one of our upcoming FREE mental health education workshops!

Conversations Cafe

Our special Mental Health Month Conversations Cafe episode at Sip of Hope featured our Partners in Prevention, Dark Matter Coffee, Three Run Two, as well as General Manager of Sip of Hope, Brian Kmiecik, and HFTD CEO and Founder, Jonny Boucher. The conversation highlighted each business’s contribution to Proactive Prevention as well as the significance of a community coming together to support its members. Listen to the entire episode on Anthologies of Hope Podcast.

Hope Foods x HFTD Giveaway

On International Hummus Day, May 13th our Partners in Prevention Hope Foods dedicated the day to helping HFTD raise the visibility of mental health through their BREAK THE SILENCE Giveaway. One lucky winner walked away with 1 of each of the 13 flavors of Hope Hummus, a 6 month subscription to Dark Matter Coffee, and a HFTD t-shirt of their choice! And For EVERY like, share, comment, and repost of the giveaway image, Hope Foods donated $1 to HFTD. We are proud to announce that together we raised $3,439 for Proactive Prevention!

Chef Brian Tsao x HFTD Guitar Giveaway

This month Chef Brian Tsao created his own HFTD fundraiser in the form of a HFTD Guitar Giveaway. Chef Brian Tsao is an award winning chef, an avid proactive suicide prevention supporter, AND a fan of all things electric guitar. As a hobbyist guitar builder he had several of his guitars painted by artist Kevin "NAK143" Santos with our motto, “IT’S OK NOT TO BE OK”, and built a custom HFTD inspired electric guitar to be presented as the grand prize of the giveaway. 100% of the proceeds from entry purchases are going towards HFTD’s proactive suicide prevention and mental health education programs.

Lauren Asta Giveaway

Dark Matter Coffee’s Mad West opened at the United Center in March with a fresh collaboration by artist and HFTD Partner in Prevention, Lauren Asta. Asta’s HAVE HOPE mural has been on display at Sip of Hope for a year now and her art continues to inspire hope on a daily basis. To celebrate the opening of Mad West, Asta created a series of paintings to be raffled off at the end of Mental Health Awareness Month! All proceeds from raffle are being donated to HFTD’ proactive suicide prevention and mental health education programs.

EMS Day at Chicago Fire Academy

During National EMS Week, May 19th-25th HFTD staff and volunteers attended a special EMS Day event at the Chicago Fire Academy to honor all EMS practitioners, including the Chicago Police and Fire Departments, who provide life saving services. It was an impactful day of outreach as we passed out mental health resources to EMS practitioners and community members alike. We are honored to work alongside the Chicago Police Department as they implement HFTD mental health education into their training programs. Together we can make sure we all confront our mental health before crisis.

HFTD x CASEY

On Friday May 24th, the UK hardcore punk band, Casey played their first and only US show at Bottom Lounge in Chicago. After touring with Casey on the EU/UK Never Say Die Tour, HFTD CEO and Founder, Jonny Boucher knew he had to bring them to the US to break the silence with their fans one last time. The show sold out weeks after being announced in January and 100% of the proceeds from the show went towards supporting our proactive prevention and mental health education programs. We were moved to have Casey take the stage with us to “bury their love” in their final, poignant performance before disbanding.

Mental Health Awareness Month may be coming to a close but we will never stop fighting for the future of mental health. If your business or organization is interested in partnering with Hope For The Day, please fill out a Partner in Prevention form and tell us how you would like to collaborate. If you are an individual and want to get more involved, become an Agent of Impact with us! Anyone can join us in shattering the silence of mental health stigma and supporting proactive prevention! Learn more on our website.