“1 in 5 children, either currently or at some point during their life, have had a seriously debilitating mental illness.”

Mental illnesses affect many people, whether they’re your friends, family, classmates, or people you see walking down the street. You may not realize it either. For some people, mental health struggles are difficult to talk about, as there is a stigma around it; we want to remove the stigma. At Spread The Calm, all members working on the project have either experienced mental health issues personally, or people close to them have, such as family or friends. We want to make it okay for people to share their feelings and remove the stigma of mental health in the world, in order for people to get the help they need, whether that’s from our efforts building Calming Rooms at school districts nationwide, from ‘It’s Okay To Not Be Okay’, or help from psychiatrists and therapists. Even if someone may not be experiencing any mental health struggles at the time, we want to allow people to know that there is help for when they need it, and that it’s okay to not be okay.