On May 17th, I headed over to West Hollywood for a luncheon with Philosophy and NAMI for the Hope & Grace Initiative on mental health. The event was held at the Fig & Olive and was hosted by the always inspiring Dawn McCoy and Zelda Williams.
Philosophy’s Hope and Grace Initiative supports women’s mental health. It’s first nationwide campaign is “How are you REALLY?” We can ask people all day long nonchalantly how are they are doing but generally we are going to get a pretty basic “I’m good” “I’m OK” but you will never get more depth. the “really” part of the question automatically gets a person to share a little deeper. It invokes the need for a real conversation that you can connect and engage with. The hope of this initiative is to encourage REAL conversations and help to erase the stigma that surrounds mental health.
Basic Statistics
- 1 in 5 people experience mental health illness in a given year
- 13.6 million Americans live with a serious mental illness such as schizophrenia, major depression, or bipolar disorder
- 1 in 8 women can expect to develop clinical depressions during her lifetime
- 22% of u.s. women report feeling worried, nervous or anxious on a daily or weekly basis. women are 60% more likely than men to get an anxiety disorder over their lifetime
- depression is the #1 most common complication of childbirth. 1 in 7 pregnant & new moms will have a perinatal mood or anxiety disorder
Philosophy has with an ongoing everyday donation of 1% of all philosophy USA net product sales, the hope & grace fund has awarded $2.4 million to 38 US mental health organizations that provide direct support and resources to more than 11,000 women—reaching approximately 1.2 million women through education and awareness campaigns.