How Do You Advocate?

Happy Sunday to all of you Supporting Our Siblings readers!

I wanted to take the opportunity to continue the series of 'How Do You Advocate?'

Anna started the series a few weeks ago discussing her advocacy work and what people are doing in their own communities to spread the word about mental illness and stamp out stigma.

I have a very, very unique story to share. Guy, father of Suzanne, is running 100 marathons in 140 days to raise money for mental health research. Suzanne was diagnosed at the ripe age of 14 but suffered delusions and voices for 3 years before her diagnosis without telling anyone. Her father knew he had to do something.

My favorite part about this story is that Guy felt as if he didn't have any 'special' talents that could serve this community. On his website he writes "I don’t sing. I don’t dance. I don’t paint and I don’t build things. But I CAN run and that will be my building block to create awareness of mental illness and raise money to support the organizations that support those we love." He uses something that he enjoys and something that others might not be able to do in his own way to advocate. This is an example of utilizing your OWN unique strengths to help the people you love that suffer mental health issues.

Guy created a video JUST for our readers, to tell a little about his journey and the struggles he had in dealing with his own daughter's illness.

Please watch the video and then visit Guy's website. For those runners, you know what a physical strain this man is taking on - for those of you who have a family member diagnosed with mental illness, you know how much of an emotional strain he has also taken on. I'd like to welcome you to support him in his journey by visiting his website, donating to his cause, and visiting him on his route to cheer him on.

Here's the video that Guy created JUST for Supporting Our Siblings:

http://www.youtube.com/guynyc1#p/a/u/1/u8dvXmhEw9A

Thanks for your continued support!

-Becca