Each week, we spend hours at TWLOHA going through emails and letters—from strangers, from friends, from people looking for answers or sharing the ones they have already found. We read every word. It’s not always easy—honesty and recovery and community require much of both parties—but few things about the work we do at TWLOHA are as rewarding as these precious words we are privileged to receive.
Every now and then, a message comes our way that so perfectly captures the reason we are here. Below is a recent email from a girl that did just that; all the blogs and the T-shirts and the tours and the conferences and the programs make sense and find purpose when we read messages like these. She gave us permission to share her story anonymously, in the hopes that it might speak to others as it spoke to us.
We are grateful for the individuals who are brave enough to speak up, for the friends who
know when to just listen, and for the opportunity to play even a small role in your stories.
This picture marks the day I will sit down across from a counselor for the first time because of the courage you have given me to be honest about my struggles. Tonight, I admitted to a girl in my dorm some things I’ve never been able to speak. She was there to listen and fill in the words that were too hard for me to say. She assured me that feelings and reactions are normal and that there is hope. But she was wise enough to know that I need to process these events with a mental health professional. So with beautiful grace and strength, she told me that we’re going to the counseling center on campus next week and we’re going to walk down this road to healing together. Then she’s taking me for ice cream after.
Because of the persistent message of hope and redemption you have continued to spread, I had the courage to be open about my pain with a trusted friend, one that loves me the way I am, but too much to let me stay that way.
This picture is the simple reminder my friend wrote to let me know that these things are real, but we’re going to walk through them.