My friend Stephenie asked me to create a video to help her promote KnowResolve to the National Honor Society at her school. I put this together one afternoon last week and I’m quite proud of it… I hope you dig it too! Peace, – Dennis
by Stephanie Prechter (full essay posted at detourproject.org)
I personally didn’t put a lot of thought into stigma until this past experience with depression. For the most part, I always felt as if it was a word for those who didn’t deal with serious mental illness. Naturally people who can’t understand the depths of emotional despair and the wrenching heartache of “disconnectedness” automatically distance themselves from those of us who do. Click HERE to read the full essay.
The Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC) has released an issue brief examining the relationship between bullying and suicide. Here is short summary along with a link to the full brief.
Suicide Prevention Programs Should Include:
The following action steps may help create synergy in addressing both suicide and bullying:
For additional information, you can download the full brief HERE.
Our mission from day one has been simple and clear: To Break the Silence surrounding suicide… to educate, to reduce stigma, to connect people (specifically teens and young adults) to available resources and new perspectives.
Why is this important? Because suicide is currently the 3rd leading cause of death among youth ages 15 to 24. Because every 16 minutes in this country, someone dies by suicide. And because it was personal. I lost my dad to suicide when I was 14 years old, and spent more than a decade in a very serious and suicidal depression following his death. I believed my life was worthless and I wanted to die. Out of fear and shame, I kept it to myself. Continue reading
“You are not your job”
posted at detourproject.org
Over the weekend a friend asked for some advice. He told me that he’d really been struggling with some things lately and was looking for some tips to lighten the load. As I listened, I heard him acknowledge that he was having trouble setting boundaries and that he felt like he’d been living his life to make sure other people were happy and sacrificing his sense of self along the way. Read the full article HERE.
Dear friends,
Please accept my heartfelt thanks for your support over the years. As we enter our 5th year of service, I wanted to take this moment to thank you for making our mission possible. By supporting our events, spreading the word, or helping through a financial contribution you make it possible for us to bring a message of hope to young people who are hurting. I hope that this holiday season finds you surrounded by the ones you love.
Gratefully,
- Dennis
My friend Robb is one of the most creative and talented people I know. Last year he came out from Chicago to grab some footage from our Breaking the Silence event and put together this amazing video for us. I think what he’s done here captures the essence of this event beautifully. To learn more about Robb and his work, please visit www.rcpopart.com. Thank you Robb for putting this together for us, awesome job!
We hope that you will join us on Saturday, November 19th for our 5th Annual “Breaking the Silence” benefit concert and dinner for suicide prevention!
Bradley, Kristal and I have been roommates for almost six years. During this time we’ve grown together, learned together, worked together, struggled and sacrificed together, celebrated together, traveled together. We shared our lives and meals together, and this was our home… Click HERE to read the full essay.
I have some exciting news to share with you… after a couple years of trying out different things with The Detour Project (our little experiment on the side), I have decided to take a slightly different direction with it.
Over the summer I wrote a short eBook called “Building a Foundation for Happiness”. While it only took a few months to put all the words together, this book is the culmination of the past 20 years of my life. It is based on and inspired by the presentations that I have been giving at schools for the past few years.
I’m very proud of this book, and I wanted to share it with you. If you’d like to check it out, it is available (as a free download) at www.detourproject.org. From this point forward, I’ll be using that website as a launching point for the book and to continue posting essays that further explore the concepts in the book. If you’re interested in reading the essays as I post them, you can subscribe by email or RSS on the main page.
KnowResolve’s mission of promoting mental health and reducing youth suicides does NOT change and will not be affected by the new direction of The Detour Project.
It’s been an incredible journey so far and I want to thank you for being a part of our story and for supporting our mission. I sincerely hope that you enjoy and are inspired by the book.
Feedback, comments and spreading of the word are all welcome and appreciated!
Gratefully,
- Dennis
This is a guest essay by Chase Night. Follow him on Twitter. And read the afterward for commentary from Joshua Millburn.
Let me tell you about the monster who rides on my shoulders.
When Josh asked me to write a guest essay for The Minimalists, I was honored, but my mind totally blanked on ideas. So I decided there was only one thing to do: I would have to tell you about the monster who rides on my shoulders.
I can’t see him, but I know he is there. I sense that he is covered in mauve shag-carpet, has overly goggly eyes, and a gaping black maw with a felt tongue inside. I also sense that his name is Howard, but I could be wrong. Continue reading
