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ForBrittany Snow, bringing her “mental health awareness and letter writing experience” siteSeptember Lettersto life — with the release of her inaugural book,September Letters: Finding Strength and Connection in Sharing Our Stories— has been the ultimate full-circle moment.
As a teen, thePitch Perfectactress struggled withanorexia, depression, and self-harm for nearly a decade. It wasn’t until she came across an article in a fitness magazine detailing one woman’s similar experience that Snow felt hopeful that she, too, could overcome what she deemed “obsessive, compulsive, disordered thinking.”
She ripped out the page and kept it in her back pocket for months, but wasn’t sure she was ready to go public with her struggles as talking about mental health was still quitestigmatized. But in 2007,Snow opened up abouther own strugglesin an essay for PEOPLE — and years later, met a girl in a coffee shop who had kept Snow’s essay in her own back pocket in a full-circle moment.
“It was one of those moments where I just felt like I knew that this had to be made into something, where our stories connect us,” she recalls to PEOPLE. “So, I went to my friend Jaspre [Guest, cofounder of September Letters] and said, ‘You know? I’ve always wanted to do something with this idea that if you tell your story, you could be helping not only yourself but someone else.’ That’s how September Letters was born, and now we have a book with sort of the same concept.”
Harper Collins
Snow, who most recently made her directorial debut with this year’sParachute, has come a long way since her teenage years. But no human is immune to the emotional ebbs and flows life has to offer. Snow, like the rest of us, still experiences bad mental health days from time to time. The difference? She’s now better equipped to handle them, thanks in part to the unwavering support from her close friends.
She adds, “I think that people knowing there’s a friend there to take them to a therapy session, or go to the park with them and sit there, or research things on their computer that they might need help with — I think that’s so much more valuable than telling someone what they need to do. That has been really helpful for me.”
Lauren Withrow
And when you’re in doubt of how to approach a friend who may be having an “off” day, Snow recommends making another thoughtful gesture.
“I’ve bought a lot of flowers in my life,” she says. “Everybody likes flowers.”
September Lettersis available for pre-order, and is out on May 23rd.
If you or someone you know needs mental health help, text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.
source: people.com
