A faith-based organization called Project Semicolon is setting a trendy campaign that aims to empower individuals, who are suffering from different mental health problems. Naming the organization after the popular punctuation mark comes with a purpose as the founder says that the literal meaning of the semicolon is the perfect analogy for the movement.
"A semicolon is used when an author could've chosen to end their sentence, but chose not to," the group's website states. "The author is you and the sentence is your life."
With this as their guide, the group aims to provide help to those who are in the midst of depression, addiction and suicidal tendencies.
The founder of the movement is Amy Bleuel, a woman who had also struggled with mental illnesses during her teenage years. She tried to take her own life multiple times and inflicted harm on herself. His father, who also suffered from depression, committed suicide in 2003. His father's death was a significant endeavor for her, Amy told Mashable. She said that she wanted to honor his father through her project and that her goal in starting her movement is to tell her dad's story.
So in 2013, she decided to turn the semicolon punctuation mark into a symbol of love and hope for those individuals fighting through their mental challenges. She uploaded a flyer to a social media site on April 16, 2013, which encouraged everyone to draw a semicolon on their wrists to present their battles against mental illnesses, or to show support for their loved ones, who are in the midst of battling such life events. The transmission of Bleuel's message became widespread and as per her estimates, about 500,000 individuals responded and participated on the first day of her project. The number of participants continuously increased ever since the project was initiated. The support that the movement has been getting comes all year round but it has specifically become popular lately.
Getting a semicolon tattoo was not part of the original plan as she only encouraged everyone to draw on their wrists, clarifies Bleuel. The participants opted to personally get the punctuation mark permanently inked to them, she told People.
Although the non-profit organization claims itself as a Christian group, Bleuel says all faiths, beliefs and identities are welcome to participate.
"I chose to call it 'faith-based' because I wanted to be open about it," she says. "Christ was accepting of everybody and he wanted to help everybody."
Project semicolon is a support group and it is well emphasized in their website that they do not provide professional mental health interventions. They encourage everyone, who knows someone presently struggling with mental problems to call their local authorities or health experts for professional help and advice.
Photo: Kate Elizabeth | Flickr
