Community spreads ‘Messages of Hope’

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By Laura Drinan
Hometown Weekly Reporter

The World Health Organization estimates more than 300 million people suffer from depression. Depression doesn’t target any particular group; any person of any age of any race can be affected, but still, there is a social stigma surrounding mental illnesses.

To help eradicate the stigma and support those – particularly teens – struggling with mental illness, the IAM Strong Foundation partnered with the Westwood Council on Aging (COA) to host the third annual “Messages of Hope” event on Sunday, February 11.

From 1 to 3 p.m., residents of Westwood and of surrounding communities visited the Council on Aging to create cards, drawings, and poems to show love and support to victims of depression.

“What we love about this event, and this is actually one of our big multigenerational events,” began Cheryl Morrison Deutsch of the IAM Strong Foundation, “is that all of our cards and notes that we’re creating are going to go to teens and tweens struggling with mental health and hospitalized to let them know someone is thinking of them.

“What we’ve realized is that we have the little kids here all the way to their grandparents come and that the act of making the cards is as meaningful as receiving the cards,” Cheryl continued.

As most participants create more than one card, the IAM Strong Foundation usually provides hundreds of cards to tweens and teens in Boston hospitals. To reach those who may be silently struggling with depression, the foundation also scans them and posts the handmade messages online for the public.

“What we’ve also figured out is that it helps open up the conversations that people should be having with their younger kids about mental illness, about people’s struggles, and that it’s nothing to be ashamed of and that you can talk about it,” Cheryl said. “It helps so that when they get older, should any of them struggle or know anyone that’s struggling, it’s not a foreign concept.”

Depression and mental health issues certainly aren’t foreign to seniors, which is why Westwood COA Director Lina Arena-DeRosa found it so critical to partner with the foundation.

“Mental health isn’t just for teenagers and kids,” she said. “Seniors struggle with mental health; it’s usually depression and anxiety, and we wanted to have cards geared towards seniors.”

Although the rainy weather and slippery roads deterred many from risking the drive to the COA, a handful of seniors joined to create messages hope for teens and for older men and women who battle depression.

With so many joining the IAM Strong Foundation and the COA to shatter the stigma of mental illness, the participants sent a vital message to their community: to always spread love and kindness.