The National Alliance on Mental Illness says 58 million American adults live with depression or anxiety.
May is Mental Health Awareness Month. The importance of community, a support system, and talking about mental health were the topics discussed by Jamie Tworkowski last week at the Big Omaha entrepreneurship conference. Tworkowski is the founder of To Write Love On Her Arms, an organization helping people dealing with depression, addiction, and self-injury.
Tworkowski says depression is a global issue, and an estimated 2 out of 3 people living with it don't seek help.
"And so if you sit with that for a second, that suggests the majority of people who live in this place, who live in this painful place, they essentially live alone. And I think it points to the stigma, it points to the shame, it points to the confusion that kind of hovers over this conversation and keeps it from happening."
Tworkowski founded To Write Love On Her Arms to support a friend who was struggling with self-harm. He says that issue can be hard for people to understand, which is why a support system is important.