On March 30, 2006, Switchfoot frontman Jon Foreman asked his friend, To Write Love on Her Arms founder Jamie Tworkowski, if he could wear one of the newly pressed TWLOHA t-shirts that had been delivered to Tworkowski that morning. Once Foreman stepped onstage wearing the black tee with white lettering, TWLOHA changed forever.
“All of a sudden, Jon wore this shirt and people found their way to the MySpace page back then,” Tworkowski told Tonic before speaking at the College of Staten Island in New York last night. ”That’s when it started to spread and all these questions and messages started to come in.”
Five years later, the organization dedicated to helping those experiencing depression, addiction, self-injury and even attempted suicide, has grown to become one of the most popular movements among young people around the globe.
With over 140,000 Twitter followers, more than 330,000 MySpace friends and almost 1.1 million Facebook fans, Tworkowski and his TWLOHA team have been able to spread hope and provide help for countless young people. While concerts and music festivals have been effective in spreading the organization’s message, Tworkowski has recently been stopping by college campuses and talking to young people face-to-face about how they can help themselves or others with these issues.
“First, in the music world, we might have three minutes before a band, and now we have two hours to really do our own event on our own night and really unpack the conversation,” he explained. “So it just feels perfect. Our team is made up of young people, and I feel still relatively young. And so we love bringing in young people, and colleges are used to bringing in music and speakers. And it’s even been something that helps support the organization so that’s been kind of a bonus because we really believe in these nights and then it happens to help fund the work we do which is super cool on top of it.”
Dressed in dark jeans, a hoodie and Nikes, Tworkowski immediately dispels any expectations of stuffiness. His casual yet straight-forward demeanor demands attention. When he explained how he got the idea for TWLOHA at a Coldplay concert years ago, he couldn’t help but add a bit of humor to the story. “The shirts were black because Coldplay was wearing back at the time then we were going to put the clunky title [To Write Love on Her Arms] in white because Coldplay was wearing white shoes that night. So there was some deep stuff going on there.”
While Tworkowski spent a good hour explaining what TWLOHA is and inspiring everyone to get involved, he made sure to tell his listeners that this wasn’t a 12-step program but more of a conversation. “I’m not here to give you the five ways not to be sad or the five ways to help your friend but to talk about the questions about it,” he announced.
But depression, self-injury and suicide aren’t the cheeriest topics of conversation. So how do Tworkowski and his team cope with talking about them every day? “We’re encouraged by the stories of lives changing,” he said.
“That’s what keeps us going, and that’s what is encouraging. We hear stories of people stepping into counseling or stepping into treatment and people calling a crisis hotline or suicide hotline or just people getting into a community and beginning to feel less alone because of it. There’s a certain stigma that keeps people from taking those steps so we’re more than anything just trying to encourage, invite and challenge people to take that first step.”
It’s no wonder TWLOHA was named this year’s “Must-Follow Non-Profit” by noted social media blog Mashable. But for Tworkowski, it’s not about the awards. While they’re nice, he just wants to help as many people as well possible.
“The end goal is that lives will be impacted, get the help they need and deserve, and that lives will be saved,” he said. “I want it to be creative and honest and bold, and really the message is pretty simple.”
Photo 1 by Emily Tan, photo 2 by Matthew Barroso via Facebook, photo 3 courtesy of To Write Love On Her Arms.