Brittany Snow: When you read something or hear something from somebody you don’t know, and it’s the exact same thing that you’ve gone through, then you immediately feel a connection to them, and we find that we’re more alike than different. All these facets of our personality and struggles that we’re going through, really boil down to the fact that we all have them, and we can all really relate in so many ways. I think that mental health is so much about that.

[music]

Lily Cornell Silver: I’m Lily Cornell Silver, and welcome to Mind Wide Open, my mental health focused interview series. Today, I am talking to publicist and creative Jaspre Guest and actress Brittany Snow. These amazing women have come together to create September Letters, which is a mental health focused letter-writing campaign that encourages vulnerability, connection, and mental health destigmatization.

Today, we’re talking about how to get involved in September Letters, mental health experiences such as eating disorders, anxiety, and physical ailments, and our relationships with spirituality and the metaphysical realm and how that has helped us. Thank you so much for watching, and I hope you enjoy. 

Hi, you guys.

Brittany: Hi, how are you?

Lily: Thank you so much for being here. I’m good, how are you?

Brittany: Good.

Jaspre Guest: Thank you so much for having us. We’re so excited to be here.

Lily: Of course. I’m so excited to have you. How are you, guys? Let’s start there.

Brittany: Pretty good. The weird thing about quarantine stuff is that now it’s a monotonous routine the most. We’re getting used to it, which is maybe a good thing, but I’m finding little bits of joy in the monotony of it all, and so it’s kind of nice. It’s the new normal, which is cool. You learn to adapt.

Jaspre: I agree with Brittany. I feel like, every day it feels a little bit the same, and it’s a little bit like Groundhogs Day. Literally, I was walking my dog the other day, and I thought, “I wonder what I should make him for Halloween?” I was like, “Oh, my God. It’s November.” We just [crosstalk].

[laughter]

Jaspre: Then, I got scared like, “What’s going on.” I think that something is happening, because we all have adjusted to the new normal.

Lily: Totally.

Jaspre: It’s the same thing every day because I’ve just got into this routine, and then you get lost on really what date–I think that question is so hard right now. Like, how are you? It’s like, “Well, living in a pandemic. Talking to people through computers. I’m great.” This is totally normal.

Lily: Totally. Nobody is 100% right now. In my second interview, I talk to Dr. Marc Brackett, who works at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence.

He just wrote a book called Permission to feel. His whole thing is when people ask, “How are you?” to answer it honestly, but now is such a hard time to do that because it’s like, “Do you have an hour and a half?”

Jaspre: Totally.

Lily: I’m so excited to have you guys on, because as people know who’ve watched the show and listened, ending the stigma around mental health is one of the most important things to me and such a goal of this series for me, in general. I wanted to talk to you guys about the September Letters campaign and hear from you guys, in your own words, what that is for people who might not know?

Brittany: Mental health has been a passion of mine and something that I’ve really put a lot of drive behind, because it is so important to destigmatize the emotion behind sharing your story and how people are so afraid of the shame that they feel comes with sharing your truth. I’ve been working with different initiatives and charities since I was probably 21, so since 2008.

Lily: Wow.

Brittany: I started September Letters because I think it’s so important to– I’ve used the word destigmatize, but even a lesser crazy word, I guess, is just being honest with yourself and with other people, is really the crux of other people feeling not alone and feeling connected. When you read something or hear something from somebody you don’t know, and it’s the exact same thing that you’ve gone through, then you immediately feel a connection to them, and we find we’re more alike than different.

All these facets of our personality and struggles that we’re going through really boil down to the fact that we all have them, and we can all really relate in so many ways. I think that mental health is so much about that. Is finding the strength within yourself, but also, reaching out to a community and feeling a part of, because we’re so much stronger united and together. Even if you’re not, now especially with the pandemic, around people, there’s ways of feeling connected and supported. 

September Letters is really a platform and a website, where people can share their stories and feel comfortable to share their truth and feel connected.

Lily: That’s amazing. That’s why I think there can be so much misconception, is that everyone has mental health in the same way that everyone has physical health and needs to be taken care of by everybody. I’m curious, I haven’t asked this yet. Where did you guys get the name?

Brittany: That’s a good question. This really started, because I read an article in a magazine when I was a teenager. It was the first time that I heard somebody else’s words in their story and found my own. I carried around this article in my back pocket for months to, I don’t know, connect with this idea that there is hope and this woman who I had never met recovered from this thing that I didn’t even know I had.

Then, I shared my own mental health journey many, many years later in an article, and then I went to a coffee shop a couple of weeks after the article came out, and a woman at the coffee shop was carrying around my article in her back pocket. It was this very full-circle moment, where I felt like, here, we were just sharing our stories and trying to connect with somebody, and this was the thing that both of us, and maybe the next person, needed in order to get through.

September is actually the month that I always identify with in terms of hope, because it’s my recovery month. I have 11 years of recovery from what that article was about. I think that September, to me, is always the– I get to September, and I feel better, because I know I’ve made it through another year. I wanted to do something with September, but I didn’t really know what to do about it.

Then, Jaspre, actually, was the one that was like, “September Letters.” I remember thinking, “Duh, of course, we’re sharing letters. We’re connecting with writing,” and so it made so much sense. I loved that she was the person that came up with it, because I think I was too close to it to really put a title to what I was wanting to do.

Lily: Totally. That’s beautiful. I love that story. I think that’s the most amazing thing and so full-circle and would just be a total dissolve-into-tears moment.

Brittany: We both did. This girl that I had never met before, we were both standing in a coffee shop crying. It was this weird moment, where we had no idea who each other were in terms of personally, and there was such a connection there, which I feel like is what September Letters is all about, that you recognize your own self in other people and vice versa. I think that connection is so important.

Lily: That’s so beautiful and such a full-circle moment for you from coming from reading someone else’s words and feeling validated by them, and then to know you’re making that impact on other people. That’s why I think this platform is so incredible, because it allows everybody to share their own stories and hopefully, validate and make an impact on other people.

Brittany: That’s, hopefully, what we’re trying to do is pay it forward in a weird way. I think there’s so much recovery and gratitude that comes when you share your story and then you feel like you’ve made a difference. I think that is sometimes what helps you more than anything, is giving it away.

Lily: Absolutely. For me, a huge reason why I started this series is because of my own mental health journey. Most of the guests I’ve had on have said they got into the mental health field because of their own experience with their mental health or a loved one’s experience with mental health, so I would love to hear from you guys how your mental health journeys have inspired you being in the mental health space.

Brittany: Weirdly enough, I’ve always been a very empathetic and sensitive kid. It’s been funny that I am an actor, and then I wanted to be in this field, because even when I was a kid, I would cry all the time. I would see another kid crying, and then I’d start crying. I was just a sponge of emotions, so it just always was in my wheelhouse to have some sort of mental health component to my life.

I think it would have been a part of my life regardless, but I was a kid actor, and I felt this need to be perfect. I went down a path of what many women and men go through in their teens, where I felt out of control and out of place. I started dieting and restricting, and then I went down a really intense eating disorder path that I’ve been pretty vocal about. Then, because of that and getting better through that, I actually, developed this way of thinking that was very structured and rigid.

Then, when I got healthy, I had to completely rewire my brain, and so I developed a new, really fun mental health journey, which was an anxiety disorder, because I didn’t have the necessary things that I used to used to deal with everyday life. I didn’t have those “isms” in my life. I would just have panic attacks all the time, and I couldn’t even audition. I had to take years off from acting, because I would have debilitating breakdowns, where I couldn’t talk, and I would shake, and I wouldn’t be able to speak to people.

I didn’t know what was going on with me, because there was nothing that really said why this was happening. I wasn’t doing anything out of the ordinary that would mess up my chemistry. It was all in my head. My mental health journey really lied with a lot of people in my toolbox, including hypnotherapy, therapists, healers, spirituality, regular doctors. All these different things.

My 82-year-old father calls them like, “Go to one of your gurus. One of your gurus will figure this out.” I really did have so many people, because it was at the foremost in the forefront of my life trying to understand my own head. I think that what came with that is a lot of grace and compassion and gratitude around it, because I really feel like this was a calling of mine anyway, so it’s probably a good thing I went through all of it.

Lily: Absolutely. That’s so amazing. Thinking about you being young and crying all the time, it’s definitely a Pisces.

[laughter]

Brittany: March Pisces. 

Lily: Pisces tendencies.

Brittany: -every day.

Lily: That’s something that’s so interesting that I feel like isn’t talked about as much, is that, even after you had recovered, you had to do that whole rewiring of the brain. Your brain developed these tendencies to support whatever disorder or whatever mental illness almost to overcompensate to like, “Okay, this is how we’re structuring our brain.” That’s super important, and I’m so glad you’re talking about that, is the aftermath of that. It’s not just you’ve recovered, and then you’re done. For any kind of recovery, it is one day at a time.

Brittany: Definitely. I think in all the programs and all the things and we will talk about, you let go of these crutches that you have, and then the real feelings happen. The real crap happens after that, because you have to deconstruct what really that was covering up. That’s where the growth comes in, is the way that you really see how strong you are. That’s what I’m most proud of.

People are always like, “Why did you take so many years off of acting?” I think to myself, “Those years were the best years, because I am here today because of them.”

Lily: Absolutely. That’s something that I had to talk about with my therapist a lot, especially after I lost my dad, is I was in such a state of shock, and I compensated with very almost OCD tendencies of, “These are the things I do to keep my brain in order.”

She painted it for me really well with a visual of like, “You’re white-knuckling right now, and that’s taking a lot more energy ultimately than it would to just let go. The letting go is going to be absolutely terrifying, because you’re going to fall. You’re letting go of the monkey bar or whatever. You’re going to fall but eventually, you’re going to land.” That’s the image I’ve always had in my mind of noticing when I’m white-knuckling, and when it’s like, “Okay.” Like you said, the real work happens once you let go of that and are able to land on your feet again.

Brittany: We always do, eventually, sometimes.

Lily: Right. Sometimes it takes longer than other times, but it happens.

Brittany: Or you fall, and you get back up, and you fall and you get back up.

Lily: Exactly. Then, Jaspre, how about you?

Jaspre: I also think that recovery is every single day, like every day. I agree with what you’re saying. That’s rarely spoken about. It’s really never brought up that people think, “Okay, I did it. It’s over,” and it’s really not. Every day, it’s such a process. For me, I had a lot of physical challenges as a child. I had very bad ears, I had very bad lungs, I was bursting my eardrums, I was losing my hearing, I was losing a sense constantly. It was constant.

As a very young child, it created a whole bunch of problems for me and because of the physical ailments that lasted into adulthood– Usually, people grow out of these things, it did not happen for me. It wasn’t until my early 20s that I was like, “I really can’t function like this anymore.” I changed my diet, and I got into hypnotherapy, and I got more spiritual advisors and all these different things, because it started to affect my everyday life.

When you have certain physical things that take away from everyday life, you start developing hiccups or developing different crutches to work around. I really love what Brittany said. I think it’s so interesting when you live through something, because you can understand something a little bit more than someone just coming into your life and not really understanding the depth of that.

Then, I definitely had developed an anxiety panic disorder in my mid-20s after dealing with work and life and people and things. I really put the brakes on everything and really tried to restructure everything in my life. I have a very regimented schedule daily based really on my hearing. I have to do certain cardio things to keep my eardrums open, I eat a certain way to make sure the inflammation is down, I meditate. I do all these things.

If I let one day go, if I’m like, “Oh, I’m just a little bit lazy today,” something happens, and then I’m like, “Oh, my God, I got to do it again.” She and I have just a little bit of a parallel story in terms of what has worked for us, but I started more from a physical condition, and it manifested into everything else.

Lily: Got you. It’s really amazing to hear both of you on different ends of the spectrum but finding similar tools to help you through. That’s something we were talking about the other day with hypnotherapy, that hypnotherapy is something that both of you really relied upon. I’ve never done that. I’d be super curious to hear from you guys what that looks like for you.

Brittany: It’s really rewiring your brain in such a gentle way. It’s all positive. It really cured my anxiety. I don’t know how exactly it works, but it’s all about your subconscious and your subconscious believing what you’re hearing is fact. That’s how I view it. I don’t know, Jaspre, you have a different–

Jaspre: It’s a little bit similar. I’ve been working with my hypnotherapist for over 10 years. I now see her at least once a month. I do phone sessions, obviously, now. When I went to the office so many years ago, and I was really nervous, because I was like, “This sounds really bizarre.” I’m into bizarre things, but this was a little bit nerve-wracking, letting someone go into your brain. What does that mean? What happens for me in my sessions, is just like Brittany said.

You go into trance. When you’re in trance, I thought, “Am I going to lose control? Am I not going to be able to [crosstalk]?” Lately, I just did a session with her, and I came up as two years old. She was like, “Okay, what do you see?” I was like, “A clown. I don’t know why I see a clown, but I see a clown.” She went through the whole thing, and she did the blockage and blah, blah.

I called my mom after the session. I was like, “Was there a clown when I was two?” She was, “Yes, I’m so upset. For your birthday, I had a clown when you turned two, and you hated it, and I was the worst mother ever.” I was like, “Oh, my god.” That’s what happens in hypnotherapy, is just like, “Hey, I have this problem. Can you please fix it?” Then, they find what is blocking your brain subconsciously, and they reconvert the path. I’m just so incredibly grateful for that.

I think hypnotherapist is a very important distinction because there’s hypnotist and then there’s hypnotherapy, and that’s the thing that I love the most.

Lily: Absolutely. I super appreciate the emphasis that both of you have put just in the short time we’ve been talking on self-care and spirituality and finding things like that that work for you because I think, especially in the society we live in today, when it comes to mental health, so often, it’s like, you think of like Big Pharma. Like, you’re just going to get prescribed 50 different things that give you 50 different side effects that end up causing worse.

It’s not like—I’m on medication. Medication can be so incredibly helpful, but I don’t believe it should always be the first option. I think exploring other modalities like that is so important and can be so helpful. That’s, absolutely, what has helped me the most in my mental health journey, is learning those different forms of self-care and doing inner child work and inner healing and doing shadow work, and things like that, because that’s where you really address it within yourself.

Jaspre: Britt and I have spoken about this a lot. When everyone says a toolbox, I remember being a teenager and being like, “What does that mean? I don’t even know what a tool is. Where do I go get these tools?” I think that that’s what’s so amazing in what you’re doing, is that you’re giving people a plethora of options to be like, “Look at all these different experts in different fields. Find something that can help you.” You have to start from somewhere.

Brittany: One size does not fit all. 

Jaspre: What?

Brittany: One size does not fit all. Just taking a pill for one person could help that person, but also, a hypnotherapist could totally not work for the next person. There’s all these different people and all these different things and you find what resonates with you. Like Jaspre said, that’s your toolbox. It’s beautiful, what you are doing, because you’re giving so many different varieties of ways to get in there and help.

Lily: Thank you. In creating this series, it was, for me, so much of it is about opening that accessibility because as we’ve all– It seems like we were in the same boat with this. I’ve had the privilege of having access to all these different modalities, and if I want to go see a hypnotherapist, to go see a hypnotherapist. In the work I’ve done so far in the mental health space, it’s been really illuminating to find out how inaccessible.

That’s where this series is so big for me, because I want to bring in, as you guys were saying, all these different tools to fill your toolbox in a way that is accessible and that anybody can use to whatever works best for them. Yes, I super appreciate that. I appreciate that about September Letters as well as that it’s not one size fits all, and everyone has to find what works best for them in their own journey.

Brittany: I think it’s super important, too, because we can talk about hypnotherapy all day. Let’s be honest, we’re pretty privileged that we even have the ability to go see a hypnotherapist, and that’s not necessarily the way that people get better a lot of times. I think, hopefully, what we’re doing with September Letters, and also what you’re doing is giving these tiny little things that you can do. You can read a letter, you can watch something, you can listen to someone. Those little things, I think, are so monumental, too.

Jaspre: I think Brittany and I were really excited to find all these scientific studies backing up letter-writing. Anyone can write a letter, anyone can journal but how that really helps you work through a trauma, and that is accessible. A lot of people hold things in, and when they start to talk about it, they’re like, “Oh, whoa. More people feel like this than I realized. I’m so not alone.” The next step in it, is just how do we make it accessible to everyone? Just small little things, I think, can at least start people on their path to find the next step.

Lily: Definitely. I like that you guys brought up journaling, too, because that’s something that’s been so huge for me and I think can serve a similar function to things like hypnotherapy and other modalities in the sense that it is a subconscious release and helps you explore yourself. That’s where you can do the work of exploring inner child, and things like that is just by writing it down. I’ve totally seen the same thing, Jaspre, of all these different studies that are like, “This helps so much. This is really underrated.”

Jaspre: Completely. I think journaling also, really overwhelmed some people who do not feel comfortable writing and finding their voice. You don’t even need to do that. Brittany says this all the time, like, “Write a haiku. Do a poem. Do a lyric.” It doesn’t matter. You can, literally, just draw a heart. That’s something that you’re starting to rev up the juices to go into a different direction.

Lily: It’s externalization in some form, which is so important, especially now.

Brittany: We are rushing around, so often, are in our own minds. It’s very rare that we’ve set aside time to just, actually, do something for ourselves with not having to post it on Instagram and not having to talk about it to everybody but really taking that moment to be like, “This is going to help me feel better.” I think that that is where that recovery starts, is the self-care that it takes.

Lily: I think about, I started college and after the first semester, I was like, “If I go back, I will break.” I took that semester off. Even though my mom is incredibly supportive, and most people in my life are super supportive, there’s still that weird stigma around taking time off, no matter what it is. Whether it’s taking a break from your career or taking a break from school, I feel like we can get caught up in this system of constant productivity. If you’re not being productive, then you’re not a valued member of society in some way.

Brittany: It’s so funny to me that that is such a generational thing, too. I feel like that is trickled down from generation to generation, that you do so much and you have to work harder. I love my grandfather so much. But yesterday, I called him, and he was like, “How’s the career going? What are you doing? What’s next for you?” You’re like, “You can also ask me how I am.” It’s not anybody’s fault, because it’s just ingrained in our system to ask about what we’re doing instead of who we are or how we are.

I think that’s changing. I think we’re aware of it. The more and more that we speak openly about how our productivity is not in the forefront and shouldn’t be in charge, and it doesn’t matter if we get things done, it matters about who we are as people, I think that will change little by little.

And definitely, we’re talking about taking time off of big things, call it career things. I think also, in the micro view of it, it’s taking an hour to go take a walk instead of having to answer all these emails or call all these people that you need to call back. It’s taking that time for yourself. It can be as little as being like, “You know what? Today, I’m not going to feel pressured to have to do this, because this matters so much. I’m going to take the time for myself.”

Lily: Especially now, where the lines between home and work are so blurred, there’s so little boundary between that with everything being on Zoom. I go from Zoom therapy to Zoom hanging out with friends, to Zoom now I’m in class, to zoom now I’m working. It’s like it’s difficult to create those boundaries, but I totally agree with you. That’s something that hopefully, people can take on in their own personal agenda.

I wanted to talk a little bit about the stress of the holidays especially this year, where things are so unprecedented. Mental health can be very exacerbated during this time. If that’s something that you guys have experienced and if so, how do you navigate the stress of the holidays?

Brittany: I come from a very strange background with the holidays, where I don’t really like the holidays. I feel like I’m screwed just saying this. I like other holidays. I don’t know why I don’t like the holidays. Don’t fall back for me, but it gives me a lot of anxiety. This time always gives me a lot of stress. I love my family dearly, but there’s a lot that goes on when you’re around your family and a lot of things, and I really rely on this toolbox that we keep talking about when I go back home to see my family.

I have people and support system that I call. I have books that I bring. I always go back to really simple notions of what is actually true or what is the story that my childhood wants to bring up. I find it so important to just stay really present and enjoy the fact that having a family and being around family is so important. A lot of people don’t have that, and to not take it for granted.

Lily: Having had a loss, like multiple big losses in the family, for most people, that’s going to be something that’s very triggered during the holidays when that emphasis is placed on family. Especially this year with COVID, there’s going to be a lot of empty seats. That’s something that I hope people feel supported in, and I hope that there is a conversation around, is that loss is already something that’s exacerbated during this time.

Jaspre: I think the most important thing, because I also struggle with anxiety around the holidays, and I’m lucky to have loving parents, and I get along with them. It’s great, but there’s always other family members that cause whatever, is really– I think loss is what you feel the most loss during the holidays, and that should not apply. I don’t have either the love of the holidays, like you two. I think because it just brings up a lot, that I’m just like, “Can I just take a break? I just came from this emotion for a second.” 

I think the most important thing that I do personally, is plan the toolbox of what I can use when something is happening, because the last thing you want to do is when you become in crisis, is like, “What do I do now?” It’s a little bit too late. I really try to think beforehand like, “What can I do? Is there a mantra I can say? Can I meditate beforehand? Can I listen to this tape? Can I do this or that to try to get myself in a better place?” Because, for me, I found that if I don’t plan ahead for something, then it starts to get into chaotic space.

Lily: How would you say your spiritual or metaphysical journey has affected your mental health?

Jaspre: I learned, as I got older, that I was very different. I was very lucky. A, so lucky to have parents who really encourage conversation. They were constantly asking how we were feeling and how we were doing. I was also raised with believing in angels and talking to psychics and understanding that I was a Gemini and Pisces rising. My mom used to say, “You’re a Gemini. You’ve got all these subjects in front of you. Why don’t you try to just focus on one, and then move to the next?”

Understanding me, actually, was the most important thing. Spirituality, to me, gives you a roadmap of yourself. In the times that I’ve had the darkest moments of my life, I have really leaned into a therapist or a hypnotherapist or journaling or whatever, but I’ve also really leaned into the metaphysical community. More than anything, that’s helped me understand who I am, and why I’m going through something, specifically, because it’s basically explaining stuff.

For me, being a human is really difficult. The growth is really hard, and every day is a challenge. For me, if someone can tell me, “Well, this is why this is happening, and here’s how you could maneuver out of it,” is really helpful. I think, for anyone to have a roadmap, because that’s what I think the biggest question is, like “Well, how do I do this?” Everyone has their own individual blueprint, so to speak. That’s really what metaphysical has given to me. I’m curious to hear your experience in it.

Lily: My grandma is an astrologer and a numerologist, so I grew up very similarly, that this is what I was taught as fact. It’s similar growing up in a specific religion. This is the belief system that I grew up with. It helps you find yourself, and it helps answer some of the unknowns, which I feel like is what spirituality is as a whole. It’s also absolutely been a roadmap to help me understand other people.

That’s something I haven’t talked a lot about that on here, but it is a super important part of my mental health journey in the same way that you were saying, that it’s like, it’s something that’s helped me greatly understand myself and understand the people around me, especially when it’s someone doing it right, like the way my grandma does it, she’s never wrong.

Jaspre: Astrology is math, and there’s so many other things. That’s what I find so interesting, is that this is not something that just popped up in the last 10, 20 years. This has been around thousands of years, and it’s always been a part of the conversation.

Brittany: I have a funny story that has to do with this a little bit. I am a really science-y person, too. I didn’t believe a lot of this stuff at first. For the people who are watching this who are like, “You guys are witches.”

[laughter]

Brittany: I will say, that that’s how I was at the beginning a couple of years ago with this stuff. But I do believe in energy, and I do believe in science. Einstein believed in energy. Everything is energy. Last night, I was watching the sunset with my husband. He’s a surfer. He always tries to tell me things about the ocean whenever we’re looking out there. He was talking to me about the ocean and how the moon has so much to do with the tides.

I was like, “You’re telling me that the moon changes the tides, and you believe in that, but you don’t think the moon can change our bodies? We’re made up of water.” He was like, “Never have I thought about that before.” The little moments like that make me so happy, because it is those little breakthroughs that I think that people who really understand nature and science can hold onto, where you’re like, “Oh, yes, we’re all connected, and why would we not have to do with the stars and the moon?” I was proud of my husband for making that connection.

Lily: [laughs] That’s awesome. I love that story, and I love seeing those little breakthroughs. I see that with my grandma all the time when she’s talking to people, and they’re like, “This stuff is bullshit.” Then, she tells them something about themselves that they’re like, “Oh, my God.” Like, “How did you know that?”

Jaspre: That’s the deal with it. People are really afraid of it. I think that there’s nothing to be afraid of. It’s just learning about yourself.

Lily: For anyone who’s interested in being a part of September Letters in some way, what can they do?

Jaspre: We would love for people to go on the website, which is septemberletters.com. It is a community that is completely inclusive and immersive. You can write a letter, you can request a letter, you can read a letter. You also can comment on other people’s letters, which we’re really quite excited about, and the community has really embraced that feature. The Request A Letter feature is really amazing. If you don’t see a letter that vibrates to you, you can request something, specifically.

Also, again, like Brittany said, you can be anonymous. You can give your first name. We don’t publish the last name, so it’s hard to figure out what the name would be anyway. You can give us a photo to include in your letter. It doesn’t even have to be a letter. It can be a drawing, it can be a picture, it can be a doodle, it can be a poem, it can be a haiku, it can be a song, lyric, whatever. Whatever resonates to you, and it’s going to help you and be part of that community.

We’re also on Instagram @September Letters. We’re also on Pinterest @September Letters. One of our biggest things is that this is a safe space for people to come on to and to feel like they can say what they want to say. Another important point, which we didn’t bring up is that we are a partner of Bring Change to Mind, and so we’re really proud of– It’s founded by Glenn Close, and our narratives overlap. We encourage everyone to get involved, and get involved however it feels comfortable to you.

Lily: I know, I hope everyone that watches this will get involved in some way, because I love that notion of building community, especially right now that’s something that’s so vital and something that I think will add to that shift of positivity in social media is using it for the good that it could be used for, which is finding someone that you may not have ever met, who lives 3000 miles away but who shares such a similar experience to you, where you guys have similar mental health journeys. That’s super awesome.

Brittany: We have so many other things, great things, plans. Also, in the future, for September Letters, we really would like you want to bring on so many people and experts and have open conversations about mental health and really get different facets in there in terms of the website videos and stories about letters, and really build that community in so many different immersive ways, like Jaspre said, so it’s not just sitting there and reading letters. There’s going to be more to come with that, and so keep an eye out for it.

Lily: Exciting. I would love to end on the note of what is something that is giving you hope right now?

Jaspre: Honestly, this is September Letters. For me, to read these letters, and I know Brittany shares this experience, and to see people’s comments, just gives me just hope that people are open to sharing. That’s big, the fact that people are willing to trust us with their story and trust others to read it. Particularly, being in quarantine and isolation, it’s given me hope for the human spirit and to see how people are really sharing in such huge ways.

Brittany: This sounds really cheesy, but it’s the truth. The thing that’s giving me the most hope right now is having these conversations with you. I’m older than you. A little bit older than you, but your generation of people who really want to talk about mental health and want to talk about what they’re going through. When I was 21, I did not have this sort of community. I didn’t have this openness.

I feel like if I did, I feel like if there was a place like watching what you’re doing right now, where I could have felt like, “Oh, my gosh. I’m not alone,” I would have felt so much more connected and included and so much more comfortable. I would have felt like I wasn’t going crazy. I think it’s so monumentally important what you’re doing, and I think that that does give me hope.

Lily: Thank you. Thank you so much. Absolutely the same to you guys. Just opening the conversation and creating community is like the keywords, I think. Well, thank you guys so much. Thank you for the kind words, and, hopefully, I will have my September Letter up for people to view. [chuckles]

Jaspre: We can’t wait.

Brittany: Perfect.

Jaspre: We can’t wait. Thank you for having us.

Lily: Of course.

Brittany: Yes, thank you so much.

Lily: Thank you guys so much for being here.

[music]

[00:37:18] [END OF AUDIO]