In the September/October 2006 issue of RELEVANT magazine, there was an article about a website and t-shirt campaign called "To Write Love On Her Arms" begun by a 26-year-old man named Jaime Tworkowski.

"To Write Love On Her Arms" was inspired by a girl named Renee with issues of sexual abuse, drug addiction, self-mutilation, depression, and suicide. Jaime and some friends helped her get into rehab, and stayed with her around the clock for the five days until she could enter. They started "To Write Love On Her Arms" to inspire honest conversations about issues that are often misunderstood and kept quiet. The money from the t-shirt sales goes to paying for Renee's treatment. Renee has been sober for six months, and Jaime is in the process of making "To Write Love On Her Arms" a non-profit organization.

This really resonated with me, because I see countless people with these same issues through my work. I urge you to check out their website, and read more about "To Write Love On Her Arms".

"To Write Love On Her Arms" is about cutting, and it's about depression, and addiction, and suicide, and it's about meeting those needs, and it's about talking about things that haven't been discussed, and saying that people are not alone, and that we're called to live together, and we're called to love each other, and that we have something to say about pain, and there's hope for people.

"To Write Love on Her Arms" is a work in progress. It is a story, and the response to a story. It is Renee's story, but it's also your story and it's my story, and it is an attempt at an honest conversation, and it's an attempt at meeting a need, and it is about pain, and it's about failure, and regret, and brokenness, and it is about broken people. And I'm a broken person.

And it is about hope more than anything else, it's about community, and it's about the possibility of healing, and it's about the possibility of freedom and redemption, and "To Write Love On Her Arms" is an idea, and it's a dream, and it's a prayer, and a song, and a fire, and maybe, it's a movement. - Jaime Tworkowski

www.twloha.com

www.myspace.com/towriteloveonherarms