Just over 10 years ago, 19-year-old Renee Yoho struggled with cocaine addiction and self-injury.
Renee needed help and attempted to enroll in a treatment program. However, she was denied entry because she used the night before. In a moment of true bravery, instead of revisiting her dealer, she crashed at a friend’s house who knew and understood the challenges Renee would face over the next five days before she could re-apply.
Over the next few days, Renee’s friends exhibited the true definition of “friendship” as they stood by her side in support. Jamie Tworkowski documented the journey: a story of friends leaning on each other, learning each other’s stories and taking care of each other. Jamie created merchandise and sold t-shirts with the slogan “To Write Love On Her Arms” on the decade’s leading social media website, Myspace, in order to offset medical costs.
The community stumbled across the story and connected with it. Renee symbolized a personal figure in everyone’s lives and To Write Love On Her Arms (TWLOHA) became an organization of hope; a product of the communities’ outreach. Jamie never intended to create a nonprofit organization. He simply desired to help a friend in need.
We sat down with To Write Love On Her Arms and team member Chad Moses at Carolina Rebellion to discuss the organization’s 10-year journey, their future and the expansion onto college campuses, including local university UNC Charlotte:
Encore Mag: How did the name, “To Write Love On Her Arms” come to be?
To Write Love On Her Arms: A piece of Renee’s story was that the night before she went to treatment, she used cocaine one last time and locked herself in the bathroom and wrote the word “Fuck Up” across her arm. That word was way less about profanity and much more about identity. The goal was to help Renee rewrite the script and assure Renee that she was loved because she was still breathing.
EM: How has the organization grown over the years?
TWLOHA: I think from the earliest onset 10 years ago when that blog was published and the shirts were printed, it was immediately obvious that we stumbled upon a conversation bigger than just one person’s story. From there, it grew exponentially and took off. People see us as a safe place and can be honest about their struggles. It’s grown from day one and continues to grow. To date, we’ve been able to respond to over 180,000 messages from people looking for help. We’ve been able to interact with millions of people worldwide through music festivals and speaking events. We’ve given over 1.6 million dollars to avenues for treatment and all these numbers continue to trend upward.
EM: The organization released a movie four years ago. How did that affect the organization?
TWLOHA: It was recorded in 2012 and was released little over a year ago. It was a long time coming but it was such a gift to have some friends tell the story in such a unique way. It’s funny, from time to time, people will stop by and will say, ‘Oh, you guys are the movie.’ Yeah, kind of. The movie is really fun because we didn’t write it, produce it or direct it, but our friend did. We cheered our friend on from a close distance. We’re proud of the result but equally proud of our friend and their contribution. But we’ll hear people say, ‘We saw your movie on Redbox.’ It’s a gift because people come across the organization who never would have heard of us otherwise.
EM: TWLOHA is very relevant with this type of music at festivals, is there a certain reason behind that?
TWLOHA: First and foremost, Warped Tour was instrumental in our growth. Those guys have been some of our longest running friends. We’re about to start our 10th year on the tour. There’s a lot of bands, such as Paramore, Switchfoot, The Almost, Underoath, Anberlin and all these bands were quick to rally for the cause. We’ve also been able to grow with our audience and the folks that listened to those bands years ago are most likely listening to something different now. We’re at Bonnaroo and Firefly too. Regardless of your choice in music, if depression, addiction or thoughts of suicide are something that’s present in your life, we don’t care what type of music you listen to. We just hope to find a place where you feel valued. We want to be wherever people are.
EM: Any specific bands that really support the movement?
TWLOHA: There’s been a number that have been great friends. Zach Meyers of Shinedown has been great, retweeting stuff when we’re campaign. P.O.D. has reached out for years and we’re so thankful for them and how much they care for their audience. There’s so many bands that have supported us over the years and we won’t even know. That’s kind of the beauty of it because it’s not about us gaining street cred because of their influence.
EM: There’s a chapter present at local university UNC Charlotte, is this something TWLOHA is actively connected with?
TWLOHA: Every chapter that’s formed has to go through training. We’re actually doing another round of training in July which we call the “Supporter Conference.” The chapters work hand-in-hand with our office but at the same time, each is unique to the university. We have set goals that we’d hope each chapter accomplishes but in a way unique to each 49er.
EM: Does TWLOHA have any specific goals for the future?
TWLOHA: I think most immediately the hope is to be more places than ever, continuing to meet people. We hear from people all the time. Just yesterday in Charlotte, a girl came up to us and said, ‘Hey you spoke at my school in Alaska.’ I could name the school because we’ve only been to Alaska twice. She was thankful because she felt forgotten and that’s not what we want. We want to continue to find unique ways to be proactive and defining the next chapter of mental health and suicide prevention. That’s going to rely on folks like you guys and finding creative ways of getting the word out in your community.
EM: Is there one lasting personal message to spread to those needing help?
TWLOHA: We hope you know that it’s okay to not be okay. It’s okay to ask for help. Help is real and hope is an option. We’re not giving up on you. One thing that I often say is, “Ever since you came into this world, I haven’t taken a breath without you in it. I simply don’t know what this planet looks like without you here and I don’t care to imagine what that looks like. I hope you know that you deserve to feel happy, to be heard and valued. Keep fighting until you find that feeling.”
For more information about TWLOHA and how to get involved, visit twloha.com
You can contact TWLOHA at: info@TWLOHA.com and find the organization on social media at:
Facebook: towriteloveonherarms
Twitter: @TWLOHA
Instagram: @TWLOHA
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