By Dr. Danny M. Cohen | Unsilence Founder & Interim Executive Director
THANK YOU! Because of your generous support of our work on mental health education and other hidden injustices, Unsilence's choose-your-own-pathway learning tool TOMORROW is now one of our most popular online features.
Why did Unsilence create TOMORROW? Schools struggle to talk about suicide and mental health. Some schools even have policies that prohibit teachers from talking about suicide with students. But there are healthy ways for schools to tackle this topic. TOMORROW helps teachers, school administrators, parents, and young people learn how to support community conversations about sucide and mental health in appropriate and effective ways.
What is the story at the heart of TOMORROW? TOMORROW presents three distinct perspectives in one story. Liza is a teacher unsure how to respond to sudden news of a student death. Sanjay is a student struggling to talk with his friends and family about his own mental health. April is the new school principle, seeking advice from experts on how to navigate the day's awful events.
Why is TOMORROW interactive? Throughout the story, the reader must make decisions on behalf of each character, and the reader can see how different choices may play out. The story cultiminates with embedded best-practice guidelines - suggested by experts - for schools on how to navigate student suicide and support community healing.
Is TOMORROW based on real events? Yes. TOMORROW is accompanied by the teacher testimony INTO MY ARMS on which the interactive story is based, as well as BRIAN, which is a parent's beautiful and honest reflection about her son and his suicide, loss and blame, and healing through education. In her words: "Together, we can lower the rates of suicide among children and young adults. The place to start is to unsilence the mental suffering that so many of our young people experience."
CONTINUE TO SUPPORT OUR ESSENTIAL WORK: Without you, we would not be able to create and deliver innovative programs - driven by storytelling, the arts, and serious games - that unsilence injustice. If you'd like to continue supporting our TOMORROW initiative, you can donate right here.
With sincere gratitude.
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