No matter where you are in life, it's important to remember you are never alone. This page was designed to give people a place to share their thoughts. Anything at all is encouraged, and this collection of stories will help grow the Homs community.
We have made it our mission to reimagine the mental health conversation, and one of the ways to do that is by talking about it in completely new ways. Here's a reminder that you will always have a community that supports you.
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5 comments
I have been envisioning a backside to your sweatshirts and tshirts, etc. that are prophetically filled in with liquid gold glue representing my belief for those of us whom have or had mental health challenges to look forward and have hope for a future in eternity to all those whom believe and receive HIS free gift of LOVE (aka: the liquid gold glue goo that I am picturing filling in those cracks to mend the broken and or shattered hearts. Not to take away from the stages a heart can, may fluctuate in and through and from, but to give hope of a life lived with God in Heaven (eternity, eternal resting in Him, where there are no more broken hearts or tears or harm to avoid or work through because of our own selfishness or that of those around us, no more sadness, no more tears or hopelessness, etc. Love you Guys. Thanks for spreading the Word. P.S. I have been diagnosed with severe mental “illness” in this past . It is a tough road, tough stuff. I am so grateful for God, what He has done and revealed ….I think that the greatest gift has been of a life spent with Him in eternity, and so many gifts while here on Earth. I value and respect and appreciate that when I ask Him to see things through His eyes, when I can refrain from acting out of the heartbreak – I see a broken world. I ask that everyone on your site will have Heaven invade their atmosphere and I release His anointing to break free spiritual abuse and or wickedness of any kind. I decree and declare that all crooked paths are made straight for every child, woman, man. I ask maker of Heaven and Earth and everything else….such as the lions and tigers, zebras and giraffes to open the eyes of our hearts and show us the way, the one and only true pathway. Where there is a will, there is a way the world says. I do not fully understand this, that saying, however….I decree and declare that everyone’s will aligns with the Spirit of the Living God. The only one that has the power to save, resurrect, and heal. Wholeheartedly. May God bless You all according to His riches in glory. May we all become the seekers that we need to be to see any and all truths for each, our own individuals lives, walks, and talks…speeches. You are all loved.
I celebrate and rejoice when I hear of those whose hearts desire is to bless others challenged with mental health issues. On behalf of the church at large, I stand in the gap and repent for our non sense of any kind, misunderstanding, maltreatment, anything at all that would ever have made others feel less than anything other than loved, helped, and supported. Just like we do when another has been in a car accident or on the streets. Help, don’t hurt or harm, but Help. God says in HIs Word that He came to set the captives free, to proclaim the good news, and has required us to carry one another’s burdens. That is a definition of His great Love, to me at least. My hearts desire includes an awareness of mental health acceptability needs and challenges and programs that help others tolerate and get help for their lack of knowledge, acceptance, accountability and dependence on God, the Trinity, and how to be of help opposed to doing nothing at all to support and come into agreement for this community of believers and their family and friends so that together we can do this as Teamwork. When I think of a Team, a True sense of Team….that means that Everyone has a role, a spot, a place on the Team. No one is excluded, and everyone is included. Like someone noted on this site….Sometimes, you need to be patient and have self-control, along with perserverance and reach out to those whom you can see need someone to take the time to care about them and for them. I totally went beyond paraphrasing what the player said…however, my heart heard him say all of that when I read something about him sharing a need to reach out sometimes and not try to quickly solve. Take the time to build relationship with someone whom needs you to care. To me…that is a beautiful example of loving your neighbor. Loving our neighbors is a commandment, not a suggestion is what I believe. When you go to work, at your workplace, often times there are rules and preferences. The rules one must follow to keep their job. Preferences are a choice. I see this site as attempting to promote love ones neighbor. Thanks guys!!!! You rock.
I was lucky enough to see your segment on tv and learn about you and your brand . I was so impressed by your message and it hit home with me. My 15 year old daughter struggled with severe depression and anxiety , it’s been an ongoing struggle but we are finally on the road to feeling better with wonderful doctors and therapists. Depression and anxiety are no joke and I appreciate you spreading the word and message. It should be talked about and not looked down upon. I ordered a sweatshirt for my daughter and explained to her who you are and your message and she just LOVED it and was so appreciative that she could wear sometime with such a strong, positive message . I’ve now ordered her a 2nd shirt !! Please continue your message and thank you !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’ve never met Race, but I’ve been a husky fan forever which is how I discovered HOMS. I was inspired by his courage of telling his story and immediately loved the message he was promoting with his clothing. For me I didn’t struggle with depression until I was diagnosed with epilepsy which spiraled into losing my job as an RN (a degree I worked hard to get at UW), and so much of my independence (no driving, awful meds with terrible side effects and of course the seizures and fear/embarrassment/stigmas that go along with having them). I was embarrassed to tell people I was struggling and have a hard time asking for help, feeling like a constant burden. I lost a lot of friends because I couldn’t drive to them and at that age much of social gatherings revolved around drinking which I also was no longer supposed to do (and haven’t since) so slowly people I thought were close friends and most painful of all my best friend (or so I thought she was the maid of honor in my wedding…) began to stop inviting me to do things and phone calls went unanswered and unreturned. I tried to convince myself that this was temporary but after many years, I could do nothing but accept reality because by then those “friends” had completely shut me out of their lives. It was devastating, I didn’t have a choice, and i had no one to go to for support if I tried anyways. I was in crisis and i has to face my fears and ask complete strangers (therapists) for the help I needed. Which of course saved my life and I no longer feel any shame when I talk about having depression and anxiety or the fact that I saw and continue to see as needed my therapist. The hardest thing to accept is that this all happened because of people not understanding epilepsy and the many stigmas associated with seizures along with both fear and the embarrassment they might feel if they were with me and I had a seizure. It’s hard to not feel angry over that because it’s not like I have control of when and I can guarantee any fear or embarrassment I might cause others is not even close to the amount of fear and embarrassment those who actually have seizures feel every single day. I have made peace with that personally, but it did spark me to want to understand if this was common when it came to any/all discussions surrounding mental illness and I quickly found most people were not willing to talk about mental health at all, often just the mention of it caused a strong reaction and complete unwillingness to admit to any struggles or even talk about it in a general way (and I wasn’t approaching strangers, it was family, my husband, the people who I would think I was close enough to that they would know they could tell me anything without fear of judgement, but that was just not the case. Of course there were a few who did and it always felt like such an amazing thing when I found someone open to talking about it which is not how it should be! So this is why I support the message behind HOMS clothing, it’s so important and so very needed. Knowing there are other people who are struggling too and even worse may not ever feel okay to talk about it is just so sad. So to find HOMS and realize there are others just as passionate about the need for better, real conversations about mental health (and people who struggle like me to find ways to give and get support and are working to change that is a dream come true for me. I don’t have the platform like Race and Gaskin and all their friends do, so supporting them any way I can is so important to me as a way of furthering the cause, but also to thank them for using their “celebrity” to make a real difference because someone like myself would never have the kind of impact they would. This is why I was willing and will continue to as much as I can make the choice to skip for one month something I can live without (I can live with cheap microwaveable food for a month no problem if it means I’ll be able to afford to buy a $40 sweatshirt that will support them and their brand). Due to my uncontrollable seizures I am embarrassed to admit I am forced to live on social security disability no matter how much I wish I could work, it’s just not possible until I find something that will at least lessen the frequency and safely return to work again. My only reason for including this info is to stress how much it means to me that though small I am able to and will continue to support this cause. And there has never been a moment of doubt that it’s worth whatever it takes to continue to show my support by both wearing my sweatshirt far more often than anything else I own, but continuing whenever possible to support financially by purchasing more of their clothing items. I wear it proudly and as often as possible. Thank you to everyone who has been involved and most importantly to Race for his courage and and channel that into such an important and needed cause. I know you get to see a lot of the support first hand, but there’s just as much you may never see but it’s there.
I had the pleasure of meeting Race and hearing his story at a conference a few months back. His story is inspiring and one I think that more and more people need to hear about. I appreciate and promote the idea of wearing my heart on my sleeve with my non-profit, Keep Choosing Life (keepchoosinglife.org). It is a company I created with the idea of sharing my own story and struggles with mental health and in turn to inspire others to share their struggles with mental health. Being vulnerable and open in this world can truly help others in all areas. We never know what anyone is going through so it is important that we hold space for people to feel heard, seen, and valued.