Mental health student org shares letters of support from Sun Devils
Stories written by university community members from across the country are shared through If You're Reading This.
One of ASU’s newest resources for mental health was founded by Sun Devils inspired to support others by showing them they are not alone.
This new resource is called If You’re Reading This, and ASU now has its own chapter.
If You’re Reading This is an online platform that posts letters written by community members sharing their personal experiences with mental health.
The online platform was created and launched in the fall of 2016 at the University of Virginia by founder Alexandra Pentel. Her idea for the platform emerged when she noticed that social media campaigns, though well-intended, did not fully address the stigma surrounding mental illness.
She created If You’re Reading This to show readers that they are not alone when it comes to their own experiences with mental health. The online collection of letters is written by people who are identified by name.
By posting letters that include the identity of the writers, the experiences become more impactful, said Rachael Holp, a senior studying kinesiology and president and founder of ASU’s If You’re Reading This chapter.
If You’re Reading This has chapters at universities across the country.
“If you go online and you click on a university, you can see these are real people from our community with real stories. So it's really powerful to see that within ASU and then also within other chapters at other campuses in the country as well,” Holp said.
The ASU chapter launched in August 2021 and already has a gallery of letters.
Sun Devils can submit their own letters via the If You’re Reading This website submission page. Writers are encouraged to provide their name and to add a professional headshot to include with the letter.
The organization accepts and posts letters from Sun Devils, including staff and alumni.
Students can access more mental health resources via the If You’re Reading This ASU resource page and through a mental health page on the ASU website.