Friendship Matters^® is a program sponsored by the Family Support Foundation for Mental Illness to educate and bring awareness to students about mental illness and the importance of compassion, understanding, and support, particularly for young people coping with mental illnesses themselves, with a friend, or in their families. Friendship Matters!   
 
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, 1 in 4 Americans suffer from a mental illness such as Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), eating disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, bipolar disorder, anxiety, depression, and even suicide.  For young people, with their sense of self only just developing, mental illnesses can be even more difficult for them to cope with or understand.

There are many resources and organizations available to help support individuals and young adults dealing with these issues, but unfortunately, mental illness is too often stigmatized, feared, and misunderstood.  By educating students on these issues, the Family Support Foundation hopes to break down the fear and the stigma so everyone can feel comfortable asking for or offering help.  

The Friendship Matters program is a fun, creative event that takes place in the classroom. Students participate in an arts and crafts project where they make friendship bracelets.  During the creative project, students are educated on the issues surrounding mental illness and the resources available for them if they or someone they know is dealing with any of these issues.  Guidance counselors and art teachers assist with the program over a one-week period communicated as “Friendship Matters Week.”

For each bracelet made, the Family Support Foundation makes a donation to the school, then sells the bracelets to recoup its costs and to help continue its mission of supporting families coping with mental illnesses.

If you are interested in discussing the Friendship Matters program further or setting it up in your school, please contact us through the Contact Us page on this web site.