Mental Health Awareness Month: Interview with Invisible Mental Health

May is Mental Health Awareness Month and we caught up with the mum and son duo that are creating a community for people affected by mental health. Keep on reading to here more from Ty and Michelle Strawford, founders of Invisible Mental Health.

What’s your story?

Ty: Mental Health has been a big struggle for me for as long as I can remember. It started getting really bad and ended up with me in the hospital in the psych ward for two weeks. Right away I wanted to start doing something with mental health because I didn’t want to be feeling how I was feeling. That was back in October of 2023.

Michelle: Prior to him ending up in the hospital, we had talked about Understand Us. I loved it and would go to their events because I had family that suffered from mental health, just for the support from the community there. I loved that there were psychiatrists, entrepreneurs, families, and people from the street. It was one of the most welcoming and nonjudgemental communities I had ever seen. It went away and it kept eating at me because I knew something was missing.

What led you to create Invisible Mental Health?

Michelle: When Ty ended up in the hospital and we started talking about it and wanted to do something. We talked to the nurses, and I started a note on my phone about what we would do, and I know that I gather people, but I don't know anything about mental health. All I knew from being a mother was that I felt helpless and that I didn’t see him. The first time we had an ambulance call we had friends over in the living room, and he came out of his bedroom and said “I’m sorry, I don’t want to scare you, but the police and ambulance are coming” I was so surprised, and we went to the hospital and came home that night, and after the second ambulance call, he stayed. We just knew that we had to do something. I felt very awful because here I was wanting to celebrate that my son is here because we could have been celebrating his life. What is wrong with our community when we say that we all care so much but nobody sends balloons or flowers, and people are scared to ask you how you are, but if it would have gone the other way, everyone would care? We were stopping that train right now. Three months to the day that he was in the hospital we filled the local market with an event and three months later we did our second event. It was the first time I did an event where I didn’t care about making money, I cared about impacting at least one human. We just ask for experts to come to the space, we would ask if you know people that can help, please have them come. So we connect with one therapist, Tara Duckworth who actually raises money to gift free therapy to youth who would not be able to afford it. We decided we would start online first, to raise presence, then with some merchandise like bracelets and sweatshirts. Were thinking we might be doing another event in June. Our goal is to do one every three months. As a mum, I want to say we are here to support and keep going. We have shared so much, and while I was in Arizona I had a movie producer hear me mention invisible mental health, and he came up to me and told me about a pilot he’s working on one called “Why We,” which would be why we fly or run or whatever. There was another man at the event that had suffered mental health struggles and we talked and came up with “Why We Stay” and he wants us to be part of the pilot! It’s his passion project and it's what he wants to do because the producer's cv is movies that you have heard of.

Ty: I was amazed, he worked on Die Hard!

Michelle: He just wants to help and that is why.

What is the future of Invisible Mental Health?

Ty: Definitely our goal is awareness and bring everyday people in to tell their stories. It’s about letting everyone know that everyday people go through the same things and feel the same things that they may not show. I didn’t feel that anybody saw what I was going through, so I just want people to this and provide information that can help.

Michelle: Yes, a lot of our shirts say “You are not alone”. From a business side, our goal is for it to become a non-profit, but that takes time. We want to impact and connect with schools, people, and families. We want to be a part of keeping someone here longer.

What do you find most important that you are doing for the community?

Michelle: I think what we're doing most importantly is keeping people here through connection, just hearing people tell us “Thank you for this community” is inspiring. We have four people at each event speak that we choose carefully. We have had teenagers, parents, postpartum, a gentleman who was in a car accident, and a nurse talk about eating disorders. We're always trying to get different people that have one thing in common they are willing to share and make a difference. The one most powerful thing we have done is connect people to show them that they are not alone and are seen.

What do you want people to know about Invisible Mental Health?

Michelle: When we do our events there it is an environment of caring and what I’ve been told is perhaps the people that need it the most are not able to get there. That’s the part that we struggle with, we try to record, but it is very sensitive and not everyone wants to be recorded.

Ty: That is something else we’d like to grow, to be able to distribute what we are doing at the events. I want to be able to distribute it to psych wards.

What are the long-term consequences if we ignore the voices of people affected by mental illness?

Michelle: We are in such a crisis right now, and we need this community to help. I think the crisis exploded curing covid, and there's not the help that is needed. I wouldn’t say that it is not taken seriously, and I do think people are getting more educated and understanding it specifically with the younger generations. They are ready to treat mental health the way it should be and support the movement. We don’t have the facilities or the professional help that is needed.

What has been an inspiring moment?

Ty: I wouldn’t say that there was only one connection I’ve made through Invisible Mental Health, but after each event, there will be a few people that thank us for doing it and those are the messages that keep me going.