<p>Frank Warren demonstrates the power of sharing your hopes, dreams, fears and failures and how PostSecret became the catalyst for his passionate commitment to mental health advocacy.</p><p>What started as a community mail art project in which people anonymously share never-before-voiced secrets has since captured our collective imagination and evolved into a worldwide phenomenon. Several <i>New York Times</i> best-selling books, national art exhibits and an album and theatrical production later, Frank’s PostSecret website has become the most visited ad-free blog in the world, honored with multiple Webbys for “Best Blog on the Internet.”</p><p>PostSecret has also raised over $1,000,000 for suicide prevention and earned Frank a Mental Health Advocacy Lifetime Achievement Award.</p><p>In Frank’s interactive multimedia event, <i>PostSecret Live</i>, he engages audiences with the inspiring, funny and at times heartbreaking stories behind the secrets. As he delves into how the project led to his ardent involvement in suicide awareness, Frank demonstrates that by sharing our personal struggles, we can help each other and release our burdens.</p>
Innovative Creator of The PostSecret Project & Author
<ul><li><strong>PostSecret and Mental Health: Sharing Secrets, Reducing Stigma, Building Community</strong></li></ul><p>As a recipient of the Mental Health Advocacy Lifetime Achievement Award, Frank Warren draws upon his experiences as a crisis counselor, author of 6 <i>New York Times</i> Bestselling Books, and Founder of PostSecret to destigmatize mental illness through poignant, powerful and surprisingly laugh-out-loud events at campuses around the world.</p><p>This award-winning presentation demonstrates Frank’s commitment to mental health advocacy by covering anxiety, stigma, imposter syndrome, substance abuse, social isolation, self-harm, LGBTQ issues and diversity. This multi-media program will entertain and enrich leaving a lasting impact on campus empathy, openness and community.</p><p>Through masterful story-telling and audience interaction, Franks’ authentic, heartwarming and uplifting program leaves students with actionable wellness tools to use on their campus in order to better care for their classmates... and themselves.</p><ul><li><strong>PostSecret and the Pandemic: Struggles, Successes & Strategies</strong></li></ul><p>Frank's all new interactive online presentation reveals our true feelings about how the pandemic has disrupted our lives, while providing evidence-based tools to aid young people as they navigate through this challenging, but temporary crisis. </p><p>Community building, reducing stigma, and asking for help are all discussed in response to the rise in anxiety, loneliness, depression and grief.</p><p>67% of young people talk with a friend about mental illness before a parent, teacher or professional. One objective of this presentation is to give students the confidence and knowledge to know how to respond when a friend trusts them with their mental health secret. </p><p>In addition to sharing the most extraordinary secrets and inspiring PostSecret stories, participants will also learn from new pandemic related postcards that Frank has received from young people and the feelings and experiences they have been confiding on PostSecret social media. We are experiencing the pandemic differently, but we are all going through it together. </p><ul><li><strong>Pandemic Secrets: Struggles, Successes and Strategies</strong></li></ul><p>Frank Warren is the sole founder of the PostSecret Project, a growing collection of over a million artful secrets, mailed anonymously to him on postcards. Known as ‘the most trusted stranger in America’, Frank’s all new interactive presentation reveals our true feelings about how the pandemic has disrupted our lives, while providing evidence-based tools to aid young people and adults as they navigate through this challenging, but temporary crisis.</p><p>Community building, reducing stigma, and asking for help are all discussed in response to the current rise in anxiety, loneliness, depression and grief.</p><p>67% of students talk with a friend about mental illness before a parent, counselor, or professor. One objective of this presentation is to give students the confidence and knowledge to know how to respond when a friend trusts them first with their secret.</p><p>This interactive multimedia event can be presented live or remotely. The program is 40 minutes with a 20 minute Q&A. All attendees will receive a follow-up packet that includes discussion questions, mental health best practices, and resources.</p>