What #HoldOnToTheLight is Doing for Mental Wellness Awareness

The #HoldOnToTheLight blog campaign was founded in September of 2016 to raise awareness about treatments for anxiety, depression, suicide, domestic violence, PTSD, bullying awareness, and other mental health issues amongst the science fiction and fantasy authors and fans community. More than 100 sci-fi and fantasy authors joined forces to start a conversation about these issues on their subsequent blogs, reaching out to the fandom of readers and supporters to encourage them by sharing stories about their own personal struggles with mental health diagnoses, as well as resources for treatment. Below are some important details about this campaign, and where you can find inspirational posts, resources for mental health wellness, and more:

The Founders

John Hartness, Jaym Gates, Jean Marie Ward, Emily Leverett, Mindy Mymudes, Larry N. Martin, and Gail Z. Martin are the founding members of the #HoldOnToTheLight movement, all with the hopes that light would be shed upon the real-life topics of bipolar disorder, survivor guilt, bullying, and many other trials written about and experienced by many of today’s sci-fi and fantasy authors and their readers. Any questions or comments about the movement can be directed to Gail Z. Martin.

Contributing Sci-Fi/Fantasy Authors Who’ve Participated in the Blog Campaign

Over 100 authors participated in last year’s #HoldOnToTheLight campaign, including but not limited to: Robin Hobb, Jody Lynn Nye, Cat Rambo, Seanan McGuire, Laura Anne Gilman, Chuck Gannon, Kameron Hurley, Catherine Asaro, Gaie Siebold, Karen Miller, Rowena Cory Daniels, David B. Coe, and Arizona’s very own Tom Leveen. A definitive list can be found here, on the #HoldOnToTheLight website.

Where to Find Information and Contributions to This Movement

The #HoldOnToTheLight Facebook page is an informative resource for many of the authors’ blog contributions to the campaign, among them being Robin Hobb’s post about the possible origins of depression, Sarah Joy Adams’ post regarding her own diagnosis of Major Depressive Disorder and subsequent medication, therapy, and self-care journey, Leona Wisoker’s post about being a caretaker to a terminally ill parent, and Travis Heerman’s post on breaking the toxic cycle of bullying.

How to Support #HoldOnToTheLight

The participants and founders of this movement ask that readers support organizations for the treatment of mental illnesses include the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, Hope for the Warriors (veterans’ assistance), National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) and the National Suicide Prevention Hotline (which also has a 24/7 call line: 1-800-273-8255). You can also find all 100+ posts as a part of the blog campaign here on this page—read them and share online and through social media, so that others can be reminded that we are not alone. The fandom can be a wonderful and supportive resource for anyone being faced with these issues and who may feel there’s no way out. As these authors and the #WeHoldOnToTheLight movement have so valiantly displayed, that’s not the case at all.

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