By Emily Williams
AWARE Mountain Brook will hold its spring program April 21 with special guest and speaker Margot Shaw, founder and editor of Flower magazine.
AWARE first launched its Facebook page in February 2014, describing its use as a means for parents to “openly discuss the issues facing the children and families” in the Mountain Brook area.
According to the page, the network of concerned citizens encourages an open forum of conversation about suicide and mental health issues so that ‘not one more’ member of the community will be lost due to suicide.
The topics of discussion range from suicide to drug abuse, eating disorders and more.
“With drugs and mental health issues, there is so much overlap that you can hardly focus on one without the other,” Shaw said.
Before finding success with her magazine, Shaw struggled with drug abuse and mental health issues, which led to a struggle with depression.
“I will tell the world about my experiences if it means I can help one person,” Shaw said. “There is a lot of help out there, and with the right diagnosis and the right medication, people can really overcome it.”
Shaw said she is not an expert on the subject but has her own personal experiences to share with others.
She said because she has been through the battle with mental health and has come out functioning, happy and productive, she hopes her audience will glean hope from her story.
“Everybody knows about drug addiction, and everybody talks about it,” Shaw said. “Celebrities have almost made it seem cool to go to rehab. But mental illness is not widely talked about. It’s something that gets swept under the rug. We need to talk about it in order to wipe away some of the stigma.”
The AWARE spring program is at 6 p.m. at the Crestline Elementary Field. The event is free and open to the public. Shindigs Food Truck will be at the event.
For more information, visit the AWARE Facebook page.
