Facebook/Amy BluelThe woman who started the powerful mental health campaign aiming to lower suicide rates has died at 31 years old.
Amy Bleuel, 31, from Wisconsin, founded Project Semicolon; a campaign which saw people in their thousands from around the world emblazon their skin with tattoos of semicolons.
Amy saw the semicolon as a poignant symbol that the plight of those with mental health problems – and their stories – are unfinished.
Twitter/ErisGriffonIn a tragic turn of events, the campaigner has died by suicide at the young age of 31, after dedicating her life to fighting the stigma of mental health.
Amy’s final Facebook post reflected her attitudes towards openness and candour during the battle with depression.
It read:
Depression takes root when the picture of the past is more powerful than the picture of the future.
“A semicolon is used when an author could’ve chosen to end their sentence, but chose not to. The author is you, and the sentence is your life." – Project Semicolon
Posted by Amy Bleuel on Friday, 17 February 2017
Amy herself struggled with mental illness for more than 20 years and experienced many stigmas associated with it, and also lost her father to suicide in 2003.
Jeff Strommen, the chairman of the Brown County Coalition for Suicide Prevention who had previously worked with Amy, told Fox 11 that, ‘Her loss is felt tremendously both by myself and our community here.’
Our thoughts are with Amy’s family at this difficult time. Her legacy will live on through the lives of all those her campaign helped.
If you are struggling with mental health or know someone that needs help, visit Mind for more information.
A former emo kid who talks too much about 8Chan meme culture, the Kardashian Klan, and how her smartphone is probably killing her. Francesca is a Cardiff University Journalism Masters grad who has done words for BBC, ELLE, The Debrief, DAZED, an art magazine you’ve never heard of and a feminist zine which never went to print.