Meet the founder of Letters to Strangers, the largest global youth-for-youth mental health non-profit
Get to know Diana Chao and learn about why she founded Letters to Strangers, a global mental health non-profit hoping to destigmatize mental illness.
Video Transcript
DIANA CHAO: It's hard to find hope sometimes, but I think what keeps me and so many people in our organization going are those stories that we hear every day, seeing people from their first letter to, let's say, they graduate from college, and witnessing their growth is one of the greatest honors of my life, honestly. Hey, I'm Diana Chao, and I'm the founder and executive director of Letters To Strangers.
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Letters To Strangers is today the largest global youth-for-youth mental health nonprofit. We directly impact over 35,000 people every year in over 20 countries, and we seek to destigmatize mental illness and increase access to affordable and quality treatment.
One of the most common things you hear from someone who is going through a difficult time is that they feel really alone. They feel like they are not heard, not see, no one understands them. So I think writing and then reading letters from someone else who can maybe for the first time make you feel like someone actually hears what you're going through and understands you, or at least can really give you a moment of support that you feel like is critically missing in your own life, I think that gives a connection that so many of the people we work with feel like is lacking otherwise.
So that's why I think Letters To Strangers is important, not just for us and people involved with us, but people around the world who are going through their own struggles, but feel like they can't say anything. This is an invitation to let them know that they truly are not alone.
