I’m excited to announce the official launch of PurpleYoYo.org, a new resource for members of the yoyo community struggling with depression and mental illness.
I’ve been working on this for a little over a year now. I announced the project publicly at a very emotional meeting at last year’s World YoYo Contest, and I have to admit it’s been very difficult to get to this point. But the enormity of creating a program like this is nothing compared to the task of actually living with these illnesses, so I kept things moving and here we finally are…and now it’s time to ask for your help.
The goals of PurpleYoYo are to:
- Raise Awareness
- Remove Stigma
- Provide Help
We’d like to have the PurpleYoYo icon on every single yoyo contest backdrop in the world, every year, so that every player who attends a contest sees it and understands that someone cares, and help is available. We want the PurpleYoYo icon on every piece of yoyo packaging, so that everyone who buys a yoyo knows that they are part of a community that cares, wants the best for them, and is willing to help. I want players to know that they are part of a community that has space for them to openly talk about their struggles, and I want them to know that help is available. I just don’t want anyone to feel like they have to fight this alone. Because they don’t.
We have a listing of local resources for every country we could find on the Get Help section of our site, and encourage people to email us if any information is out of date, or if they have additional resources for us to add. As we build up our volunteer staff, we’ll be attending more and more contests and working to provide access to mental health professionals for any players who are in need.
I hope you’ll join us in supporting those members of the community who need our help. Please check our Volunteer page for ways you can help.