To Write Love on Her Arms

To Write Love on Her Arms (TWLOHA) is an American nonprofit organization[1] that aims to present hope for people struggling with addiction, depression, self-injury and thoughts of suicide, while also investing in treatment and recovery.

Based in Melbourne, Florida, TWLOHA seeks to connect people to treatment centers, websites, books, support groups, helplines, and other resources.

Tworkowski and a group of friends stayed with her in order to "be her church, the body of Christ coming alive to meet her needs, to write love on her arms".

[3] Much of TWLOHA's work is dedicated to bridging the gap between mental health treatment (e.g., rehab, counseling, helplines) and the lives of people in need of help.

The seeds of the organization were sown by a story written by Tworkowski, about 19-year-old Renee Yohe, who struggled with addiction, depression, self-injury, and attempted suicide.

[7] We become her hospital and the possibility of healing fills our living room with life.TWLOHA began operating as a non-profit organization in October 2006 under the umbrella of Fireproof Ministries.

In addition to the story, T-shirts were printed and sold in Orlando to fund Yohe's treatment, and a Myspace page was created to serve as home-base for the project.

What began as an attempt to help one person in Orlando quickly generated wide interest – to date, TWLOHA has responded to over 200,000 messages from over 100 countries and invested over $2,200,000 directly into treatment and recovery.

Professional soccer players, including Abby Wambach, Alex Morgan, Ali Krieger, Ashlyn Harris and Christen Press, are often seen wearing TWLOHA apparel.

TWLOHA has been invited to set up booths on tour with several artists, including Switchfoot, Anberlin, The Rocket Summer, Blue October and others.

TWLOHA cut all ties and funding to Mercy Ministries and Teen Challenge in 2008 after discovering their alleged mistreatment of patients.

[19] The TWLOHA Spring 2010 UChapters Tour, "Evenings of Lyrics and Conversation", featured music by Damion Suomi, Andy Zipf, and Lauris Vidal.

The campaign aimed to give high school students resources and support, and to bring awareness to importance of addressing mental health issues.

[26] At the end of 2009, organization founder Jamie Tworkowski received mtvU's Good Woodie Award, which is given to artists whose commitment to a social cause has "effected the greatest change this year.

Jamie Tworkowski, the founder of To Write Love on Her Arms, at Taylor University
Example of individual participating in TWLOHA