Exclusive: Brittany Snow Gets Hands-On With Teen Suicide Prevention

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A simple message is worth a thousand words

“Teen suicide is something that I fought with and last year—when a lot of suicides were occurring—I felt like it was something that needed to be more of an issue. No one who is feeling bullied or depressed or suicidal should have to feel isolated. So I called my friend Courtney Knowles, who heads up the Jed Foundation, which focuses on suicide prevention among college students. We came up with the idea for Love is Louder as a movement of interactive videos and pictures so people can bring their voices to the issue. MTV partnered with us and it quickly became the viral movement that it is. Anyone can tell their story by uploading a video at MTV or joining the conversation on Twitter or Facebook.”

Photo: Tyler Shields

Love is Louder Cofounders Snow and Knowles Do the College Circuit

“Courtney and I started going to different schools and college campuses and talking to students. Getting to meet people afterward was amazing because you could really see in their eyes how much it inspires them. I’m so passionate about Love is Louder, but sometimes you don’t know if it’s affecting people. That’s what is important.”

Photo: Courtesy of Love is Louder

The Upside of Mob Mentality

“In Pittsburgh, a girl walked up to me and gave me a note. She told me not to read it until after I left. This note basically talked about how she had been bullied and felt like she had wanted to kill herself. She felt like there was no hope. She said that Love is Louder had changed her life just by uploading her pictures and being interactive with the movement. I have the note hanging up on my mirror in my bathroom. I look at it every day.”

Photo: Courtesy of Love is Louder

Snow Gets Personal About Her Own Experience

“When I was in middle school and high school, I was bullied. This one girl made it her mission to make my life miserable. Basically the whole school turned against me. I was doing Guiding Light at the time, so I would be gone for a week and then I would come back to school in Florida and I would just have to go through three or four days of hell. No one was talking about bullying much back then. My parents didn’t really know what to do. Looking back, I really wish that there were resources like Love is Louder. I was struggling with depression and mental illness. I know how bad it gets, and I would not have felt like I was the only person going through that.”

Photo: Alberto Rodriguez/Getty Images

From the Art Project on Facebook

“But I also know how good it can get. My life has become 110 percent better than what I thought it was going to be. It’s so hard to tell that to people when they’re depressed or feeling suicidal. If someone came up to me when I was going through it and said, ‘It’s going to be okay. It’s not like this forever,’ I probably would have punched him in the face. But being around people who understand you is so helpful. It shows that there is another side to it and that you can come out on top.”

Photo: Courtesy of Love is Louder

Suicide is the third leading cause of death among teens and young adults. It’s a statistic that doesn’t surprise actress Brittany Snow (Hairspray, Harry’s Law), who struggled with severe depression as a teen. “I didn’t think anyone would understand what I was going through,” says Snow, who founded Love is Louder last September to bring people in pain together online. Wearing the organization’s title and slogan on your palm came to her as an afterthought: “Putting it on your hand is a way to say that you want to stand up to the problem and put a stop to it.”

Exclusive: Brittany Snow Gets Hands-On With Teen Suicide Prevention

A simple message is worth a thousand words

Photo: Tyler Shields

Love is Louder Cofounders Snow and Knowles Do the College Circuit

Photo: Courtesy of Love is Louder

The Upside of Mob Mentality

Photo: Courtesy of Love is Louder

Snow Gets Personal About Her Own Experience

Photo: Alberto Rodriguez/Getty Images

From the Art Project on Facebook

Photo: Courtesy of Love is Louder

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