The Hard Things - Share Your Story

“I think this is a beautiful idea to begin a platform not only addressing the good but the bad as well. Finding others you can genuinely connect with who share similar feelings will help to build a stronger more cohesive community. Expressing ones inner thoughts allows others to heal along side them whether that be independently or as a unit.”

We asked the TOWN community to tell us the problems that they think are the most common, but unspoken about, in our community. Thank you to those who took the time to give us feedback. The top three biggest problems we’ve heard are mental iIllness, alcoholism, opioid addiction. Racism, sexism, and loneliness were also mentioned as problems, but not nearly as often as these others.

We are starting to write a series on each called the Hard Things, focusing on mental illness, alcoholism, and opioid addiction. To make this really impactful, we’d love for WHS alumni community to share their own Hard Things stories. De-stigmatizing mental illness and substance abuse disorders can benefit our community; your story could encourage someone to finally reach out for help or give someone hope that they too can recover.

We all know someone who has struggled with at least one of these hard things. Some of us may have even experienced them ourselves. If you feel motivated to share any bit of your story, anonymously or owning it, we support you and will make sure this is the safest space to share it.

[If you are filling this out anonymously - in the fields Name, Email, just put “Anonymous” and “anonymous@anonymous.com”]

Read more about benefits of destigmatizing here: https://www.apa.org/monitor/2016/07-08/upfront-destigmatizing

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/nurturing-self-compassion/201705/the-catastrophic-effects-mental-health-stigma

The Hard Things

TOWN focuses on positivity and good news but encourages truthful and honest stories about triumph and failure. While it’s easy for us to talk and write about the good things, we are struggling with how to approach the hard things. 

We are navigating where to draw the line in discussion, or to even start one. We are fully aware that life has hard struggles and we would love TOWN to be an open, judgement-free zone for townies to share their stories and potentially, help someone. We realize that this can go from the simple to the difficult; from answering questions about where to go to college to giving hope to someone who deals with addiction.

We’re always sad when we hear distressing news about Watertown High School alumni. We see, hear, and feel when someone from the community passes away from overdose or when alumni make poor decisions that result in their name in the newspaper. We know that life isn’t just joy. Our hearts go out to those who have left us too young and to the families who move forward. We acknowledge these things and we are still figuring out how to approach them.

We know that TOWN could possibly be a platform that can go further to create a space that is open about the issues that plague our small town. Could it be a vital connection and space to share stories that go beyond? From mental illness to addiction to loneliness to dealing with death to racism to growing old; we’ve seen it all, heard it all, know it’s there, but are we doing enough?

We want to hear from you. Take our survey below. It’s anonymous. Let us know your thoughts on how the community deals with the good, the bad and the ugly, if it’s working, and if you think TOWN could be a place for open dialogue. Also, if you’re comfortable enough sharing your own story or struggle, we think you should. You may just help someone who didn’t even know they needed it.