Each year, we observe May as Mental Health Month to raise awareness through sharing stories, educating our communities, and raising the visibility of available resources so everyone can find care and connection.

To kick off 2022’s Mental Health Month, we wanted to celebrate the work of one of 98ɫ����’s Peer Recovery Coach at Lagos, Lydia Theon Ware i, who was in her local Southern California newspaper, the Press-Enterprise.

Lydia is a seasoned writer with a passion and talent for writing poetry. She is part of , a local non-profit small press publishing company where she hosts writing workshops and helps produce Cartless, a magazine written with people experiencing homelessness and produced in partnership with Oath of Life Ministries and Inlandia.

In her article, Poetry has the power to defeat depression, Lydia writes about her dream of being on the Daily Show and how mastering her craft is how to get there and “the magic of creating something out of nothing.”

In addition to writing poetry and working as a Peer Recovery Coach, Lydia has big plans to create a “Love Letter Mobile” where her community can come to write one million love letters to whomever they choose. (Similar to a public library’s “Bookmobile”.)

“A busy year this 2022, but I want to conquer my depression, and writing poetry makes time palatable, purple-warm, and fuzzy,” said Lydia. “Just like sitting on the floor in an air-conditioned mobile library does, back against the bookshelves, losing the afternoon to my childhood imagination.”

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• by Lydia Theon Ware i