I founded Project Helping based on my personal experience with mental wellness. Like many people living with a mental health challenge, no one close to me knew I was struggling. I had a great job. I was successful. It seemed like I had everything – and truly I did. But privately, I was struggling.
Then, something completely unexpected happened. I was invited to volunteer. It happened to be at a point in my life when I was really struggling. I had no clue that experience would not only change my approach to my own mental wellness but also change my life trajectory. Volunteering immediately provided an outlet for me. The more I volunteered, the better I felt. The better I felt, the more I started to realize that volunteering was helping me improve my mental wellness.
This experience inspired me to dig deeper into the wellness benefits of volunteering. I found two things. First, there was a great deal of research that supported the mental wellness benefits of volunteering. This part was no surprise. Second, I found no one had created a way to really leverage these mental health benefits.
So that was the lightbulb moment! I was inspired to share what I had learned through my personal experience. That is where Project Helping started. We built this simple, elegant, and impactful organization to leverage the mental wellness benefits of volunteering. Our goal was to make it incredibly simple to get involved in projects that are hand-selected to be the most impactful, hands-on project possible.
I am incredibly grateful for the amazing support we’ve received along the way. We are a few years in, making an impact and having a blast. But we’re just getting started. Join in, there’s room for everyone!
