Live Free 999 encourages everyone to speak openly about mental health. We have created a space to share the stories sent to us from our audience to inspire others to share their own journeys, creating a virtual story-telling chain of community and support.
Notice: Some of the stories shared may contain topics that could be emotionally triggering to some members of our audience. Topics such as suicide, self-harm, substance abuse, and trauma are discussed.
Hi. My name is Artist. I’m 16 years old and I’ve struggled with depression for as long as I can remember. I’ve self harmed for over 2 years now, and haven’t been clean for that long, but I’m still fighting the good fight. Depression is overwhelming for everyone who suffers with it. We get told that “it’s ok to not
Three years ago was homeless while in high school. At the time I was struggling a lot with anxiety, whether it be social or just generally due to the situation. Was pretty depressed and was pretty close to hopeless. It took time and it took struggle. But, managed to graduate despite the circumstances (albeit barely). My family (Mom and siblings)
Two years ago when I was 18, I overdosed on a combination of several narcotics mixed with alcohol, and I ended up in the hospital. I would have died if I had taken a few more shots, is what the first responders told me when I woke up. I lost my parents’ trust, and our relationship hasn’t been what it
Hello, Thank you for taking the time to read. I grew up in a single parent home. (Mother) My dad was into harder street drugs and abandoned his family. God bless my mother, she provided and ensured that my two brothers and I would live as “normal” of a life as possible. Unfortunately, as amazing as my mother was and
In 2020 I was 11. I started smoking to deal with the stress of the pandemic. Once I got back to school it became a social thing for me to smoke with friends. I lost touch with my real friends and started hanging out with people who only wanted me because I had drugs. It put things into perspective and
Hello, my name is Destiny and I am 25 years old, I have a seven-year-old daughter, and I have been struggling with mental illness and addiction issues for a long time now. I have gotten in the past and stayed clean for eight months and then relapse and almost died twice. My drug of choice is fentanyl. I started with
Jarad saved me from suicide, soon if I hadn’t listened to his music, his story, himself, I would have done it. I was at the bottom of the abyss and I only listened to his music because I had lost interest in everything, I was apathetic and didn’t want to eat anything, and he lifted me up. It was only
I was bullied all my life. Resorted to drugs and self harm. And I never spoke about it. I would turn up to school on no sleep and off my face. I wasn’t myself. I then od’ed and was hospitalized. I got out of hospital and was took out of school I thought this was normal for my age and
Hello beautiful lost souls. I struggle with bi-polar, depression, and anxiety. Since I was very little, I noticed I was a depressed child. I suffered a lot of emotional, verbal, physical and mental abuse. I started drinking and popping pills at the age of 10. I fell into heavy hard-core addiction at the age of 22. My addiction made my
Experiencing a crisis? Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988
or Text the Crisis Text Line by Texting “LF999” to 741741.
