Tag: awareness

Demi Lovato Will Provide Free Group Therapy On Her Upcoming Tour

Demi Lovato has been a great advocate in the mental health field over the years, using her platform to bring awareness to the importance of seeking help and stigmas surrounding the issue. Now the singer is using her own tour to continue her great work!

Demi announced on Good Morning America that her upcoming Tell Me You Love Me tour will feature group therapy and motivational speeches for attendees before the actual show FOR FREE. LA-based mental health and addiction treatment center CAST Centers will be facilitating the workshops on tour. Demi herself was once a patient there back in 2011, and now is a co-owner.

“It’s basically like a therapy session before the concerts, and we have speakers from all over and we’re also helping out with different charities from around the country,” she revealed about the workshops.

The singer provided something similar for her fans during her Future Now tour with Nick Jonas and it makes sense that she will continue to do so. Demi herself has gone through addiction along with an eating disorder and bipolar disorder, so she understands the importance of helping others who may be going through some of the same things.

“I think that it’s important for me to use my voice for more than just singing,” she added. “I just know how important it is to use my platform to help others and to share my story in hopes that it inspires people to either get into recovery or better themselves. Whatever it is, I just want people to know they’re not alone and I’m here for them.” Demi is really amazing for this!

The Tell Me You Love Me Tour kicks off Feb. 26 with DJ Khaled and Kehlani as Demi’s special guests. Hoping to see some great footage from these workshops!

Strangers Throw Huge Birthday Bash for Boy with Autism After No One In His Class RSVPs

Lisa Schramel had big plans for her son Mathias‘ sixth birthday. She was going to rent out a local theater near her home in New Mexico for his big day, letting Mathias spend time with kids in his class watching Thor: Ragnarok. A perfect idea!

But her amazing idea quickly went down the drain after not one single parent RSVP’d to Mathias’ party. In need of at least 10 kids to attend, Lisa sadly had to scrap the plans only a day before her son’s birthday party. As she planned for a last-minute party at home, she was hurt because she knew the likely reason behind people not going: Mathias’ autism. 

Heartbroken for her little boy, Lisa took to Facebook to vent her feelings, expressing that no one should shun her son or anyone else with autism. “I just don’t get how these kids get seen differently,” she said to PEOPLE.  “They are the same functional human beings on the inside as everybody else. That really made me peeved off!”

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The post quickly got the attention of dozens of people, who commented that they would love to help put together another party for the young boy! “I cried. I just cried. It was beautiful and extremely overwhelming,” Lisa stated. “At that point, I had 15 hours to prepare a birthday party!”

Since Mathias loves animals, Lisa reached out to the Alameda Park Zoo to have the party there. Workers there gladly accommodated her request! Lisa then bought a lot of decorations, and worked with nice strangers who wanted to bring gifts and food. One woman even made Mathias a large, colorful birthday cake!

After all of this last-minute planning and work, over 200 people showed up to Mathias’ party, with so many presents that Mathias wanted people to donate instead to animals in need. Lisa herself was so moved by everyone coming together for her son. “The fact that a community would stop what they’re doing to go to a little boy’s birthday that they don’t know…it was really beautiful,” she said. “It was the first moment I got to see my son be treated like other children. That’s all I ever wanted for him, just a have moments where nobody looked at him as broken or different, or in some way that made his existence seem wrong.”

Lisa hopes that her story will raise awareness about autism, and that other people will learn to be more accepting of kids with autism. Mathias has high-functioning autism, which includes ADHD and Oppositional Defiance Disorder. Different things can trigger him and cause him to shut down, like being touched or hearing loud sounds. However, he’s still a kid who likes to play and have a good time just like everyone else.

It’s sad that none of the parents with kids in his class RSVP’d for the party, but this story definitely shows how kind people can really be. That’s why I love sharing sweet stories like this to show that, in spite of all of the other messed up stories out there, there’s still a lot of amazing people out there willing to help and show love to others!

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