When you think of suicide, depression, and all things relating to mental health, you may not have heard of the name Jonny Boucher, but that name should be essential if you’re not ok. Why, you may ask? Jonny Boucher is the CEO and founder of Hope for the Day, a non-profit organization that empowers the conversations surrounding mental health education and suicide prevention. In other words, this is a cool guy with a very cool purpose.

On part one of this episode of BCEN and Friends, we dive into a little bit about Jonny Boucher. His purpose (and vision) is to lead the global conversation on proactive prevention in order to create a cultural shift and how we approach mental health in our communities. His motto, “It’s OK to not be OK,” has created commotion all across the spectrum as he brings to light how we all need someone to talk and not just when we’re on the edge of breaking, but when we just need someone to talk to about something as small as a bad day.

For Jonny, the reason he decided to start Hope for the Day was because he has known 16 people to commit suicide; the 9th person being the reason he wanted to change everything. This person was known as Mike Scheindlin.

During Jonny’s upbringing, he began to do music festivals. In this time, he met Mike, who became an inspiration to him and why he thought music was a great way to bring people together to talk. However, Jonny felt closer to Mike than most people and when he received the news in his adult years about Mike plummeting to his death, Jonny couldn’t breathe. He was devastated beyond words. This reason alone was why Jonny has spent his life trying to reach people of all cultures and lifestyles so that they know there is someone out there to listen when they need to talk.

Jonny has also opened a coffee shop, Sip of the Day so that people have a place to go and not just a “phone number to call” when they aren’t ok. Essentially, his entire life’s work has surrounded his motto as he continues to work to help others, every day.

To learn more about Jonny’s mission, motto, and how to reach him (through means of Social Media) stay tuned for Part two of this special two-part series of BCEN and Friends Podcast starring Jonny Boucher. There, we will dive into more interesting things about Jonny Boucher and how he wants to change the way we all view mental health.

CLICK HERE for a transcript of this Episode