Who We Are
10for10 is a movement that is dedicated to promoting mental health and wellness. Our goal is to break down the stigma around mental health by starting and continuing conversations. Our goal is to encourage people to make talking about mental health and wellness a regular part of their lives through offering access to resources, encouraging conversations, and offering encouragement to professional therapy.
Our Story
In the summer of 2019, Jay- Director and Co-Founder of 10for10 was in Denver, CO with a group of high school youth for a service trip. During the trip, the group grew in trust and care for one another and they began to share with deep honesty an vulnerability about the things that they were experiencing and going through in their life and mental health. Things were hard and emotional, yet there was a sense of relief that was also felt. The group had found community with one another. This did not mean that pain, and struggle was magically gone, but it meant that they were not alone.
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Leaving the trip, Jay realized that there was something that needed to be done, there was a common thread in all the stories shared, people felt alone and unsure of how or if they could talk about their mental health, or if they just needed to "get over it" or "someone else has it worse". The encouragement to talk and support one another came with a very important note: we do not need to carry things alone and we can not fix things for each other. Getting professional help and going to therapy is not a weakness, it is a sign of courage.
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Through this, Jay started to challenge the youth from the trip to be leaders in encouraging conversations, and breaking the stigma around mental health and therapy. He told them that he supported them in doing hard things and making a difference in the world and he wanted to walk alongside them and care for them in this journey. The youth turned it back to Jay and said that if he was going to challenge them, he could support them by challenging himself to do hard things.
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In those conversations, 10for10 was born. Running has played a big role in Jay's own mental health journey, so he committed to running 10 miles a day for 10 days to raise awareness and bring focus to the important topic of mental health. He then encouraged others to join by choosing 10 things to commit to for 10 days and join the conversation and movement to bring awareness.
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The goal of 10for10 is not to fix everything or show that we can work hard and just get over things, but to start the conversations and offer resources to show people that mental health is a consistent journey that we all go through and we do not have to go through it alone. Mental health is an everyday journey and conversation, these 10 days are to help us be fueled and charged to practice these conversations and bring them to our everyday life.
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Below is a story from 2021 that Channel 3 news did to help us share our story about 10for10.
"10for10"
A Poem
By Jay Kiel
In the soft whispers or in voices loud
The importance of mental health we allow
It is in conversation that we find a way
Healing begins in hearts that often stray
It is in the silence that suffering grows and resides
Through conversation and sharing hope abides
When we speak of struggles, fears and pain
We begin to shatter the stigma and break the chain
Each of us hold secrets and stories untold
Battles fought in silence, a journey yet to unfold
In our sharing and conversations, we come to see
That in our vulnerability, we can all be free
In lending an ear, a shoulder, a caring heart
The journey of healing can start
When we come together to listen and not judge
We can help heal a heart from the pain that seems to nudge
No one should bear their pain and fight alone
In sharing and starting conversations, a ray of hope shown
So let us talk, connect, engage, and be kind
When our inner battles rage, we can meet them aligned
Let us go and talk, share, and listen
The hope around us starts to glisten
In these conversations we can bring ease to the strife
We do not travel alone, we can come together on this journey of life