by: Helen Grey

With the challenges that people regularly face, especially over the past year, it is easy to get overwhelmed and discouraged. Francesca Reicherter knows what it is like to be without hope and wants to help people through it. 

Francesca Reicherter is a 22-year-old mental health advocate and the esteemed founder and president of “Inspiring My Generation Corporation,” a non-profit organization fighting the inconsistency in mental health awareness, support, and treatment accessibility. Since commencing operations, Francesca has worked tirelessly to launch several initiatives to reach a wider audience, such as the Normalize The Conversation Podcast, available for streaming on IGTV and YouTube. 

She also championed an encouragement card program where over 1000 handmade cards have been donated to patients hospitalized in psych wards to provide support and encouragement, and a clothing line meant to empower and remind anyone wearing it to embrace their mental health while passing messages of support and community to people around them.

Determined to reach out to both adults and children alike, Francesca authored and published the “You Are Not Alone” Workbook – an interactive workbook specially designed for kids to help them develop a healthy coping toolbox and get in touch with their emotional wellness. The workbook includes coloring pages, word search, interactive exercises, and more to help bridge the communication gap between parents, child, and tutors through its interactive, guided check-in exercises on opening conversations and expressing true feelings followed by support and validation.

Francesca was motivated to author the book as she realized that the current spike in mental health illness makes it increasingly necessary to explain and show our youths that it is okay not to be okay. They do not have to be alone during the hard times as there are tools that can help them communicate their feelings when words fail them. To continue advocating for mental health awareness, Francesca donates a percentage of all the proceeds from the book are donated back to “Inspiring My Generation Corporation” to support mental health treatment and accessibility.

To celebrate Mental Health Awareness Month, Francesca launched a unique sweatshirt to spread awareness on the worrisome statistics of how one out of five individuals struggles with mental health issues and targets parents, educators, school boards, and every individual living with mental health disorders to pass on her message.

Francesca’s journey as a mental health advocate started when she was 12-years-old. She created a blog called “Inspiring My Generation,” where she shares goodwill messages with her peers and inspires them to live their life to the fullest in happiness and kindness toward themselves and others. 

by Sean Wrigley

Francesca Reicherter’s commitment to mental health advocacy stems from personal experience. In 2019, she tried ending her life and with the support of her godfather was able to continue on, but 27 days later, the same godfather died by suicide due to mental health problems that nobody was aware of, including Francesca. It made her wonder how someone who gave her reasons to live couldn’t find reasons to live himself. At that point, she resolved to tackle the bigger problem and solve it on a national and global scale by establishing Inspiring My Generation Corporation, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, to fight the disparity in mental health awareness, support, and treatment accessibility.

Francesca Reicherter embarked on a mission to be a mental health advocate and drive conversations around mental health globally. Since she launched Inspiring My Generation Corporation and took the position of president of the foundation, Francesca has championed various initiatives, which include a podcast titled “Normalize the Conversation,” and an encouragement card program that donates handmade cards to mental health patients in various hospitals. The podcast is available on IGTV and YouTube. She also launched a clothing line to bear messages of support and empowerment to anyone wearing it. All of her initiatives are geared towards showing others that they’re not alone and should always speak up about their struggles.

Francesca Reicherter has a workbook titled “You Are Not Alone” workbook, an interactive workbook for kids to help them build a coping toolbox and stay in touch with their emotional wellness. Francesca realized that the problem with mental health awareness is not talking about it enough. “It is important for our youth to know that it’s okay to feel and that they’re not alone in feeling those feelings. We should also work on providing tools and resources that can help. Inspiring My Generation is committed to that, and the “You Are Not Alone” workbook is one of the first learning tools for children,” Francesca says. The book is highly interactive, and it bridges the communication gap between parents and children through its guided check-in exercises on opening conversations on how the children feel. A percentage of the sales proceeds go to Inspiring My Generation Corporation to continue fighting for mental health awareness.