It’s been more than a decade since Christofer and I premiered our 2012 PBS documentary Mister Rogers & Me.

Today, we’re asking for your help to spread another of Fred’s deep and simple messages: “What’s mentionable is manageable.”

When I was diagnosed with PTSD last fall, I suddenly noticed trauma and its impact all around me:

• In rising incidences of gun violence and hate crime …
• In the increase in adolescent suicide rates …
• In the growth of antidepressant use, and binge drinking …
• In a mental health crisis so urgent, it’s prompted a national hotline.

And I noticed how little we talk about it.

So when my friend and neighbor, America’s first transgender state senator, Sarah McBride, reminded me on our Friends & Neighbors podcast that when we speak our truth, we give others the courage to do the same, I knew we had to make another film.

Since April, I have been crisscrossing the country, examining the roots of my own trauma, and the traumas that affect us all.

I’ve been examining how trauma and chronic stress maladapt our nervous systems, contribute to shallow and complex lives, and drive poor health outcomes.

And I’ve been “looking for the helpers” in post-pandemic America – people with insights, solutions and strategies to help heal ourselves, and the anxious and uncertain communities around us.

People like Sarah McBride.

People like Logan Herring, who is bringing hope to overlooked and under-resourced inner-city neighborhoods.

People like Trauma Informed Care Expert, Alonna Berry; The Center for Change’s Winden Rowe; Music Therapist, Kelli Rae Powell; Children’s Author, Michael Tyler; Somatic Psychologist, Matthew Tousignant; Professional School Councilor, Lauren Scott; and more.

Christofer and I made Mister Rogers & Me after work and on weekends, and never profited from proceeds. Instead, we utilized those resources to insure and publicize the film, provide dozens of free screenings, launch and produce the Friends & Neighbors podcast, and underwrite the production of the Friends & Neighbors documentary. To date, we’ve shot interviews from Dover, Philadelphia and Wilmington to New York City, Chicago and Des Moines.

Our goal is to submit the film to the Nantucket Film Festival (where we premiered Mister Rogers & Me in 2010), and pursue licensing thereafter. In order to do so, we need to deliver a rough cut by March 1.

So we need YOUR help to finish the film.

Please contribute as you’re able to spreading the deep and simple message that what’s mentionable is manageable, and when you look for the helpers, you know that there’s hope.