Winnipeg musician Robb Nash and his band travel across Canada giving talks on suicide, addiction and mental health to youth — and sometimes, they give him something of theirs.
The band presents at schools, detention centres and reservations. Time and time again, Nash has had audience members approach him and hand over their suicide notes and razors they use for self-harm, according to The Washington Post. He's collected more than 500 suicide notes from students and young people across the country, CBC News reports.
"I want to show them that they're as much a part of my life as I might be of theirs"
Earlier this month, the rock star decided to take 120 of these letters to a tattoo artist, and got the signatures inked down his right arm.
He's hoping his arm will now be a tool when youth confide in him.
"My hope is that in those moments, I can show them my arm, so they can see the names of tons of other people that once felt the same way and found the strength to get help and keep moving," he wrote in a Facebook post.
The tattoos are only from the first 120 letters he's received, Nash wrote, and he'll stop there. He doesn't want teens to present him with suicide letters in hopes of being added to his arm.
Idea came from fans
The idea to get the tattoo partially came from his fans.
"So many of these kids have our lyrics or our logo tattooed on them and I want to show them that they're as much a part of my life as I might be of theirs," Nash told the CBC News.
Weeks after getting his ink, the musician shared a photo of a fan whose name is among the 120 now marked on his arm.
In it, she has her own arm extended showing her tattoo of his lyric: "Just for today" from the song "Thief of Colours," which deals with overcoming depression and addiction.
Nash himself dealt with thoughts of suicide and depression following a serious car crash when he was 17, where he was initially pronounced dead.
He recovered, but his injuries kept him from working physical trades and kept him from continuing to play sports, reports the Washington Post.
According to the band's website, it was this experience that motivated him to pursue music as a platform to influence and inspire young people.
Also on HuffPost:
Close
-
![Terry Bradshaw]()
Don't be fooled by Terry Bradshaw's demeanour on NFL broadcasts; even tough guys like the Super Bowl-winning former quarterback have struggled with depression.
The ex-Pittsburgh Steeler opened up about his struggle with the illness in 2004, and how he had difficulty "bouncing back" after a divorce.
"With any bad situations I'd experienced before — a bad game or my two previous divorces — I got over them. This time I just could not get out of the hole."
He has also talked openly about his struggles with memory loss, which resulted from concussions he sustained in his playing days.
-
![Bradley Cooper]()
In "Silver Linings Playbook," Bradley Cooper played Pat Solitano, a Philadelphia man struggling with bipolar disorder after being released from an institution.
Cooper admitted to knowing very little about the illness before the role, but he has since spoken openly about mental health, talking about veterans dealing with PTSD in a speech at the MTV Movie Awards, and attending the White House's National Conference on Mental Health in 2013.
At the conference, he talked about how a friend was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and how people dealt with it by not talking about it.
Cooper encouraged delegates to "[help] people understand that they're not alone, that the thing they're feeling, it probably has a name."
-
![Robert De Niro]()
Last year, as Robert De Niro's film "Silver Linings Playbook" was in theatres, he broke down crying while talking to Katie Couric about his father's difficulties with bipolar disorder.
"I don't like to get emotional, but I know exactly what he goes through," he said of the film's character Pat Solitano (played by Bradley Cooper).
De Niro's public discussion helped to show how families also suffer when people close to them experience mental illness.
-
![Clara Hughes]()
Canadian Olympic medallist Clara Hughes is among the most prominent voices speaking out about mental health in the Great White North.
The speed skater and cyclist, who is the only person to ever win multiple medals in both the Summer and Winter Olympics, has been open about her struggles with depression, which have been present throughout her athletic career.
Hughes took that experience and channeled it into a job as spokesperson for Bell Let's Talk, an initiative that aims to end the stigma around mental illness. She cycled across Canada for 11,000 kilometres as part of "Clara's Big Ride for Bell Let's Talk," which triggered a conversation around mental health from coast to coast to coast.
Hughes visited 105 communities and 80 schools and youth groups as part of the ride.
-
![Michael Landsberg]()
Michael Landsberg, host of TSN's Off the Record, cuts an energetic figure on TV.
But in 2010, he went public about his struggles with depression in a TSN special alongside ex-NHLer Stephane Richer in an effort to let men know that it's OK to talk about it.
The special triggered as many as 30 emails, all of them from men, Landsberg told The Toronto Star.
Years later, he helped a woman who tweeted at him about her plans to kill herself. Landsberg found the woman and sought help for her from the police.
-
![Demi Lovato]()
Actress and singer Demi Lovato did not have a strong relationship with her father, but when he died, she went public about both his and her own struggles with mental illness.
She also established the Lovato Treatment Scholarship, which helps to pay for people's treatment.
-
![Elizabeth Manley]()
As a figure skater, Elizabeth Manley did Canada proud by winning a silver medal in ladies' singles at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary.
Prior to the 1984 Sarajevo Olympics, she experienced a series of unfortunate events. Her coach left her, she ended up training in the U.S. away from those closest to her, and her parents divorced.
Manley gained weight and her hair fell out. She was diagnosed with a nervous breakdown and depression.
Manley has since become a spokeswoman on mental health issues. She told her story in her 1990 autobiography "Thumbs Up!" and organized "Elizabeth Manley and Friends," a 2012 benefit show whose proceeds went to teen mental health initiatives.
-
![Amanda Todd]()
Who can forget Amanda? The 15-year-old from Port Coquitlam, B.C. jumpstarted a whole new discussion on bullying and mental health after she went public with allegations of harassment in a heartbreaking video that was posted on YouTube.
Then on Oct. 10, just over a month later, she killed herself.
Her death sparked an outpouring of emotion from around the world, and prominent voices such as B.C. Premier Christy Clark cited her in speeches at We Day 2012 in Vancouver.
Her mother Carol Todd also set up a trust fund at Royal Bank of Canada, which would raise money for young people living with mental health issues.
-
![Margaret Trudeau]()
In 2006, Margaret Trudeau, ex-wife of former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, went public over her struggle with bipolar disorder, and how she used marijuana to cope with it.
She has spent subsequent years since giving speeches about the condition, telling packed audiences about her highs and lows.
Her book "Changing My Mind" details her life as it's been affected by the disorder and offers advice to others who live with it.
View mobile site 
