A life turned around through support: Isaiah’s Support Calls story
Isaiah would not have the life he does today if he hadn’t chosen to take the plunge and sign up for weekly Support Calls. Now, he’s sharing his own story with a note of urgency to anyone else who might be considering the same kind of support:
““Don’t wait. I have had 0 regrets. You will save yourself, grow in ways you never could have imagined.””
Representative image
A chance discovery on social media
Initially, Isaiah found HeartSupport through social media, seeing them pop up several times in his feed.
The match was a good one: Isaiah is a diehard heavy music fan. He lists albums like Lost In The Waves from Landmvrks, The Death Of Me from Polaris, Messengers from August Burns Red, and Dark Skies from Fit For A King as being sources of light when he needed it.
“There’s been some incredibly dark places I’ve traveled to mentally, and those bands and the music they have created just resonate with me,” Isaiah says. “Whether it’s telling me I’m not alone, that it’s okay to feel the way I do, or to keep to pushing through because things will get better.”
Although music was helping, little else was able to lift Isaiah out of his mind’s dark places.
He shares, “I had tried a few therapists and a psychologist a few years ago. Nothing was really helping. I wasn’t really being fully open with them, which was on me, but at the time I didn’t feel like I could. I was scared of how they’d react to hearing some of the things that troubled me. I’ve got a family that relies on me, what if they throw me into some mental facility. That was my biggest fear.”
The gentle, non-judgmental peer support model from HeartSupport’s Support Calls felt like the perfect alternative at the perfect time.
“When I did more research on the Support Calls, I found out that it’s just like having a friend to talk to. No one to push meds or a diagnosis — just someone impartial and empathetic. A safe space to open up. That sounded much better to me at the time than sitting in an office and hearing ‘just try not to be so anxious.’”
Isaiah took the leap. He signed up.
Learning to trust in a safe place
Support Calls take place for an hour a week over Discord, with every peer paired with a trained supporter. At first, Isaiah wasn’t sure if he could really relax with his supporter and trust.
“I had never felt like it was okay to talk about the deep struggles. I felt that I just need to tough it out and move on,” he recalls.
It took repeated practice talking about his life to be able to fully trust. When he did, the outcome was life-changing.
He says, “It was about 6 months into the program that I finally decided to lay it all out there. I knew that it would be hard, but it would be okay. The understanding and support that was given to me in that moment was life-changing.”
Being met with safety and care allowed Isaiah to start making different decisions to support his mental health in other areas as well.
“I was able to feel confident enough to see a new therapist and a new psychiatrist. I wouldn’t have done that before. I probably would’ve just continued on with the horrible self-sabotaging coping mechanisms, or worse, I fear,” he admits. “I still get emotional thinking about it.”
A life changed, a chance to give back
Now, Isaiah find himself in a place totally unrecognizable from before his year in the Support Calls program. He’s healed — and ready to pass that healing forward.
“My life’s turned around for the better, to the point that I’ve gotten more involved with HeartSupport altogether so that I can do for others what’s been done for me,” he says enthusiastically. “I’ve been working with a co-leader for the Atlanta, GA HeartSupport chapter, and we were able to do our first activation about two weeks ago. It was such an amazing experience. I just don’t see how I would’ve gotten to where I’m at now if it wasn’t for joining the program.”
Isaiah is now becoming a supporter himself too because he was so transformed by his experience.
Isaiah’s message of hope to you
Looking back on his days before Support Calls, Isaiah says, “I felt so lost, scared, and alone with these issues I was dealing with. I was terrified to open up about them for fear of losing everything I had. Hopefully, someone who feels the way I felt then sees, hears, or reads this interview and signs up.”
In case you need any extra convincing, Isaiah has this to say:
“The world is a dark, lonely, and scary place sometimes. It helps to have someone alongside you in that journey. I’ve made a lifelong friendship with my supporter. I still talk to him at least once a week, even if it’s a brief text to check in. I promise things will get better. Maybe you’ll even get paired with me — I’d love to help you out! Really, there’s a whole community of people ready and eager to help you. We live for this. You’re in good hands.”
