Pride’s Harris aims to prevent suicides

wants to use her platform as an athlete to save lives.

Her own struggles with addiction, depression and aggressive behavior have been well-documented at this point. Last Monday, she launched a fundraiser to bring attention to World Suicide Prevention Day on Sept. 10.

Harris joined with national nonprofit To Write Love on Her Arms to “provide scholarships for mental health counseling and connect people to mental health services in their community” as part of the Tomorrow Needs You Campaign.

As of Saturday evening, Harris raised nearly $7,900 of her $10,000 goal.

“I wanted it to be a feasible goal, but my mentality is, ‘Let’s keep going.’ I thought $50,000, and they were like, ‘Well our goal is $100,000,’ so we decided on $10,000,” Harris said Thursday. “I think that it’s something that affects a lot of people and a lot of people get around it.

“$7,500 in a few days is pretty incredible and I’m absolutely grateful. To see my teammates from the U.S. team donating and friends across the league … that makes it even more special.”

Harris said she’s used her visibility as an athlete to shed light on uncomfortable issues.

“I think that in a way, we’re all broken people,” she said. “I think we all have skeletens in our closet. I think we try to hide it, instead of just saying, you know what, I have issues and this part of my life and I need to seek help, or I feel dark today or I’ve had this issue in my past happen that’s caused me to feel this way.

“I mean, there’s a million different reasons out there why people are feeling a certain way and sometimes they feel like they can’t talk about it. I like to shed light on those topics. I think we’re all put here to help each other out. I feel like if we try to take the world on alone and in isolation, we live a very lonely life. A very unfulfilling life If we can be honest and be hope and help each other, I think we all become better, in a way.”