Facing Project Logo

Are you currently battling depression?

Have you been diagnosed with depression?

Do you want to make a difference?

Kelsey Timmerman portrait

Kelsey Timmerman: co-founder of The Facing Project.

We’re excited to tell you about Facing Depression: a collaboration between Ball State University and The Facing Project.

Facing Depression hopes to inspire a dialogue around depression—an issue that touches so many lives in our community, yet is rarely discussed.

Dr. Adam Kuban’s journalism class is currently recruiting storytellers and writers for a Facing Depression project. The project needs volunteers willing to anonymously share their own story of facing depression, as well as writers to put their stories on the page.

What do storytellers do?

    • You’ll share your story with a volunteer writer.
    • The writer will then write the story as if they are you (in the first person) trying to capture your voice.
    • Facing Depression will publish your story, along with others, in a book. It will be shared across East Central Indiana. This story will not go public without your final approval.

What do writers do? 

Co-founder and Ball State English alum J.R. Jamison

Co-founder and Ball State English alum J.R. Jamison

    • You’ll be matched with a storyteller. A storyteller may be currently facing depression. They may be someone with a family member who suffers from depression. They may be a professional caregiver, a therapist, or a doctor who helps those with depression.
    • You will listen to their story and try to capture their voice through a first-person narrative. Your writing is subject to the storyteller’s approval.
    • After you work with the project editors, the story will receive publication in a book, which Facing Depression will share across East Central Indiana. Those suffering from mental illness will have a voice.

Anything else?

Adam Kuban: assistant journalism professor and project leader.

Adam Kuban: assistant journalism professor and project leader.

After the storytellers and writers finish their collaboration, there will be a book launch and public event in Muncie. Some stories will be read as monologues, and audiences of 300-500 usually attend.

The Facing Project is a community storytelling project that has spread across the country. This is their 4th Muncie project.

If you want to know more information about how you can engage your community in a discussion regarding depression, or if you want to volunteer, please e-mail howdy@facingproject.com.