Spring has Sprung!

April 13, 2021

Spring has Sprung!

Spring is finally here, the sun is shining and outside is looking bright!

Although life is still not as it use to be and we are all making adjustments, things are looking promising for live music and events to begin. Let’s all do our best to stay healthy and well.

The Scars Foundation is working tirelessly to help in as many ways that we can. Here are just a few of the things that we have done in 2020/2021 so far:

• Scars Playbook Sessions - grief and sorrow for losing someone to suicide -Best Buy Geek Squad Group.

• Scars Playbook Sessions / Bluebird Bio - dealing with anxiety and depression during isolation.

• Music Industry Mental Health Fund - to help our music industry family with their mental health issues during COVID non-working concerns.

• MusicBiz Mental Health Workshop - to discuss how the music industry is dealing with mental health issues globally.

• Music Tract for Addiction Treatment Facility - working on integrating our Music Playbook Sessions into substance misuse disorder treatment facility.

• Working with the USTA - to develop a music based support program to utilize with youth tennis.

We continue to develop strategic partnerships to help as many people as we can across the board. With your continued support and donations, our mission can move forward and grow! We look forward to announcing this years 2021 annual fundraiser which is going to be amazing, and additional initiatives.

Thank you so very much and remember, we are all perfectly imperfect !!
- Naomi Fabricant

Making a Difference in March !

March 10, 2021

Making a Difference in March!

Thank you for reading my blogs, it means so much to me to share the thoughts of The Scars Foundation!

March has so many wonderful days to recognize and all come back to this thought:

“THOSE THAT JUDGE DON’T MATTER AND THOSE THAT MATTER DON’T JUDGE”

With that I encourage you to laugh out loud, smile, dance freely, and most importantly… LOVE ONE ANOTHER!

March for us is the end of our second year of being established. When I look back, I realize how many lives we have touched, how many people we have helped, and how many hours of work we put in, dedicated to helping others. It brings me such happiness to know that I get to use the skills that I’ve acquired every single day, to helping others. As we’re looking ahead in the start of our third year, many new projects are currently being developed with some really amazing people! These projects will both broaden our reach, as well as help with Mental Health issues in several different directions.

Thank you so much for your continued support! I encourage you to DONATE to The Scars Foundation, even if it’s just one dollar. Every dollar allows us to help you and many others.

Always remember…..

WE ARE ALL PERFECTLY IMPERFECT!

- Naomi

Find the Kind! Random Acts of Kindness Challenge

February 5, 2021

Find the Kind! Random Acts of Kindness Challenge

February is a pivotal month for all of us especially during these "unique" times.

What makes it pivotal? Let me share with you some of the information: 

The first week of February is "Children's' Mental Health Week".  The following week (February 14 - 20th) is my favorite, "Random Acts of Kindness Week", with the 17th being "Random Acts of Kindness Day".

Since yesterday was "Time to Talk Day", let's begin with the importance of talking. A huge part of the mission of The Scars Foundation is to encourage people to talk. We believe that stuffing our feelings down inside causes us to feel lonely, anxious, depressed and goes on from there. Talking helps us process and to find a way to think through our concerns. The Scars Foundation has been running sessions for a number of organizations who are having challenges from individuals who need to work and stay productive, but are faced with so many emotional challenges. Through these sessions we have been able to increase productivity, increase achieving goals and most importantly we are able to help relieve stress. We are sharing tools that can be used everyday that help and talking is one of the most important components.

So....this month beginning on Valentines Day, February 14th and running through the 20th, we ask for everyone that has received this newsletter, to please join our Random Acts of Kindness Challenge. #FindTheKind #ScarsFoundation

We so appreciate your support and donations and now we humbly ask for you to participate in our Find the Kind Challenge:

Post on your social media platforms an image, a story, or video of a random act of kindness that you have recently done. Share the post on your socials using hashtag #FindTheKind and tagging us, so that we can find and share it as well! Our goal for this is to bring awareness of how important kindness is and how doing kind things for others is SO rewarding. We will post as well with some of the kind things that the Scars crew is doing.  Hopefully, the more kind energy we put out, the more kindness will take place. The purpose of sharing your stories on your socials and tagging us is to encourage people in your circles to also participate in the challenge.

Ideas for the challenge: Paying it forward in a drive - thru line; Buying someone's groceries; Helping out in a food bank or school; Opening doors for others; Visiting folks who are alone; Eating dinner with your family; Cooking together; Even sharing a song that inspires you with others, and see their reactions.

We will continue to do the work to help those who are struggling with mental health issues and continue to grow our reach. This past month we launched the Musicbiz Mental Health Fund with MusicBiz.org and MusicHealthAlliance.com! This fund provides free and reduced mental health support for our music industry family. There is still so much work developing, and we'll be sure to keep you in the loop with our monthly newsletter. We hope that you will continue to read and enjoy them, as well as continue supporting The Scars Foundation and our mission.

Remember we are all IMPERFECTLY PERFECT !!!! 

- Naomi

January is Mental "Wellness" Month

January 12, 2021

January is Mental “Wellness” Month

January is Mental "Wellness" Month 

What does mental wellness mean versus mental health?

Mental Wellness definition:  Being mentally well means that your mind is in order and functioning in your best interest. You are able to think feel and act in ways that create a positive impact on your physical and social well-being.

With all the challenges that we go through and the additional impacts of 2020/2021, I am going to offer some ideas to help improve our mental wellness that we can all add in to our daily routines. These "tools" are ones that I, myself, use everyday that I have learned from professionals. Please always remember I am not a therapist, counselor or doctor. The tools that I am offering are ones that I have collected along my way and that help me. My intention is to help you all in some way to make every day better.

How to improve mental wellness:

We need to start with being the best us that we can be. In other words, value yourself !! Treat yourself with kindness, respect and avoid self-criticism. Words are very powerful and they have a powerful effect on us. I have a relative who shares stories with me everyday and refers to herself as "stupid" while explaining things about her day. I remind her everyday that she is not stupid and should stop saying that about herself.

Here is a visual for those of us who are visual processors: Imagine yourself standing in the ocean and watching big waves rolling way off the shoreline. They seem to be the big ominous threat, but it's not that way at all.  Then imagine looking at the little ripples along the shoreline. The huge waves rolling out in the ocean, way offshore, have no impact on the shoreline. However, the little ripples take grains of sand with them as they roll off the shore and back in to the ocean. The little ripples have a subtle, yet impactful effect on the shoreline known as erosion. I tell you this because how we talk about ourselves is like the ripples. So be kind to yourself! Tell yourself how valuable you are, that you have purpose and that you are beautiful inside and out. 

Take care of your body as well...we only get one. Physical fitness is key to feeling well mentally and physically. I encourage you all to move your body! Put on some music and just get up, dance, sway, or do some jumping jacks. Music is the only "medicine" that brightens every hemisphere of the brain, it releases endorphins, these are things that immediately make us feel better. I suggest and practice to get up and move every hour. Walk in place, jump, it doesn't matter ... just move your body. If you work on this everyday for about 3 minutes or more per hour, you will see a difference! If possible, I also suggest some kind of workout everyday, or start with at least 3 - 4 times per week. Myself and my family have taken on the 100, 100, 100 challenge and it feels amazing! It is 100 sit-ups, 100 push-ups and 100 squats. You can break it up throughout the day until you can do it all at once. Partner with a friend, partner or family member and encourage each other to do it! It equals to a full body workout, and as you begin to see results ... you will want to do more. A strong body with a strong mind is very empowering, which helps to be the best version of yourself!

Other positive tools to use are: meditation, stress reduction and surrounding yourself with positive people. All these tools work together. Meditation helps reduce stress and can increase your energy. However you choose to meditate, just do it. I often, throughout the day, just stop and go to my window and look up at the sky. I am aware of the beautiful colors of the sky and clouds. When I see birds flying, for instance, it makes me feel so grateful and mindful of the wonder of flight.

 The point I am trying to get across is that mediation comes in all forms. Quiet your mind and rest it from the pressures of the day. I love being aware of mindfulness and gratitude of the little things. I do realize that when faced with tremendous life challenges, struggles, health issues and anything tough that we have to deal with, that it can be difficult to think that these tools can help....but they do. We have to do things one step, and one day at a time. Set some goals, make them small and easy to accomplish. As you meet your goals and get that wonderful feeling of accomplishment, it helps to propel us forward and be more and more positive.

I hope that this message is helpful in some way and can make your days brighter. Always remember we are all "Imperfectly Perfect" !!!!

Thank you so much, Naomi