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This year, singer and songwriter Jewel is celebrating the 30th anniversary of her debut studio album Pieces of You, featuring the breakthrough hits “Who Will Save Your Soul,” “You Were Meant For Me” and “Foolish Games.”
But for almost as long as she’s been a famous entertainer, Jewel’s Inspiring Children Foundation has been transforming the lives of at-risk youth in Las Vegas. And her mission with the foundation—and in her everyday life—to raise awareness of and provide resources for improving emotional and mental health has expanded this year with a special event in Las Vegas.
The foundation’s Not Alone Challenge social media campaign, now in its fourth year inspiring messages of support online and directing people to mental fitness tools, is blossoming this year into the inaugural Not Alone Awards and Summit, set for Wynn Las Vegas November 10-12.
The first-of-its-kind, invite-only wellness event, hosted by Jewel and Steve Wozniak, aims to bring together the worlds of entertainment and innovation with the mission of transforming the global mental health conversation. The awards show will spotlight mental health advocates and feature performances and appearances by Jewel, Mike Tyson, Flavor Flav, Cassadee Pope, Bishop Briggs and more. For more information, visit notaloneawards.com.
“After the social media campaign has grown into one of the biggest in its space, we decided to turn it into a physical gathering this year,” Jewel tells the Weekly. “And we’re going to have a day for the Las Vegas community as well on November 12, where people can come together and learn about [the foundation] and the latest research. There’s so much incredible research being done, but it doesn’t always get evenly disseminated where people have access.”
Jewel has spent a lot of time in Las Vegas through the years, developing the foundation with locals Ryan Wolfington, Marty Hennessy and David Pate into an organization considered a pioneer in the mental health category. It serves youth and families from a variety of socio-economic backgrounds with challenges like teenage anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation and others with an award-winning 10-step program and curriculum.
“It’s such an important issue. The world is dealing with a mental health crisis, rich and poor,” Jewel says. “The social media campaign can’t just be about awareness, because to me, raising awareness without offering to help is just mean.”
She’s learned that expressing herself through music, while rewarding, has really been a productive extension of her life-long mental health journey, she says.
“My drive, my whole thrust in life, why I moved out at the age of 15 has been about seeing if happiness was a learnable skill, because it wasn’t taught at my home. I was destined to not be happy or find out if there’s something I could do about it,” Jewel continues. “Songwriting is really an extension of that. It’s all been a reflection of my mental health journey, because when you know great suffering, you want to help alleviate that in yourself and others. Being a rock star is a lot of fun, but helping people who want to find a better way to live is way funner.”
For more information about the Inspiring Children Foundation and to find resources, visit inspiringchildren.org.
English (US) ·