By Mary Sisk
Rock River Current
Get our newsletter

MACHESNEY PARK — During the 2020 lockdown many people picked up new hobbies. Travel nurse Lesly Martinez took a different approach. She used the extra time to put her love for art and personal stories toward advocating for mental health awareness.

Now, Martinez, 24, has taken her work even further. She established Love Your Mental as an LLC in February, creating a line of T-shirts, hoodies and enamel pins with the proceeds donated to nonprofits that offer mental health support.

Her passion for advocacy and youth outreach came from her personal journey as a teen, when she felt like mental health support was not readily available and often struggled alone.

The East High School graduate now speaks at local high schools, offering resources and support. That includes speaking at her alma mater.

“I needed me back then,” Martinez said. “So that’s who I’m trying to be for maybe that one girl that’s like me.”

Mental health news: Rosecrance served a record number of people in fiscal 2022

In August, she’ll host her first event, which brings together 28 vendors to spread awareness, alternative therapies and resources for mental health.

When she’s not running Love Your Mental, Martinez is a travel nurse, which has been her dream ever since she was a child.

“I always wanted to be a nurse since I was like 8 years old,” Martinez said.

“My goal was to be a nurse and, unfortunately, I was also very creative and into the arts,” she joked.

During her first year at East, Martinez realized the need for mental health awareness when she experienced the deaths of two close friends and labored heavily with grief.

“My freshman year I went to two funerals; I gave my first-ever eulogy,” Martinez said. “Since then, my freshman year, I changed my mind completely about mental health.”

Martinez, a first-generation college student and graduate, was accepted into nursing school her junior year in high school. She graduated from Saint Anthony College of Nursing in 2020.

Her love for art and awareness followed her throughout school, and after doodling one night she got inspired to create something that she could sell and donate the proceeds to a worthy cause.

She ended up designing a black and gold enamel pin that read “Mind Ur Mental,” and she donated half the proceeds to The National Alliance on Mental Illness Northern Illinois.

The phrase “Mind Ur Mental” is meant to be a reminder of your own mental health and to recognize that you’re not struggling alone.

“I kind of got inspired one night to go back into art after I graduated nursing school,” Martinez said. “I reached $1,000 in two months and I donated all of that to NAMI, since then I thought ‘this is kind-of cool, why not create more.'”

Martinez expanded to making T-shirts and hoodies, donating the proceeds to Miss Carly’s, The Trevor Project and more charitable organizations. While doing this under the business title Love By Lesly, she decided to rebrand to what is now Love Your Mental.

More events: Rockford’s ‘Little Poland’ to host Polish Fest after two-year hiatus

She began to speak at local high schools this spring, sharing her personal journey with mental health and offering various resources to the classes she spoke to.

Martinez hopes to expand and travel outside of local high schools, but for now she’s the sole operator and founder of Love Your Mental.

Her first event is coming up on Sunday, Aug. 7, and all admission proceeds will be donated to NAMI Northern Illinois.

“This event has all the free resources you need from all the nonprofits,” Martinez said. “You have a melting pot of mental health resources in one area.”

More mental health news: Jail adds mental health services, aims to keep people connected after release

The idea came to Martinez in 2021, but plans for the event were finalized in April. Martinez wants the event to expose attendees to different forms of therapy if traditional methods don’t work for them.

The event will feature yoga, art therapy, poetry readings, jewelry making and more therapeutic outlets.

Some vendors also plan to donate proceeds from the event to mental health nonprofits. Ash and Ember Photography, for example, will donate to maternal mental health resources. 

“Everybody all has the same passion and the same love, and that’s to spread mental health awareness,” Martinez said.

Know before you go | Love Your Mental

Where: The Twisted Tulip, 7901 Burden Road, Machesney Park.

When: Noon-7 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 7

Admission: $2, free entry for children 3 and under.

Additional information: @love.your.mental on Instagram, or loveyourmental.org

How to help: Martinez is also accepting sponsors at loveyourmentalllc@gmail.com and donations for the event here.

 

This article is by Mary Sisk. Email her at msisk@rockrivercurrent.com or follow her on Instagram at @maryrrcurrent