Brittany is a St. Louis, Missouri high school freshman.  Outside of her life as a normal teenagers, she also runs the extremely popular Twitter account, @StayStrongItsOk, with nearly 14,500 followers.  Using Twitter, Brittany works really hard to raise awareness about self-harm, mental health issues, and bullying.  I have been following Brittany’s account for awhile and am consistently blown away by her efforts to connect with each and every one of her followers by providing constant support and encouragement.  Posting words of encouragement and inspirational photos and sayings, she is a wonderful role model for her followers.

Read what Brittany sent exclusively to MyKindnessCounts.com about what has inspired her to do the work she does.  To learn more about Brittany and how her experiences have shaped the work she is now doing, go to her blog here.

I’m Brittany, some of you may know me as @StayStrongItsOk on twitter. Either way, I’m just like you. I go through some of the same things as you. One of those things is bullying. I’ve had my fair share of experience with it, believe me. I am currently writing my full story, and I am going to share it, once it is completed. But until then, I wanted to share one experience with you all: When I was in 6th grade, (not limited to just 6th grade), I was called really mean names, told I was ugly, and even got threatened. This was being done by both girls and boys. I didn’t understand what I had done to deserve this. It continued happening. School principals and other adults wouldn’t help me. They’d ask the kids doing it, about it, and of course they denied it. Eventually the adults started to see that this was really happening to me and tried putting a stop to it. Long story short, It was a really bad time in my life. But now, I refuse to let them keep me silent. I will stand up for myself, and what I believe in, even if it means standing alone. I am going to do whatever I can to stop bullying and help people cope with it. I have the twitter account @staystrongitsok, and there I do just that. Like I said before, I am currently writing my story, so stay in touch to know why I do the things I do. And most of all, stay strong. – Brittany

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