International Day of Peace

September 30, 2021 By Leave a Comment
STAND 4 PEACE and iFred sign for HOPE on Manhattan Beach, Photo Credit Barry Brennan with Flying Lions

September 21, 2021 was the International Day of Peace, an event created by the United Nations to celebrate strengthening the ideals of peace around the world. This year, iFred celebrated the International Day of Peace in Manhattan Beach with STAND 4 PEACE, an organization dedicated to raising awareness about issues related to peace, including the importance of hope. 

We gathered, along with dozens of community members of all ages, at the Manhattan Beach Pier to celebrate the importance of peace and hope by spelling out HOPE on the beach. Participants all held sunflowers, the symbol for hope, in honor of their mission to spread hope and peace to all individuals around the world. 

iFred Founder Kathryn Goetzke with young women from the Girl Scouts of America
iFred Founder Kathryn Goetzke, and individuals participating in HOPE message

This year, more than ever before, the International Day of Peace reminds us why it is important to share the science of hope with people around the world. Hopelessness, the antithesis of hope, has reached unprecedented levels globally, and is predictive of weapon-carrying at school, self-harm, accidents, and violence. Peacekeeping efforts must address hopelessness when advocating change. Without hope skills to combat the effects of hopelessness, we cannot create or find peace, as either individuals or a society.

Kathryn Goetzke, Founder of iFred, began teaching hope skills in 2011 to combat hopelessness as a method of suicide prevention. What started as a 12 lesson curriculum has grown into Hopeful Minds, curriculums and resources for teachers and parents, Hopeful Mindsets, courses designed to teach hope skills to target populations, and Hopeful Cities, a playbook that teaches cities around the world how to activate hope in their communities. 

Hope Signs, Part of Hopeful Cities Campaign Available Globally

Throughout this journey, the one thing that has continued to surprise us is that, though we know that hopelessness is predictive of nearly every negative life outcome, very few people know what hopelessness is or how to overcome it. Without an understanding of hope, hopelessness, and hope skills, we cannot hope to achieve peace. That’s why STAND 4 PEACE and iFred stood together on that beach; we know that we must work together to combat hopelessness. 

You can learn more about the importance of hope at www.hopefulminds.org/hope-research
You can learn more about STAND 4 PEACE and the International Day of Peace by visiting https://stand4peace.org/ and checking out this article about the event.

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Filed Under: Education, Events, Families, iFred, International, Suicide Prevention, Sunflowers, Uncategorized, Youth Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
About Kathryn

Kathryn Goetzke has over 30 years of experience in marketing, branding, and strategy. She was recently appointed to be a representative at the United Nations for the World Federation for Mental Health. Kathryn is the Founder of iFred, the International Foundation for Research and Education on Depression, through which she created Hopeful Minds and Hopeful Cities, two programs dedicated to sharing the “how-to” of hope with children, parents, and communities globally. Kathryn presented at Harvard University, the World Bank, the United Nations, and the Never Alone Summit. Hopeful Minds was featured in a documentary by the BBC, and her products and projects have been featured in global media.

Kathryn is a Partner at Innovative Analysis, LLC, where she consults businesses on activating hope in the workplace, and created a college program Hopeful Mindsets, a marketing strategy and course for college students to activate hope on campus. She is the author of the Biggest Little Book About Hope and host of The Hope Matrix Podcast. In her role as Chief Mood Officer at The Mood Factory, she created the first nationwide cause marketing campaign for mental health through her brand Mood-lites, which achieved over 35M in retail sales. Ms. Goetzke serves on advisory boards for FundaMentalSDG, Y Mental Health, Women’s Brain Project, and the Global Mental Health Movement.

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