BEntrepreneur Magazine sat down with the co-founders of 18percent (Zach Schleien & David Markovich), a free, peer-to-peer online support community to talk about how it started and how people can benefit from this platform.

Zach: My close family friend Louis passed away after struggling for three years with schizoaffective disorder/ Bipolar Type 1. The onset of Louis’ psychosis occurred when he was 19 (he was first hospitalized in October 2014). From childhood through high school, Louis was happy, athletic, musically gifted, made friends easily, and achieved outstanding academic success. But since his psychosis he was hospitalized several times for durations of several weeks to months.

In March 2017 Louis rejected therapy due to side-effects caused by his medication. This coupled with his non-acceptance of his condition, made his disease nearly impossible to manage. In the throes of his psychosis, it is presumed that he died of drowning in a nearby river. In his honor, I took on the challenge to raise $9,500 through crowdfunding. With all of the amazing support we received, we raised $9,640 in just over 2 weeks. The proceeds went to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) and will be used to fund the NAMI Basics Program. NAMI Basics is a free, 6-week education program for parents and family caregivers of children and teens who are experiencing symptoms of a mental illness or who have already been diagnosed.

Following the campaign, and with Mental Health Month approaching, I set out to raise $30,000 in 30 days with Louis’ dad, Fred who was now volunteering for his local NAMI chapter, NAMI El Dorado. The goal was to raise this amount for El Dorado’s Family to Family Program, which would support 600 family members with a loved one with mental illness. In 3 weeks, Fred, myself and the Executive Director of NAMI El Dorado, Jeanne Nelson surpassed our goal and hit $32,000.

After reaching crowdfunding success I wanted to do more. I teamed up with one of my closest friends, David Markovich who has an expertise in online community building; growing his digital marketing community Online Geniuses to over 15,000 members and running events in over 23 countries. We have now built an online community around mental health called 18percent.org. Why 18percent? Because at any given moment, 18percent of the United States population, suffers from some mental illness.

18percent is a free mental health online community based off Slack, where one can receive peer to peer support. The community offers free, 24/7 support in a moderated environment with many channels that cover various mental health issues. 18percent is an official partner of the Crisis Text Line and National Eating Disorders Association.

The mental health community has been featured in NowThis (100,000+ views), The Washington Post and FOX. Since 18percent launched nine months ago, the community has had 380,000 messages sent on the platform.

Erasing the Stigma

One of 18percent’s goals is to normalize mental health. We believe that by speaking up about this important issue and providing a space for one another to get support, the stigma will lessen. There is a strong stigma for many who are going through mental health issues as they feel isolated and afraid to speak up. Many people still see mental health as being “weak” versus having a flaw or deficiency in your brain.

Role Models

(Zach) My role model is my father, Charles. Charles is a pediatrician and has committed himself to helping people.

Options for Mental Health Sufferers

We recommend speaking to a health care professional if you are going through a mental health issue. 18percent is a supplement to your professional support.

Advice to Entrepreneurs

You do not need to be an expert or know all of the answers. You do need to be extremely motivated and have a story to tell