It’s Tuesday. A large portion of our Climb Out of the Darkness teams will Climb Out on Saturday. We’re all in Climb Out mode right now.

Climb Out of the Darkness 2016

Climb Out of the Darkness 2016 Team Bellingham, WA

It’s an exciting time for us as staff at Postpartum Progress. Watching our Climb Leaders and Warrior Moms around the world raise money and awareness is inspiring. These moms, their loved ones, their clinicians, and their support people are breaking down the stigma surrounding postpartum and mood anxiety disorders every time they ask for a donation, every time they share photos from their Climb…

Climb Out of the Darkness 2016

Climb Out of the Darkness 2016 Team Illinois Bloomington/Normal

…and every time they share their story.

We announced a blog party last week, taking place today. We asked Climb Leaders and Climbers alike to share why they Climb.

Climb Out of the Darkness: Why I Climb

Why I Climb

Climb Out of the Darkness 2016

Climb Out of the Darkness 2016 -Allison & Paul Grigel

Our reasons are as varied as our experiences. But we come together in June to Climb Out, to break down the walls of stigma just by showing up. We collective raise money to help fund the mission of Postpartum Progress which is to create healthier families by raising awareness, reducing stigma, providing social support and connecting mothers to help for perinatal mood and anxiety disorders like postpartum depression. We come together to see ourselves reflected in other mothers who have lived through it, who are still battling; we come together with our support people, our loved ones, our friends, our clinicians so they can see they, too, are not alone.

Climb Out of the Darkness 2016

Climb Out of the Darkness 2016 Team FL- Satellite Beach/ Orlando

The 2016 Climb Out of the Darkness is already our best year yet when it comes to the money raised ($244,807 as of this morning!), the number of Climbers (3,401 as of this morning!), and general awesomeness when it comes to involvement and excitement. To see so many come together for maternal mental health gives us great hope for the future. We’re doing big things—TOGETHER.

You can still join us. There’s time to Find a Climb, register, and join with thousands of other Warrior Moms and their people this weekend (with a few outliers in the coming weeks). We’d love to have you. And we’d love to know why you Climb. Feel free to tell us in the comments or write a post and leave the link.

Climb Out of the Darkness 2016

Climb Out of the Darkness 2016 Team Fruita/Grand Junction Climb

See you soon!

Photos are of Climbs that already took place this month. Look for a bunch of photos shared on our social media channels this weekend! Facebook | Twitter | Instagram