hope. support. prevention.

My name is Matt Sheldon, and this is OUR story.  My mental health journey began as a child.  I watched as my Mom would count her pills in secret, I sat outside for countless hours for Dad to pick me up, I was riddled with guilt by my politician Grandmother, and I endured sexual abuse amongst it all.  This was just at 4 years old.  This story isn’t just about me though, it’s about all of us.  We’ve all had to work through some sort of trauma.  My life has been nothing short of miraculous however, I've built a successful career, I’ve built a wonderful life with my Wife and Son, and I’ve shown an incredible amount of resiliency throughout the last 40 years.

My wife, a therapist and I started a mental health agency in 2021.  Our goal was, and still is to provide a safe place for all people to go to work on their mental wellness.  Through this agency we managed to touch many lives, help marriages, stop suicidal tendencies, and successfully work through deep traumas. 
My passion to create more awareness with deep trauma and suicide has still been tugging on me.  Help as many people as you can yes...but how do we stop this before it gets out of hand?  We work with our children.  We take responsibility for their futures.  We teach them responsibility for their peers.  We teach them the warning signs, and how to recognize the cries for help.  We teach them how to actually help, and not stand by and have to learn how to pick up the pieces...

Why the Indy Project?  Here's why:
Indy Sheldon, my Mother was born on January 5, 1955.  My Mom lost her hair when she was a child.  Wearing wigs for her whole life, she would never let go of the memory of the bullies on the school bus tossing her hair around while they all laughed.  She never let that memory go.  My Mom would go on to graduate with honors, was top of her class, learned fluent French, was a singer, and seemed like a very well rounded woman.  She had the world at her fingertips...except for that victim demon on her shoulder.  Mom would cope with pills.  Lots of pills.  Pills were her friend. They made her feel "normal".  This is the friend that she would use to take her own life at the young age of 65.  

The INDY Project is for all of us.  It is to help the people who are silently suffering, and it's to help the people like me who are left to pick up the pieces.  

I.N.D.Y - I'm Not Done Yet