On November 23rd, 2014, Kristoff St John lost his son Julian to mental illness. Julian was an artist and painter who had reportedly been struggling on and off with schizophrenia and tragically took his own life a couple of days before his 25th Birthday.
“Our son was the light of our lives, an artist with a beautiful mind and spirit.” Mia, a boxer and Julian’s mother, wrote in a statement posted on Sqor Sports, a social media website for athletes. “He fought long and hard against an illness for which there is no cure.”
DECOSTA and Beep have partnered with Kristoff and his family in a campaign for support and awareness. The public is encouraged to Beep with #RememberJulian. So far there have been messages of condolences for the family and conversations about reaching out to talk about Mental Illness. For every User that includes the hashtag #RememberJulian in a Beep, Beep Inc will be donating 1$ to The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (afsp.org).
To learn more about Julian’s journey as an artist, see his interview with the Huffington Post.
Julian’s parents thanked fans for their support.
“While nothing can remove our pain at the moment, we find solace in your messages and knowing how much our son, Julian St. John, was loved.”