Brittany Snow aims to help others through her new mental health book

‘Pitch Perfect’ star Brittany Snow joined forces with author Jaspre Guest to write ‘September Letters: Finding Strength and Connection in Sharing Our Stories’.

This book is a collection of essays and mantras submitted by various people, sometimes anonymously, in regards to dealing with their own struggles with mental health.

“We wanted to build a place that was safe, where people could feel connected,” Guest said.

Guest writers

The September Letters website describes the book as “a love letter to those seeking advice, inspiration and a community.”

Though many guest writers opted to remain anonymous, some of the ones who didn’t include Maddie Ziegler, Kid Cudi, Jordana Brewster and Maria Menounos.

The book will also highlight conversations with mental health experts like Gretchen Rubin, David Kessler, Jay Shetty and Mark Epstein.

“We spent almost nine months doing back to back Zooms with experts. I felt like I went to a mental health university,” Guest explained. “It was important to us that there are some tangible, easy takeaways and exercises in the book.”

Snow also sought out friends in the industry to write essays for the book. To her surprise, her friends were more than happy to contribute to the project.

“I’m bad at asking for favors,” Snow said. “It makes me hot and anxious. I hate it.”

“They came back with these incredible letters from their soul. They were doing it at first as a favor, but it was a therapeutic exercise that they got a lot out of.”

It’s reported that Ziegler discussed her reasons for embracing therapy and Menounos recalled her battle with pancreatic cancer, which shifted her outlook on life.

What inspired the book?

The book was inspired by Snow’s experiences with self-harm.

“When I was a teenager, I found an article in a magazine,” she said. “It was the first time that I put words and feelings to something that I was going through.

“I heard my story in her words, and I ripped out that article and I kept it in my back pocket for months as a symbol of hope that there was someone who had overcome what I was going through.”

‘September Letters: Finding Strength and Connection in Sharing Our Stories’ releases May 23.