On Thurs. March 29, best-selling author and award-winning activist Alicia Cook gave a talk to the students of Pascack Valley High School titled “Addiction, Mental Health, and Creative Survival: The Power Of Telling The Truth.”
Cook is an award-winning poet, writer, and mental health advocate. Her work is based on breaking stigma, normalizing difficult topics, honoring the dead, and offering a reason to live to people who are struggling with loss.
She began writing after her best friend and cousin Jessica Cook passed away due to a drug overdose in high school.
“That loss cracked something open in me, and I didn’t know how to deal with it,” said Cook. “I didn’t have the words until I started writing about it… [Writing] became my outlet and ultimately my survival.”
Cook speaks at schools so that she can share her story with young people and talk about topics that are frequently avoided. Her goal is to connect people who are struggling and help them feel less alone. She wants to encourage others to tell their stories and to make a difference.
“A lot of us are carrying around something we don’t know how to talk about,” said Cook. “You don’t have to go through [it] alone.”
Cook explains how writing was an outlet for her. While dealing with grief, she used creativity to help her cope with her feelings. Without this, she says she would have ended her own life.
After her cousin passed, she searched for stories about loss and addiction that she could connect with, but she couldn’t find anything. So, she started writing about what she couldn’t find.
Cook has written four poetry books, and her works have been translated into over three languages.
By writing, she has been able to uncover her own feelings while simultaneously helping other people deal with theirs.
“I wasn’t just healing myself; I was helping others feel less on an island, and that is the power of creativity,” said Cook. “You don’t know who needs to hear your story.”
By making a living out of writing, Cook is able to share her story and help other people share theirs. She sheds light on dark topics that frequently get overlooked. By interviewing other people and responding to their letters about her books, she is able to connect and help others who feel like she once did.
One of her final remarks during her talk was giving the students a course of action in the form of a writing prompt: Write a letter to someone who is struggling or to yourself about how and why to keep going.
Cook also explained that she is available to students. If a student would like to email her, she will provide feedback on their writing. Students can contact her at thealiciacook@gmail.com
Cook’s ultimate goal is to spread the word about loss, grief, mental health, and addiction so that no one has to deal with their pain alone.
“If you walk away with nothing else, walk away with this: life is ridiculously short, so don’t make it any shorter if you can help it,” said Cook. “Storytelling, poetry, and art have the power to carry us through the most difficult times in life.”
