![Johnny Crowder at home in Tampa, where he founded Cope Notes, a service that sends uplifting daily text messages to people manage their mental and emotional health. âPeople would rather text their friends than talk to them about something difficult,â he said. âSome of the texts are prompts, and while itâs not necessarily a two-way conversation, we want the platform to foster independence. The goal is not to be something people rely on forever.â [MONICA HERNDON | Times]](https://www.tampabay.com/storyimage/HI/20190222/ARTICLE/190229904/AR/0/AR-190229904.jpg&MaxW=1200&Q=66)
By Justine Griffin for the Tampa Bay Times
Johnny Crowder used to have a negative outlook on the world.
He grew up in what he described as an abusive household. He was diagnosed with a slew of mental illnesses during his formative years, from bipolar disorder to obsessive compulsive disorder. It was easy for him to feel down about himself.
“I realized how I was thinking was contributing to my struggles,” said Crowder, a 26-year-old Tampa native. “But I couldn’t climb out of it.”
So he started filling sticky notes with positive, affirmative messages, and leaving them around his house. On one note, he remembers penciling, “You deserve to spend time with people who care about you.”
It made a difference. For just a few seconds a day, he’d feel better. But eventually the notes became commonplace, and their effect seemed to wear off.
So he decided to try it another way. This time, by sending uplifting text messages to his friends to see how they reacted.
“The first text, I sent to about 32 friends in my contacts, with the same message. Nearly everyone responded,” he said. “They interpreted it differently based on their own lives, but I was surprised to see so many of them replied with ‘How did you know?’ Like I knew they were going through something.”
That’s how Crowder founded Cope Notes.