Carrying Eli's Memory Forward: Mental Health Awareness Month 2026

April is Mental Health Awareness Month — a time to pause, to speak openly, and to remind one another that no one has to face their struggles alone. For us, this month is deeply personal. We carry it with the weight of love, and with the hope that sharing our truth might reach someone who needs to hear it.

We carry it with Eli.

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Our Brother, Our Eli

Eli Robinson was 31 years old. He was our beloved brother, a devoted friend, a creative soul — someone who brought warmth into every room he entered.

In his early thirties, Eli was diagnosed with schizophrenia. He lived with persistent auditory hallucinations that told him, over and over, that the people he loved most were in danger. We rallied around him with every resource and every ounce of devotion we had. We showed up. We didn't look away. And Eli fought — harder than most people will ever know.

In April 2025, we lost him to suicide.

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Why We're Talking About It

Grief has a way of making you want to go quiet. To keep the tender, painful parts tucked away where they feel safe. But we've chosen something different — we've chosen to speak, because silence is part of what makes mental illness so isolating in the first place.

Mental health conditions like schizophrenia are still widely misunderstood. They're minimized and stigmatized. Families living through them — watching someone they love struggle against something invisible — often feel profoundly alone. This is why we share Eli's story. Not as a cautionary tale, but as a witness — this is real, this is hard, and you are not alone.

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What We Know to Be True

Mental illness is not a personal failure. It is not a lack of willpower or love or faith. It is a medical reality that deserves the same compassion, urgency, and resources as any other health crisis.

The families who love someone through it are heroes who rarely get recognized. We navigated systems that weren't built for us, advocated in spaces that weren't designed to listen, and held Eli in the spaces medicine couldn't yet reach. If you are doing the same for someone you love — we see you. That love is extraordinary, and it deserves support too.

And for those who are suffering — even when it feels impossible to believe — your life has value that your pain cannot measure. Help exists. People want to give it.

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How You Can Honor Eli This Month

Eli's legacy lives in the work of the Robinson Family Foundation. This April, here are ways to carry it forward with us:

Learn. Educate yourself about serious mental illness — schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and other conditions that are often misrepresented or misunderstood. Knowledge breaks down stigma.

Talk. Check in on the people in your life. Ask twice. Sometimes the first "I'm fine" is armor.

Give. At RFF, we are focused on elevating local and grassroots organizations who align with our mission of supporting the entire individual - heart, mind and body. Check out our resources page, to learn more about

Share. If Eli's story moves you, share it. The more voices that speak up about mental health, the fewer people suffer in silence.

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You Are Not Alone

If you or someone you love is struggling, please reach out. The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week — by phone, text, or chat, at no cost and in complete confidence.

Call or text: 988Chat: 988lifeline.org

We started the Robinson Family Foundation because of Eli, and because of everyone still fighting. We believe in a world where no one has to fight alone. This April — and every month — we're here.

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R-FF