Talinda Bennington Announces New Mental Health Initiative in Honor of Chester Bennington

Friday night, at the “Linkin Park and Friends Celebrate Life in Honor of Chester Bennington” tribute concert at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, Chester Bennington’s wife, Talinda Bennington, announced a new mental health initiative in honor of her late husband, who died by suicide in July.

“Saving lives is exactly what we plan to do in Chester’s memory,” Bennington said in a speech introducing her partnership with “Give an Hour” and Change Direction, a nonprofit dedicated to changing the conversation and culture around mental health. “Together, we will build a resource — not only for those suffering emotionally, but also for friends and family members and medical practitioners who are seeking answers about mental health, illness and addiction, so they can best support the people in their lives.”

The new initiative is called 320, after Chester’s birthday, March 20. More information as to what the initiative will do, Bennington said, will be coming “soon.”

“It is time that we recognize that mental health is as important as our physical health,” she said. “It is my mission to make it easier to access mental health resources.”

Since Chester’s death, Bennington has been advocating for increased mental health awareness. In September, she shared a video of Chester laughing 36 hours before he died to show “depression doesn’t have a face or a mood.”

This is what depression looked like to us just 36 hrs b4 his death. He loved us SO much & we loved him. #fuckdepression #MakeChesterProud pic.twitter.com/VW44eOER4k

— Talinda Bennington (@TalindaB) September 16, 2017

“He would have loved all of this tonight,” Bennington said, as she began to talk about her husband and those who have reached out to support their family. “Even in grief and utter devastation, we have found so much to be thankful for.”

Bennington also discussed some of the social media campaigns that followed Bennington’s death including #FuckDepression and #MakeChesterProud. The latter, started by Chester’s Linkin Park bandmate Mike Shinoda, asking fans to remember Bennington by being kind and generous to others.

Do something great / kind / generous to #MakeChesterProud

— Mike Shinoda (@mikeshinoda) August 26, 2017

Also speaking at the event was Mike Shinoda, Chester’s bandmate, who premiered a song he wrote eight days after Bennington passed.

You can watch the Bennington’s speech and the rest of the concent here.