Hug Your Homies & Tell Them You Love Them — Dan Parisi on Starting A Mental Health Movement

A flood of green stickers in the Alta ski community became a movement for mental health that has reached far wider. The seemingly simple text “Hug your homies and tell them you love them” was Dan Parisi’s effort to start difficult conversations following the loss of a friend in the community to a death by suicide. Dan himself embodies the message and the energy. He’s welcoming, quick to flash a smile whenever anyone makes eye contact, and of course dishes out hugs like they’re free stickers. But he also knows personally that these efforts to create an open, vulnerable culture around mental health are what his community needs on a deep level. He channeled his heartbreak and the nature of collective grief in a unique way. I used to live in Utah and called Alta Ski Area my home mountain when I was there. So when I started seeing these stickers all over—online and in-person across the West—I got curious to the story behind them, the positive energy they were spreading, and the impact of their movement. Connecting with Dan on a personal level, linking up for this interview, and chasing him around Alta was indeed pure joy. —This episode is brought to you by Salomon. To check out the QST line of skis, and all Salomon ski gear, visit https://salomon.pxf.io/DPP. —Listen / watch / subscribe:YouTubeSpotifyApple Podcasts—Check out, shop, and support Hug Your Homies: https://www.hugyourhomiesworldwide.com/ Follow Hug Your Homies on Instagram: @hug.yourhomies —Follow me/the show on Instagram: @drewpeterski Sign up for my Substack/the podcast newsletter: https://substack.com/@drewpetersen —Score discounts and connect with all of the podcast’s sponsors any time at https://drew-petersen.com/podcast.