This fall, Depressed Cake Shop has been popping up in cities throughout the country, holding bake sales in order to benefit local branches of the National Alliance on Mental Health and other organizations.
On October 28 and 29, these bake sales will take place in Sarasota, Florida and Houston, Texas, respectively. Sales of items such as bars, cakes, cupcakes, cookies, and macarons will go towards helping those with mental health issues. Typically, baked goods at Depressed Cake Shop events will be gray on the outside to help remove the stigma behind mental health issues, showing that there is brightness on the inside.
Melanie Denyer, the founder of Depressed Cake Shop, touts baking as a useful technique for improving mental health. “A lot of us turn to baking when we're feeling low. Some of us even started baking because they were ill and needed something simple as a focus. And there is genuinely something very therapeutic about baking,” she says.
The month of October is Depression Awareness Month. If you or someone you know is feeling depressed, there are plenty of ways to get help through available resources.
