One thing that has really given me hope in all of this is a poem that I studied in Grade 9. Walt Whitman asks in his poem: “What good amid thee O me! O Life”, and his answer is that “that you are here, that life exists, and identity. That the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse.” So while reading this poem in January of 2015 for the umpteenth time, that’s when it came to me. What if I did something about all of this? Like really did something for everyone suffering like me. I could be an advocate for people with mental illness. Ideas and fantasies of a stigma-free world percolated in my head until January 21st. It was the 5th annual Bell Let’s Talk day meant to eradicate the stigma associated with mental illness. The main spokesperson was Clara Hughes – someone I’d idolized as a female athlete and role model since I was very young. Social media erupted in talk of mental health and awareness. Even girls at SMA were openly posting about it. That’s when my plan really started. I absolutely had to tell people my story, I had to get rid of the ignorance of so many, and face my fear of talking about something that I had internally stigmatized for so
One thing that has really given me hope in all of this is a poem that I studied in Grade 9. Walt Whitman asks in his poem: “What good amid thee O me! O Life”, and his answer is that “that you are here, that life exists, and identity. That the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse.” So while reading this poem in January of 2015 for the umpteenth time, that’s when it came to me. What if I did something about all of this? Like really did something for everyone suffering like me. I could be an advocate for people with mental illness. Ideas and fantasies of a stigma-free world percolated in my head until January 21st. It was the 5th annual Bell Let’s Talk day meant to eradicate the stigma associated with mental illness. The main spokesperson was Clara Hughes – someone I’d idolized as a female athlete and role model since I was very young. Social media erupted in talk of mental health and awareness. Even girls at SMA were openly posting about it. That’s when my plan really started. I absolutely had to tell people my story, I had to get rid of the ignorance of so many, and face my fear of talking about something that I had internally stigmatized for so