Everyone’s personal story has the potential and power to motivate, connect, inspire, and move us. Here the spotlight shines on stories told by the amazing humans who live next door.
When a criminal trial concludes we often think of the victims involved, the witnesses, the loved ones and family members impacted. We hear opinions from the Crown and Defense Counsel surrounding the verdict, and how the trial personally impacted them. We hear from first responders and police detectives, their own stories of grief and trauma […]
I was a paramedic because I wanted to help; I wanted to make a difference. I have dreamed of being in the medical field for as long back as I can remember. After high school I went to university, then college, then ran my own business for a while, but medicine still called. On a […]
In July of 2018, I entered one of my worst periods of depression. I have always lived a life full of anxiety: it is a constant, always there, like the hum of a furnace in a home. At times it’s turned up high and other times, well, it doesn’t run for months. But it is […]
We talk about mental illness more than we used to because we need to: half a million Canadians missed work today due to mental health issues costing the Canadian economy $51 billion annually. 1 in 5 Canadians will struggle with their mental health in their lifetime. I’m one of them. I have Bipolar II Disorder, […]
You don’t need a disability, injury, or illness to know that asking for help can be incredibly difficult. That difficulty magnifies tenfold when you live your life with what I call a ‘mental monster’. So how do we make asking for help easier, especially for those with mental monsters? It’s all about building a community […]
“How long will this inconvenience me?” I asked the medic in an ambulance headed for Montreal. I was 12 years old and had just been run over by a school bus. Within two days, I was back in class. What drove me to return so soon? As I approached midlife, I began to examine my […]
A bestselling author shares her strategies for journeying to a happier, healthier place—and losing 60 kilograms along the way I used to be the poster child for self-neglect. I used to live my life as if I didn’t have a body: as if the basic rules of human biology simply didn’t apply to me. Sleep? […]
I am a mother, police officer, runner and a wife. None of these roles define me but they do help shape who I am today. So how does mental health play a role in my life??? Well, where do I start…? I live a very busy life with a full time job as a police […]
I knew I had to refocus my journalism career on maternal mental health the moment I realized prenatal and postpartum depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, bipolar disorder, and psychosis were real biological conditions instead of the existential crises I once believed them to be. The realization happened after I started experiencing strange symptoms following the birth […]
I have a new model in which I choose to live my life by and find happiness on a daily basis, because if I let perfection (old model) be the driver of my vehicle, I will crash. See, I’ve done this before and I’ve collided head-on… with myself. In my late twenties, I was a […]
When I struggled with my mental health, I had to handle a head full of nasty, violent, intrusive thoughts. It was such a standard part of my life that I didn’t even mention the obsessions as symptoms when I finally went to get help for depression. I was no longer picking up knives because when […]
After much internal debate, I decided that Lake Placid Ironman 2015 was going to be my first full distance triathlon. Why not shoot for the stars? Lake Placid is the longest-running North American Ironman and a former Olympics venue. After doing the research on courses that would potentially suit my strengths, I settled on Lake […]
