Let It go.....

As previously posted last week was Mental Health Education Week here in Canada.  The week was long, hectic, non-stop and exhausting.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining here, I'm always grateful for all the opportunities we get to educate and to share with others about the community of mental health.

As the Director here at FAME, I'm not so connected to direct support services.  It is easy to close the door to my office and disconnect from the world and the families that we serve.  I turn to the paper trails, working hard to balance budgets, filling out report after report, scheduling staff and to make sure that the lights are on in all the sites we run.  Such is the life of the Director.

Yesterday, later in the day, I was sitting in my office, with the door shut.  The two FAMEkids Coordinators, Karen Naismith and Nicole Levy were hosting a FAMEkids support group. For those of you who don't know what FAMEkids is about, this is a very special program that supports children from 7 - 12 years of age who have a family member impacted by mental health challenges.  I could hear the occasional laugh or squeal from a kid down the hall.  Then it began....

What was that sound?  I stopped.  I began listening very quietly.  I cracked my door open just a bit. There it was.  I could clearly hear the voices of children singing.  I closed my eyes and listened even more intently.  "Let it go...let it go...."  There it was, the sweet voices of children singing the theme song from Frozen.  It was as if someone had blown a cool, soothing breeze of fresh air through my office.  In those few moments I realized it didn't matter that I wasn't a part of the boots on the ground team of delivering services because my job was to make sure that the resources are there to make these very special programs and very special moments happen.  It made all those long days sitting behind my desk, fretting over the paper work, fussing over funding, worth every single moment.

While I cannot share with you the faces of these children, I most certainly can share with you the lovely sounds I managed to capture on my phone.  So for every little voice that lifted me up yesterday, thank you so much. Turn up the volume and catch a cool breeze. #LetItGo  #KidsNeedHelpToo #FamiliesMatter #MentalHealthMatters #WeAreAcceptance #MHEW2016 #MHEW16 #FAMEkids