Circus Berserkus!

In November I had posted about a project a friend of mine was involved with, Lookup Theatre. Talk to Youth Lately (TTYL) mental health social circus program is a group of young people 16-30 who have experienced mental health issues or are close friends and family members of those who have.  TTYL uses a youth engagement approach, so all performances are written by young people, together with TTYL professional staff.

TTYL has built a new show called Circus Berserkus for post-secondary students aimed at addressing mental health stigma and promoting mental health recovery. This performance will focus on recovery based messages of hope, and the idea that mental health and illnesses occur on a continuum, which are all human experiences.  Using theatre and circus skills like juggling, acro-balancing, aerial circus and comedy, they tell their stories and connect with the audience. 

We are able to offer FREE tickets to this event! 

Event dates are:

Friday, March 19  8pm

Saturday, March 20 4pm

Saturday, March 20 8pm

Location:

Al Green Theatre

750 Spadina Avenue

Toronto, Ontario

M5S 2J2

If you are interested, or know of anyone that might be interested, please contact me by email at karenn@fameforfamilies.com or by phone/text 647-403-9305 for tickets.

Mental Health Education aimed at youth to kick stigma in the butt!

Most individuals start to experience symptoms of a Mental Health concern in their teen years and early 20's; so doesn't it make sense to give all of these wonderful kids all the education and tools they  need to succeed? I think so!  STIGMA is one of those things that makes it difficult for an individual to seek out any type of support for themselves, or someone they know.  You know what? I think stigma is a jerk.  The great thing is that we can all work together to erase it from our landscape, and start the journey to be well.

Children's Mental Health Ontario has been putting on an anti-stigma YouTube contest called "change the view".  They call on youth from all over Ontario to share their stores to try to erase the stigma of Mental Illness.  Please please please click on this AMAZING STORY and be ready to be inspired by a brave 19 year old.
Her video is posted in the link as well, and i can't begin to imagine the guts it took to put herself out to the world like this.  What an inspiration!
Okay everyone, let's get out there and:

Strengthening Our Students

What are our post-secondary students up to?
I recently attended the 15th Annual George Brown Mental Health Conference, which got me thinking- What are our other post-secondary students up to?

I pride myself on being an Ontarian, and couldn't be happier to see that $27 million dollars worth of Ontario's comprehensive Mental Health and Addictions Strategy funding has been invested in post-secondary mental health projects.

Check out what some of our neighbours are doing :

University of Toronto-By Students/For Students
"A Digital Gateway for mental health, a new digital platform will allow users to pinpoint services in their own area using a mobile device or computer"