Initiative teaches health literacy and self-advocacy for people with chronic illness - CambridgeToday.ca

More than one in five adults in the US experience mental illness each year, according to data from the National Alliance on Mental Illness. And more than one in seven young people ages 6–17 experience a mental health disorder, with 50 percent of all mental illness occurring throughout one’s lifetime beginning by age 14 and 75 percent by age 24. Psychologists have long espoused that how parents raise their children during their early years of life has a huge impact on their mental health and happiness as they grow up. Something as simple as praising or scolding a child can be deeply internalized and could determine whether or not that child struggles with depression, anxiety, or substance use as a teenager or young adult.

How losing my father and surviving illness led me to mental health advocacy This World Mental Health Day (10 October), the theme is "Lived Experiences Heard: Real Voices, Real Change." It recognizes that people who have lived through hard moments hold knowledge that no manual can replace. For some Red Cross and Red Crescent volunteers and staff, that knowledge becomes a calling. For Serah Kalumbilo, Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Officer at the Zambia Red Cross Society , it began in Lusaka, Zambia, in February 2021, barely two months after she joined the Red Cross. Her experience of illness and loss became the reason she started training others in Psychological First Aid. This is her story. My journey from survivor to mental health advocate Barely two months after joining the Zambia Red Cross Society, my life changed in a way I never imagined. I became seriously ill with COVID-19 and spent more than 30 days in isolation. What began as an illness soon became one of the most difficult experiences of my life. Isolation meant being physically separated from the people I loved and depended on. There were moments of fear, uncertainty and loneliness, not knowing what the next day

A comedy show is returning to Kingston this weekend building awareness, increasing understanding, and challenging stigma surrounding mental health. Stand Up for Mental Health teaches stand-up comedy to people with mental health challenges. The award-winning program was founded by counsellor and stand-up comic David Granirer in 2004 in Vancouver, and since then it has been building confidence and fighting stigma across the globe.