Brain Storm Issue IV: Community | Page 18

In university, I had many struggles with my mental health. I was always quiet about it and never reached out for help. I feared what other people would say to me and that they would change the way they behaved around me. In my second year, I attended university orientation with a group of first year students that I was leading. Here I saw my first Jack.org talk. I watched as one of their speakers spoke openly about his story and his own struggles with mental health. He was so open and inspiring. That moment changed my life. His story had a huge impact on me and the way I felt about mental health.

I got involved with Jack.org as a Jack Talks Speaker in the summer of 2016. Jack.org helped me take my passion for mental health and go out to make a difference in the world. I now go around to various schools, colleges and universities in the Toronto area and deliver mental health literacy talks to students. The talk consists of bringing up awareness about the fact that everyone has mental health and that we should take care of ourselves and look out for each other. I share my own mental health story in the hopes that speaking openly about mental health will help reduce the stigma and normalize the conversation.

With each talk that I or my other Jack Talks speakers give, we grow the conversation and bring more awareness to the subject of mental health. We are constantly working to grow our community of passionate young leaders. We are not only the leaders of tomorrow, but the voice of today. I am constantly inspired by the other leaders in my community. They are all working hard in every way to bring this topic to the forefront of everyone’s minds.

Jack Chapters connect students at their schools to Jack.org. The Jack Chapters organize various events throughout the year to help break down any barriers to positive mental health in the community the chapter works in and bring the topic of mental health and self-care to students. These events work to make mental health a part of students every day lives and show that self-care is important, especially in their busy lives. Students are constantly under academic stress, which only increases when they enter post-secondary.

Finally, Jack.org organizes Jack Summit every year, bringing together 200 young leaders from every province and territory in Canada. This year’s Jack Summit was held March 16-18. We got together and spent the weekend speaking about what we saw as problems regarding mental health and how we wanted to fix them. We networked with other leaders across the nation, sharing our ideas and thoughts.

Jack.org is continuously growing its community through its three programs; Jack Talks, Jack Chapters, and Jack Summits. With each new young leader added to the Jack.org network, we increase our reach and make our collective goals more achievable.

Here are some things that other members of the Jack.org student network had to say about the community we have created:

“Jack.org and the Jack Talks program has connected me with so many influential people across our home and native land. This community of amazing people has consistently inspired myself to continually make strides forward in the journey to havin #NoMoreSilence around mental health.”

-Nathan Peardon(Jack Talks Speaker)