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by Nilam Chhetri http://sidebysidemh.com/ Facebook: www.facebook.com/sidebysidemh Twitter: @nilam_chhetri I am captivated by the topic of mental health. I spend countless hours reading new studies, shuffling through blogs, attending workshops, listening to Ted Talks, watching documentaries – all to get a deeper and wider understanding of mental health and wellness. It’s almost an obsession. Almost. It’d be downright weird if I didn’t have a good reason for it. I do: I lost my brother to suicide about 15 years ago, and soon after, my sister was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder. I am neither articulate nor imaginative enough to accurately describe how difficult the diagnosis was forRead More →

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A soldier returns safely after surviving sniper fire and roadside bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan. But the hypervigilance and suppressed emotions that kept him alive have taken a heavy toll. By Jeremy Profitt I came home from Iraq in March 2004, yet I’m still fighting a war, a war here at home. It’s a war of shadows, one that no one seems to really understand. A war of anger and anxiety, fought in the recesses of my mind.Read More →

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Gwen Marsh http://www.heretohelp.bc.ca/ It was supposed to be an ideal solution. My husband had a new job in a new city. I could keep my old job by working from home. Having flexible hours meant more time for my four-year-old little girl. However, the ideal turned out to be a set-up for disaster. I work as an interaction designer (i.e., I optimize how people interact with the Web) and market researcher for an online company. Before our move, I was heavily involved in a big project that required me to work long hours. I loved it. Despite the pressure, I was keenly aware that IRead More →

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By Amanda-Marie Kavanagh http://thoughtcatalog.com/ Imagine a time when you felt really down. Like the kind of down when your body feels really heavy, your limbs are like lead and it takes every ounce of willpower to get out of bed. Times when tears refuse to run and you heart actually aches. You feel all alone, like no one could understand what you are going through and that no words of comfort could ever help bring you out of your present state. In fact, you start thinking that you deserve to feel this bad. That really, you are burden to your friends and family, that maybeRead More →

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January 28, 2014 http://www.chch.com/ Not feeling up to going into work or school today? You’re not alone. On an average day, half a million Canadians are off with some form of mental illness. We’re starting to see glimmers of hope, because people are starting to talk. Jim Bremner‘s started the conversation with his own first-hand account in the book Crack in the Armor: A Police Officer’s Guide to Surviving Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.Read More →

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by Anita Levesque Mental health is a very important issue and especially because I have had and have loved ones who live with mental illness. The stigma towards mental health is large though as I became a mental health advocate, I am seeing more and more people opening up and talking about their mental illness. When my father passed away in 2004, my brother was diagnosed with PTSD, depression, and anxiety. As a result of living with violent domestic abuse caused by my father’s bipolar disorder and prescription medication addiction, my mother and I now live with PTSD and depression.Read More →

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Laurence White http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ I have suffered from clinical depression for over three decades. Depression is a disease, a disorder, the manifestation of something fundamentally wrong in the functioning of my brain. I can no more will myself out of depression than a diabetic can will his pancreas to produce more insulin. As I recently told someone critical of Robin Williams’ suicide, judging someone killed by depression makes as much sense as judging someone killed by cancer.Read More →

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Stories of personal experiences with mental illness or the support you gave to a friend or family member are important in helping others understand how they can get help and in breaking down the stigma. Stories provide education, support and can be one of many positive triggers to help people understand more about their own mental illness. Below you’ll find inspiring stories about the full range of mental illness conditions. If you would like to share your story, please contact us.Read More →

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By Alyssa Ashton http://www.canadianliving.com/ I’ve always thought it was strange that there was a World Mental Health Day. Why do we need an entire day dedicated to raising awareness about mental health, doesn’t everyone already understand it? The reason I feel this way is because I’ve been aware of mental health issues since I was seven-years-old—when I was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. I’ve grown-up having an in-depth understanding of the effects of mental health issues.Read More →