AvivAbility: Wellness Heroes

It’s Mental Health Week. One of our five diversity and inclusion groups, AvivAbilities, focuses on destigmatizing mental health in the workplace, as well as creating opportunities for those with disabilities and supporting employee wellness at work. This article is written by three of our Wellness Heroes, sharing their stories to help remove the stigma around mental health and encourage people to be open about what their struggling with. It’s okay to not be okay. 

Chris’ Mental Health Journey

“A great act is hard to follow. This is especially true in theatre, music, sport, and in life. My parents are your first-generation immigrant success story. Built something from nothing. Fled unforgiving circumstances to give their children a “greater” life. While their intentions were pure, I struggled with ascertaining whose future I wanted to live – mine or theirs. I always felt guilty for not following the path they intended/expected for me, and it hit me extremely hard.

While simultaneously having these thoughts, I was feeling extreme burnout from work and other personal life situations. This had a cascading impact on my physical and mental wellbeing. I took a 2 month leave of absence to really “find/take care of myself”. With the care of mental health professionals, and the guidance/medication prescribed by a psychiatrist, I was able to reorient. I was able to unearth ways to better take care of myself, and my feelings.

The reason I became a Wellness Hero is to assist in diminishing the stigma around openly discussing and addressing one’s mental health. To anyone struggling, understand you are NOT alone. You are LOVED, and seeking help is NOT a sign of weakness.”

Christina’s Mental Health Journey:

“During my undergrad, I started having symptoms of depression and anxiety, and figured it was just stress from school and personal events. It was only once I noticed tangible, physical symptoms that I knew I couldn’t just “think positive thoughts” my way out of this and began talking to a therapist. Back then, I didn’t know much about how the brain works or Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), but noticed I started feeling better from therapy alone. Over the last few years, I managed my mental health through therapy, antidepressants, meditation, and lifestyle changes, such as diet and exercise. Running has been invaluable in managing my physical and mental, but there’s no silver bullet to mental health. The most frustrating part about managing mental illness is feeling like you are doing everything right yet still struggling, and it takes constant reminders that blaming oneself for having depression is as silly as blaming oneself for having brown eyes.

One of the biggest milestones in my mental health journey was when I stopped thinking of myself as an anxious or depressed person and started seeing treating mental illness as an actual illness, like a really, really persistent cold. Another big milestone was getting to the point where I was optimistic about my mental health, especially as I’ve recently been re-starting CBT. Mental health is complex, but it can start to be managed with just a bit of faith that those baby steps to getting better are in fact making a life-changing impact.”

Megan’s Mental Health Journey:

“Last October, I had the privilege of sharing my family’s story. Back in 2019 and 2020 we lost 2 people in my family to depression and suicide. In September and January, we passed the second anniversary of each of the deaths. As anyone who has lost a loved one would know, missing them isn’t something that goes away. There are easier days and harder days. Important dates in the family can be scary. There’s an underlying thought of “is this going to happen again?” Unexpected phone calls from family produce anxiety because one time that anxious loop of thoughts “It’s unusual that they’re calling now, please don’t let her be dead” actually happened. 

Personally, since October my own tendency towards anxious thoughts got worse and started impacting my everyday life. For me, anxiety presents in thoughts of family, mostly my husband or my kids, getting hurt or dying. I talked to my doctor, and I’ve started medication and therapy for anxiety, which is helping hugely. I’m fortunate that mental illness isn’t a stigma in my family, so I was able to recognize that I needed help and ask for it. Asking was hard, I felt silly. “It’s not that bad, am I just trying to take the easy way out [by using medication]?” It’s easy to have self-sabotaging thoughts when you have a mental illness, but I’m learning how to calm those thoughts. It’s a work in progress, but I’m willing to do the work.” 

If you are struggling with your mental health, please reach out to someone you know, or check out Wellness Canada for additional support and resources: Wellness Together Canada