Dear Editor:
If you had told me 10 years ago that I was going to face the challenges of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, anxiety and schizophrenia, get through it and come out stronger, I would have told you, you were crazy. But that's exactly what happened to me.
Now, I want to help change other youth's experiences with mental health challenges by helping change the conversation.
My challenges began when I was in Grade 10 and I started to notice changes in my personality.
I stopped caring about my appearance, I couldn't sleep through the night and I started wanting to just be alone.
My family and friends thought my behavior was all part of being a teenager rather than symptoms of a serious mental condition. Why wouldn't they?
It was easy for people to think I was just being moody, going through hormonal changes, all normal things for a teenager. I didn't know how to talk about what was going on.
It wasn't until my first year of college when I had my first serious episode that I got the proper help I needed through the mental health-care system.
With that support I was able to get on track towards a happier and healthier life.
Today, I am a confident and outgoing criminology student at Douglas College, a stand-up comedian and a youth peer mentor with the Speak Up program.
Speak Up gives me a chance to talk to other young people about how to see the signs in themselves and others, and that a mental health condition doesn't define them.
The most important message I pass on to everyone I meet is that having a mental health challenge is not something to be ashamed of, and most importantly, it's not something to ignore.
More people need to talk about how they're feeling and what's going on for them. We need to speak up and support each other - whether you ever face a mental health challenge or not. We need to face stigma head-on and make sure we tell young people and others to start to Speak Up.
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Fraser Health's Speak Up program is supported by Coast Capital Savings and provides peer support, presentations in schools and an interactive space for young people to share their thoughts and feelings through art, writing, photography, videos or music on the Speak Up page on the mindcheck.ca website.
Molly Stuart, via email
