Public screams- We stand withClara: Cycling Canada 'cannot condone' 1994 handling Clara Hughes' doping offence http://ctv.news/AWTgyth
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RCMP
NOVA SCOTIA SHARED THIS AWESOME RESPECT 4 HOMELESS AND PSYCHIATRIC PROBLEMS...
Preventing
violent encounters
Police
officers speak to person in street.
In
2011, the Edmonton Police Service collaborated with the University of Alberta
to improve the interaction between police officers and those suffering from a
mental illness. Credit: Edmonton Police Service
De-escalation
training for police
By
Yasmeen Krameddine and Peter Silverstone, University of Alberta, and David
DeMarco and Robert Hassel, Edmonton Police Service
Police
officers are now frequently the first-line responders for those suffering a
mental health or addiction problem, but training in handling these cases isn’t
keeping up with the need.
Related
story
RCMP takes holistic approach to mental
health
To
counter this, the Edmonton Police Service (EPS) teamed up with the University
of Alberta to investigate a new way to improve outcomes. This research was led
by Dr. Peter Silverstone and PhD candidate Yasmeen Krameddine, and the results
to date are very positive.
The
training focuses on improving interactions between police officers and
individuals exhibiting various forms of mental illness. What makes it novel is
that it uses actors to portray real-life scenarios, developed in close
collaboration between police and the University of Alberta.
Police
officers then interact with the actors in these scenarios. The goal is to
increase skills in active verbal/non-verbal communication, de-escalation
techniques, empathetic understanding and mental-health knowledge.
This
program is run as a one-day intensive training program with six scenarios:
depression, addiction, schizophrenia, alcohol withdrawal, mania and a suicidal
individual.
It
allows officers to improve their interactions in real-life situations. One
important part of the training is the use of professional actors, who give
feedback to the officers after each scenario. This is in addition to feedback
from more senior training officers.
The
actors are trained to acknowledge both the positive and negative behaviours of
each officer during the scenario, giving officers in-depth feedback on how the
officer made the actor feel during the interaction. Feedback is crucial for
officers to understand how their actions affect the emotions and behaviour of
individuals they come in contact with. The actors were trained extensively on
verbal and non-verbal communication techniques, and varied their interactions
depending on what the officer said or did.
For
example, if the officer rolled his or her eyes, didn’t listen to what was being
said or tried to rush the actor, the actor would in turn behave more
belligerently and less helpfully.
In
contrast, if the officer looked engaged, gave the actor his or her attention
and held eye contact, the actor would be more relaxed, helpful and supply all
the information asked for.
Emphasis
during the feedback for each scenario was on increasing the expression of
empathic feelings and body language expressed to the actors in the scenarios.
After
the scenario was complete, the feedback continued to highlight why the actor
behaved in certain ways. This allowed police to have an outside perspective of
their actions and body language, giving them a better view of how their actions
or what they said impacted the way they are viewed.
An
example of feedback from an actor would be “When you asked me my name, I felt
like you actually cared about me, as a person, so I was comfortable in
answering your questions” or “when you told me to calm down it made me angry
because your tone suggested you didn’t care why I was so angry.”
To
date, more than 650 police officers have completed this training. Results have
been very positive.
Over
a six-month period, EPS members demonstrated significant improvements in their
communication, empathy and de-escalation skills, as observed by their
supervising officers.
Additionally,
there was an improvement in an officer’s ability to confidently recognize,
respond and empathetically communicate with individuals in distress.
This
supported a 41 per cent increase in the actual number and classification of
mental health calls, with 19 per cent less time being spent on each call, thus
an increase in efficiency. Over a six-month period, this led to cost savings of
$83,828.
Additionally,
police reported feeling significantly more confident in their training and
ability to interact with a mentally ill individual. There was also a large decrease
(more than 40 per cent) in the use of any kind of force when interacting with
mentally ill individuals, although there were other internal police initiatives
that may have helped this latter figure.
These
results show promise, and continue to emphasize the positive effects of this
innovative mental health training initiative. What’s interesting about the
research that was done, and the tips provided, is that little things can make a
big difference.
Active
listening and expressing empathy in both verbal and non-verbal communication
improves outcomes for police officers, particularly when interacting with those
who have mental illness and/or addiction problems.
This
study also shows that these skills can be taught and improved, and that this
leads to true-to-life training and real-life application. Feedback from
officers taking part repeatedly said how realistic the scenarios were and that
they were able to subsequently incorporate these skills into their daily tasks.
Dos
and don’ts for talking to people with psychiatric problems
Try
to do the following:
Ask
individuals their name in a conversational manner, and offer yours. This small
act of bonding can go a long way in developing an understanding and empathetic
relationship.
Active
listening. This is done by keeping attention and maintaining eye contact on the
individual. You can also summarize what they say by repeating it back to them.
Nod your head up and down to demonstrate strong non-verbal understanding. If
you show you are actively listening, you will increase empathy with the
subject, helping you gain any information and insights you need.
Use
“open” body language. Body language is an unconscious form of communication
that can escalate or de-escalate situations depending how it’s used. Keep a
calm and relaxed posture, try not to cross your arms, smile and show you’re
concerned. These behaviours allow the subject to feel safe and trusted.
Mirroring.
Copy their body language if you can. It’s a powerful way of empathizing using
non-verbal communication.
Label
and confirm their feelings. Since feelings and emotions are frequently a major
cause of problems, labelling their feelings shows you are listening, for
example, “It sounds like you’re feeling very underappreciated.” Confirming also
helps them see that their feelings are normal, such as “anyone would feel sad
after losing their job.”
Focus
on family. By asking the person about their family or friends, you can decrease
their isolation and remind them that they have people in their life. Examples
may be “do you have any children?” and “what would your children do if they no
longer had you in their life?”
Tell
them what you are doing and why. Research shows that if you explain to the
individual what you have to do and why, there will be less chance of aggression
and escalation. For example “I am going to have to arrest you because it looks
like there are five warrants out for your arrest.”
Try
not to do the following:
Telling
them to “calm down” or “relax.” These words may make them angry because they
feel they’re being talked down to and told what to do. This does the opposite
of making someone feel calm.
Using
dominating body language. Standing over an individual with your feet planted,
hands on your waist or on your gun, can indicate control and power. This may
make the person feel defensive, powerless and unimportant. They are less likely
to be co-operative. If they’re sitting, try instead to crouch down to their
level, so you’re able to talk to them as equals.
Improper
mirroring. Copying isn’t always appropriate. If they’re shouting, don’t shout
back, no matter the provocation. Try talking in a softer voice so they have to
stop to listen to what you are saying. Also, if the person is scared or
anxious, mirroring their body language can exaggerate anxiety and fear, which
may escalate the situation. Keep a calm demeanor, even if they are not.
Eventually and without realizing it, many subjects will copy your body
language.
Telling
them they shouldn’t feel a certain way. All feelings are real no matter how
outrageous it sounds. Do not belittle what the subject is experiencing. For
example, if a subject is hearing voices, don’t say “no, you don’t hear that.”
Instead, ask more about the situation: “How long have you been hearing them?”
or “How do they make you feel?”
.png)
HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA- CANADA'S TALKING MENTAL HEALTH- YOUNGBLOODS PUTTING FACES AND HEARTACHE 2 YOUTH SUICIDES- God bless u darlins
HEARTFELT GESTURE
Commemoration on the court
Mark McLaughlin proud to honour brother’s memory at basketball tournament
MONTY MOSHER SPORTS REPORTER
mmosher@herald.ca @ch_montymosher
Mark McLaughlin has his chest pressed by teammate Cordell Wright, as the King’s College gym erupts in applause for the McLaughlin family before the start of the men’s final at the Alex McLaughlin memorial basketball tournament on Sunday. The tournament is raising money for Communities Addressing Suicide Together. Alex McLaughlin, was a former Acadia player who committed suicide in April. His brother Mark played five seasons at Saint Mary’s. TIM KROCHAK • Staff
The irony isn’t lost on Dartmouth’s Mark McLaughlin.
The inaugural tournament to commemorate the life of his late brother, Alex, is precisely the kind of event Alex craved.
Alex McLaughlin, a former basketball guard at Acadia and Dartmouth High, took his life in April. He was 23.
The McLaughlin family, with five basketball playing siblings, wanted to do s omething to honour Alex’s memory and als o to raise money and awareness for a suicide-prevention charity.
The charity is Communities Addressing Suicide Together (CAST), an organization that works in partnership with the Canadian Mental Health Association. CAST helps communities build their capacity to address suicide.
The response from the basketball community in just three months has b een astounding . Sixteen teams o f current and former Canadian university players, including some who have gone on to play professionally, spent the weekend competing at two gyms in Halifax.
Mark McLaughlin, a standout guard, played five seasons at Saint Mary’s. He was the AUS rookie of the year and a perennial all-star.
His brother was a rookie at Acadia in his final season with the Huskies.
“It’s really special for us," said the 27-year-old McLaughlin. “It star ted out as us wanting to do something positive as a family to avoid down time, because that’s always the hardest time when you think about Alex’s suicide.
“But it really starting snowballing fast and the teams’ interest was amazing. It’s awesome to have all this amazing support.
“The basketball community is not huge, but pretty quickly everybody rallied around our family and this is probably one of the most impressive basketball tournaments I’ve seen in the summer."
Suicide is the second leading cause of death among males age 19-24.
Alex McLaughlin began playing for the Axemen in 2009-10.
As a sophomore, he played in all 20 regular-season games, starting 19. He averaged 8.7 points per game and was voted the team’s most improved player.
The Axemen went to the CIS Final 8 that season and McLaughlin had 16 points in a quarter-final loss to top-seeded UBC.
He returned for a third season, but found his role on the team had been reduced. He left the basketball team at the holiday break but remained in Wolfville as a stu dent .
Mark McLaughlin said he he saw no signs of trouble.
“It’s the worst thing I’ve ever had to deal with in my life," he said. “It will change me for the rest of my life, I think.
“This is really tough to get through, but I’m just so lucky, and we’re all so lucky, that our family is so strong."
The focus of the entire tournament initiative relates back to sport — from youth sport through to the highest levels.
"People need to know it’s OK to open up and talk to people when you are dealing with stuff (depression) like that."- Mark McLaughlin
The pressures of making it in school and sports, along with the rest of life’s concerns, can be hard to balance.
“It’s OK to be sad,” said McLaughlin. “It’s OK to be unhappy.
“The pressure of sports is you are always supposed to be mentally tough. But when you’re dealing with depression that kind of goes out the window. People need to know it’s OK to open up and talk to people when you are dealing with stuff like that.”
He would have loved to have Alex as a teammate on the weekend. Alex’s Axemen jerseys lined the wall at the University of King’s College gym on Sunday.
“Any summer tournament I was going to Alex was the first guy I would call because I never really got to play with him and I really enjoyed playing with him,” he said.
“He was an awesome player and an even better guy.
“These type of events he loved more than anything.”
Published on 1 Jul 2014
This Song was created after a missed meeting with Clara Hughes in Waterloo, Ontario. The girls followed Clara's 110 day ride via Facebook, they are fans of Clara & Little Red. They will welcome Clara at the Finish Line in Ottawa on Can- JOURNEY OF HOPE
--------------------
& BRILLIANT VIDEO
Christie Blatchford: Physical pain of Clara Hughes’ epic ride for mental health paled next to emotional toll
Christie Blatchford | July 2, 2014 8:02 PM ET
Tyler Anderson/National PostClara Hughes on July 2, 2014. Hughes says she feels bittersweet that her around-the-country ride to raise awareness of mental illness is over. “It’s bittersweet because I’m so inspired, but at the same time, I’m just like, bloody hell, there is a loooong way to go.”
OTTAWA — Clara Hughes’ enormous heart is sore.
After riding a bike for 110 days over the vast, rough country she now knows so intimately, this is where she most aches.
“There is so much loss that we never hear about — the suicides,” she said in a lengthy interview Wednesday, the day after she completed an 11,000-kilometre-plus, around-the-nation tour called Clara’s Big Ride in aid of raising awareness of mental illness.
“I leave this ride, it is bittersweet,” she said, “not because it’s over. It’s bittersweet because I’m so inspired, but at the same time, I’m just like, bloody hell, there is a loooong way to go.”
Her determined optimism is noticeably tempered by what she saw, the stories she heard, in more than three months on the road. She was clearly shaken.
Yet she managed, one more time before she disappears for a while from public view with her husband, Peter Guzman, who was at her side the entire way, to rise to the occasion, to find the smallest slice of bright.
“It may be audacious,” she said, “but I do have hope that we can treat each other better and that our system can change and not leave people for dead.”
Related
· Christie Blatchford: Terry Fox gave Canada a dream as big as the country, and Clara Hughes will give us another
· Clara Hughes set to embark on ride her father would be proud of
· Clara Hughes gives last race her everything in Olympic swan song
Part of Bell’s Let’s Talk campaign, Ms. Hughes’ ride began in Toronto on March 14 and ended at Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Canada Day, where she was introduced to a giddy crowd by Governor-General David Johnston.
The ride’s sheer physicality — through every province and territory, in every sort of weather this country can dish out in late winter through early summer, over Canadian shield and prairie and the great stretches of emptiness many Canadians see only from a plane — was daunting, even for a six-time, two-sport Olympian who is one of Canada’s most decorated athletes.
And that was exhausting, so much so that whenever friends would join her on the road for a day or two, as fellow speed skater and Olympian Christine Nesbitt did near Winnipeg, they would remark at how uncharacteristically tired Ms. Hughes looked and, in Ms. Nesbitt’s case, how quiet the normally garrulous Ms. Hughes had fallen.
“‘Omigod you look tired’” was the refrain, Ms. Hughes said, and this from people with whom she once trained or competed hard. “I should be tired. Bloody hell, I should be!”
But it was nothing compared to the mental and emotional toll.
“I literally, for 110 straight days, had people reaching out to me, and telling their stories,” Ms. Hughes said.
“I’m not this in-one-ear, out-the-other person. I’m a person of heart and it was really hard. It was really hard when you have mothers who are afraid of losing their daughters or sons [to mental illness] and who are asking you, ‘What can I do?’
“And you have to say, ‘I don’t know.’”
In those 110 days, Ms. Hughes spoke at 235 community events, giving a keynote speech almost every night, and did more than 80 school visits.
“I thought it was going to be hard,” she said, “but I really underestimated the emotional side of it, and I had to, in the latter part of the ride, I had to work a lot with my psychologist in Calgary.”
Ms. Hughes has had her own battles with depression, but this was different, she said, felt different.
“I didn’t feel I was going into that dark place again. It was definitely circumstantial, like situational, depression: Like, if I was removed from that I would have been OK.”
This time, she was wearing the pain of all those she met — the kids who have gone through suicide attempts; the people in Nain, Labrador, who two years ago suffered one of those teen suicide plagues; that girl out West who needs to see a psychiatrist but is on a waiting list until 2015.
“She was in emergency, saying ‘I am going to hurt myself if I’m alone’, and she was sent home with some pills,” Ms. Hughes said.
“But this is not the fault of the person in the emergency room. This is an ER that is overworked, understaffed and not equipped to deal with mental health issues,” she said. “There are so many layers to the dysfunction of the system that we have.”
She cried “so many times”, she said.
Sometimes, as part of a school visit, the kids would have done a video, and she’d watch it on the way to the school, in the back of her bus, with her husband and her friend and former competitor, the German cyclist Ina-Yoko Teutenberg, who rode with her for much of the way. They’d all be bawling.
Or Ms. Hughes would be in some school hallway, waiting to be called in for her speech, and a young person — there were “community champions” in every town and burg she visited, chosen locally — would speak first. “I would have the door cracked,” Ms. Hughes said, “and I was listening.”
Still, she said, she realized, “This is situational, but if I don’t do anything about this, it can go beyond that.” It’s a useful athlete’s view of pre-emptively treating mental injury, catching it before it becomes crippling.
‘It’s also just the world we live in, which is so fast-paced, that we cannot slow down. … We’re so connected we are disconnected from ourselves’
Even so, even with her psychologist’s help, Ms. Hughes said that by the end of the ride, she was almost out of emotional gas.
“I just realized, in one of the communities, ‘I can’t deliver any more’. This is not good for the crowd that is here, either for inspiration or answers or just education.” She leaned then on her master of ceremonies more, and switched from having to give all-out speeches to a question-and-answer format.
She wasn’t surprised by the pain she found in young people; she works with youngsters in the time she gives to Right to Play, and she and Mr. Guzman do a lot of volunteer work privately.
“I am not surprised at the struggle,” she said. “It’s also just the world we live in, which is so fast-paced, that we cannot slow down. … We’re so connected we are disconnected from ourselves.
“The problem now, too, is that everything is so immediate that we don’t have patience with anything, including ourselves, so you can have situational depression or anxiety and that can be the end of the world for someone and can end up being the end of the world. Instead of actually being able to talk to someone, and have someone explain what a situational depression or emotion is, that you can deal with this, you’re going to be OK.
“They don’t get that. They just get the end of the world.”
She looked at her forearm, which was flush with heat rash. “I can see my heat rash all over my body,” she said. “It’s tangible. Can’t see what’s broken inside, you know?”
Postmedia News
cblatchford@postmedia.com
http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2014/07/02/christie-blatchford-physical-pain-of-clara-hughes-epic-ride-for-mental-health-paled-next-to-emotional-toll/
COMMENT:
Every family is touched by mental health issues and keeps silent out of shame or embarrasment. We could not have a better beacon to shine light on this problem than Clara. I'm enormously proud.
COMMENT:
As Ms. Hughes progressed across the country, her story was picked up by local and regional mainstream print and electronic media. Twitter and citizen journalists contributed as well. There was also national media coverage.
COMMENT:
In a list of great Canadians Clara Hughes should be on the list. Terry Fox, Rick Hanson, Clara Hughes are far more important to the soul of this country than the politicos like Douglas and Trudeau that are routinely given credit for being "great" Canadians.
Comment:
An enormous achievement, which contributes much to Canadian value, purpose, and identity, as well as mental health. Two key points strike me. The first is the effort that was made, which was a push to be free of depressive thinking, and secondly the support and sharing that was generated along the way. Who we think we are is not just a matter of personal invention, but how we develop relationships with others, and how we personally interpret the world in which we live.
Mental development is not just a childhood thing, but ultimately how we choose to live our lives, and who we become.
National development is not just about production and creating wealth, it is about the increasing maturity of a people.
Well done, Clara!
COMMENT:
A true Canadian heroine for sure!!!! This young lady has given so much of herself to communities right across Canada. She could be basking in post-Olympic glory, instead she is using her physical talents and celebrity for one of the most useful causes in this country. If you saved one life Clara it all would have been worth it. My guess is you have saved thousands of lives and given young Canadians hope, where before they saw only darkness. I'm sure you're not done either. You'll be re-charging your batteries and planning your next quest, all in aid of assisting fellow Canadians. God bless you!!!!!
COMMENT:
Recently there was another list of Canadians' choices of the "greatest Canadians" making the rounds of the media. It was filled with the usual suspects, but nowhere in the top ten was the name of this young lady. Clara Hughes has done more to make Canadians feel proud over the last 10 years than anyone I can think of.
COMMENT:
Well done. The national media seemed to only cover the beginning and end of her ride. It would've been nice to cover some of her visits and speeches.
And we need to find the money to set up proper mental health care facilities in cities and communities across Canada.
-------------------
JUNE 26 2014- JUNE 26- 2014- July 1 -2014
BEST QUOTE:
Terry Fox, Rick Hansen and now Clara Hughes. Is there something in the water in this great country of ours ? As if winning all those medals wasn't enough Clara uses her struggle with mental health to try and help others. All those over payed athletes out there could certainly take a page from this athletes book. Love you Clara. Load and click.-----------------Our Canadian Grl... we love u Clara- u have inspired millions of youth, youngbloods and kids and oldie calling us all 2 wake up andopen up and talk about mental health.... and u have rattled the chains of ignorance, fear and indifference. thank uClara’s Big Ride: Cross-country ride for mental health coming to an end-------------I KNOW U WANT 2 BE CANADIAN PLEASE-Canadian, Please! 3,827,757 VIEWS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWQf13B8epw
this was on myspace profile since 2007- over 875 friends... nova0000scotia- had a great Canadian site 4 Canada and Nato troops- love this is so adorable...pssst... Let's get our Canada on folks..... and don't 4get 2 run over and hug our #ClarasBigRide for mental health across Canada- Clara will be in Ottawa on Canada Day... http://clarasbigride.bell.ca/en/#extended
--------------------------O CANADA - CLASSIFIED- HELLL YEAH
homeless harley lawrence MURDERED DOWN ON MAIN STREET NOVA SCOTIA- Harley's Healing Garden -Berwick Nova Scotia- a nation heals and promises 2 protect our Homeless and Mental Health Matters in our Canada June 2014
- Canadian Olympic athlete Clara Hughes is embarking on a 110-day national
bicycle covering 12000 km. She'll visit 95 ... Winnipeg. Finish Ottawa July 1, 2014
.Map & events | Clara's Big Ride
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GET UR CANADA ON 4 CANADA OLYMPIAN CLARA HUGHES BIG RIDE 4 MENTAL HEALTH FOLKS- send her tweets of support and love- Hey it’s Canada –Mental Health matters. NEWS UPDATES-Teen/Youth/PTSD/Abuse/Bullying stuff
http://clarasbigride.bell.ca/en/#extended
BREAKING THE SILENCE ON MENTAL ILLNESS- NOVA SCOTIA ST.FX UNIVERSITY
BREAKING THE SILENCE ON MENTAL ILLNESS- let's talk- no more ignorance, indifference, cruelty
Sometimes am made 2 feel like 1'm 3' Tall- Classified on Abuse
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With all the talk of bullying in schools- students at Bridgewater High School decided on HAPPY! and passed the challenge on.... and it's working.... lifting spirits up- wonderful video and message...
Happy at Bridgewater!
Published on 21 Feb 2014
We dance nominate New Germany (Rural) High School.
Edited by: Brittany MacNeil.
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VETERANS BREAKING THE SILENCE- FROM THE WARS- let's talk and heal
Canada's Soldiers Of Suicide- Memorial September 2013
We did NOT send our troops 2 Afghanistan 2 protect the rights of girls and women- FOR THEM 2 COME HOME AND SEE THEM ERODED HERE!.... Women equal Men in our Canada- and Our Kids Matter
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In the last month
-----------
Speaking from experience: Margaret Trudeau on mental illness
Trudeau says first step in dealing with mental illness is
acceptance
Margaret Trudeau speaks at a Centre for Women in Business
question and answer event at the Atlantica Hotel in Halifax on Friday. (INGRID
BULMER / Staff)
She was the much younger wife of Canada’s 15th prime minister whose personal
battle with depression and mania played out on a public stage. She spent months
hospitalized in psychiatric wards resisting treatment, disappeared to another
country and ran off with the Rolling Stones.She divorced, remarried and lost a son in a tragic avalanche accident.
So when Margaret Trudeau says there is hope for those with mental illnesses, she wants people to know she speaks from experience.
“No matter how good a family you have, how loved you are by your friends, they can’t fix you. They can’t change you. The only thing that can change you is taking the courage to make the first step,” Trudeau said Friday.
“And the first step is acceptance that there is something wrong, …saying ‘I can’t keep living this way.’”
Trudeau, who spoke to members of the Centre for Women in Business in Halifax, now crosses the country as an advocate to reduce the stigma of mental illness, talking about her own experiences with bipolar disorder.
“I am bipolar,” she told the audience. “ I will be bipolar for the rest of my life, because there’s no cure for it.”
But she said she has found a way out of the illness through therapy, drug treatment and the support of the people around her.
Trudeau shared her experiences, dating back to what she calls her first serious bout of depression at 23.
She said she suffered from isolation, living as the prime minister’s wife. And after the birth of her second son, it was like a “light had gone out in my brain.”
When she tried to get help, she said, her problem was passed off as the “baby blues” without any kind of treatment.
As she took the audience through her cycles of depression, mania and psychosis, she said she “felt powerless in my mental illness.”
“Depression was the thief of myself. It took me away from my life,” she said, although the mania phase was “the destructive one.”
She had years of highs and lows, punctuated by sickness and bad choices.
Eventually, she found a psychiatrist who began to help her understand what was happening in her brain and ways she might cope, she said.
“And then I had the worst thing happen — losing my son Michel in an avalanche. And that triggered me into a complete nightmare. … I got rid of my family. I got rid of my life. I threw away all of my money. I threw away all of my dignity. I bought a huge, big bag of pot, I got a few bottles of scotch …I was so sick.”
She said she needed to be hospitalized, but resisted.
“I ran away. The police had to find me in the streets. I wouldn’t go back to hospital. My mind was so gone, but that was the best thing that could have happened to me. I was at death’s door. I lost 30 pounds from what I am now. I (wore) a size 10 boys clothes.
“I had nothing.”
In hospital, she said a doctor told her she had a choice: continue on a self-destructive path that would kill her or commit to recovery.
Her choice, the road to recovery, took years.
“I had to change. I had to forgive myself. I had to accept those were things I had done, (but) would never do again because I was asking for help and I was finding out what happens in my brain, what triggers me, what makes me fall into these states,” she said.
“For the last 10 years, I haven’t fallen.”
Trudeau, now a grandmother of seven, says she works at recovery, with the help of doctors, pharmaceuticals and her family, so that she can live a balanced life.
Having been through the worst, she said she wants to spread the message that new research has led to treatments that offer the possibility “for real help.”
“I never thought this was what I would have to do — talk about the pain of my life, about the dark parts .... But this is my life because I am so grateful. ... I got (my life) back.”
-------------------
Mental
health struggle connects all Canadians, says Olympian Clara Hughes
Mitch
MacDonaldPublished on April 12, 2014
Published
on April 12, 2014
Clara
Hughes speaks to the crowd at Founders Hall before she was whisked away to tape
a TV segment with Stephen Page of the Barenaked Ladies.
Guardian
photo by Brian McInnis
Canadian
Olympian Clara Hughes just wishes there were more roads to cycle on P.E.I.
That’s
what the athlete and mental health advocate said to the nearly 100 supporters
that gave her a warm greeting after a cold and rainy bike ride from Summerside
to Charlottetown Saturday.
“When
we left Dieppe yesterday morning my husband was talking to someone at the
school we were at and he said ‘you know, everyone is just so nice here in New
Brunswick we don’t want to leave’. The New Brunswicker said ‘oh wait until you
get to P.E.I. they’re even nicer’,” Hughes told the crowd in front of Founders
Hall Saturday. “And you guys have not let us down its been an absolute joy to
be here, first in Summerside and now in Charlottetown.”
Hughes,
who has won four Olympic medals for speed skating and two for cycling, arrived
in the province Friday for Clara’s Big Ride, which is part of the Bell Let’s
Talk initiative.
The
initiative promotes Canadian mental health with an anti-stigma campaign and
funding for community care, research and workplace.
Hughes
is now 3,200 km into the full 12,000 km trek and has seen less than positive
weather but an ecstatic reception.
Saturday’s
67 km trek from Summerside to Charlottetown was no different, as Hughes saw a
lot of support as she fought through wind and rain.
“But
it was so awesome and what made it great was having so many people honk, wave
and lean out of their cars to show their support. This isn’t an Olympic sport,
this is about mental health,” said Hughes. “We know we can’t give up because if
we do, that means this struggle will be given up. And on the bike, the struggle
is nothing compared to what people are suffering.”
“ If this
ride represents anything I hope it can represent tenacity and just that
willingness to make every single pedal stroke, every single foot in front of
the other, better than the last.”
Jim
Richards, director of Clara’s Big Ride, said the Let’s Talk initiative began
four years ago as a way to address a need for leadership and dialogue about
mental health and mental illness.
It
began as an annual fundraiser once a year, which Richards said has raised more
than $68 million to anti-stigma programs, research, facilities, and most
importantly community endeavors.
“Because
when it comes right down to it, what we’re learning is that mental health
depends on the people with their feet on the ground. The people who are working
in the small towns and communities to help those in need,” he said.
Hughes
trek includes more than 260 community events and she has been a spokesperson
for Let’s Talk since it began, shortly after the 2010 Winter Olympics in
Vancouver.
She
said while much of the country was connected in joy during those Olympics, she
had asked to be part of the campaign because she had another side of the human
spectrum to share.
That
side is the one experienced by those suffering with mental illness, she said.
“The
struggle for me was a period in my life as a young athlete where I went through
a period of depression. I have a family history of mental illness,” she said.
“After that (the Olympics) I thought it was only the joy that connected us and
I realized the struggle is more profound because that is something that every
single person knows. The joy is so fleeting and the struggle is what I think
brings us together.
“I
left the Olympics feeling like ‘I have to do more’ and I wanted to bring this
message and this conversation to every corner of Canada.”
Hughes
first-hand struggle with mental illness has also been an inspiration to many,
which was evident by the amount of supporters on hand Saturday.
Kaye
Larkin of Cornwall was one who had waited in the rain to see Hughes, who she
described as precious.
“I
think she has helped so many people already by coming out and letting us know
(she struggled with mental illness). We knew she was a good athlete but now
that she’s had mental illness and defeated it,” said Larkin. “She’s trying to
awaken others to at least come forward, it doesn’t hurt to come forward.”
Hughes
participated in community events in Summerside and Charlottetown and will be
taking part in the Canadian Mental Health Association spring gala at the Delta
Prince Edward Saturday evening.
She
will also be giving a talk to Colonel Gray High School students on Monday
before leaving the province for Truro, N.S.
Clara’s
Big Ride will finish on Canada Day at Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
--------------
O Canada- CLARA'S BIG RIDE 2014- OLYMPIC HERO-CLARA HUGHES-Mental Health Matters in Canada- and our beautiful Canada's Youth bringing Mental Health in2 the light/ -April 15 th Citadel Hill- students come out and support cause mental health matters in Canada /UPDATES- get ur InnerNinja on folks and celebrate our Clara's Big Ride/April 14- Nova Scotia Roars 4 Clara- girl's going 2 our Newfoundland n Labrador next- Canada's putting their mental illness top shelf- cause everybody knows somebody needing love
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D-Day: Never coming home
She
remembers him in moments.
Tiny
monuments, in her mind.
The
drywall dust on his pants. His moustache brushing her face. His kisses crossing
her cheek.
And
her mother’s cry, when a priest came to the door.
“It
was awful,” Elizabeth Paul says, “when you know that your father’s not coming home.”
Seventy
years later, tears still cloud her eyes.
She
still thinks about the dust, the kisses, the “kindness” that vanished with her
dad.
The
emptiness that followed.
And
the long road to discovering how he died.
Crooked,
like the flowers over the shallow grave in the garden where he lay.
COMPLETE
D-DAY COVERAGE
The
story begins in Membertou, Cape Breton, and ends in that garden at a medieval
abbey in France, where the SS massacred her father, Charles Doucette, and 19
other Canadian soldiers —including eight other Nova Scotians — 70 years ago.
Interrogated
them and forced them to dig their own graves. Shot them in the head or beat
them to death on the command of Nazi officer Kurt Meyer, headquartered at
Abbaye d’Ardenne in the lush Normandy region of the country they were fighting
to liberate.
Doucette
was in his 30s, the father of four young girls, when he volunteered to make a
better life for his family and to fight for his country.
He’d
worked odd jobs in the then-poor Mi’kmaq community, a stone’s throw from
downtown Sydney, where he drywalled or laid brick or fixed the concrete on a
castle owned by the richest man in town.
Elizabeth,
just four then, can still see him crossing the woodsy shortcut from his work in
Sydney, with that white dust on his clothes and that dark moustache on his
handsome face, which looks at her now from an old black and white army photo
and comes to her in dreams.
“What
amazed me was his moustache,” the 74-year-old recalls, smiling, sitting in her
Membertou home with her son John Paul, not far from the house where she grew
up.
“I
used to touch it, you know, go like that,” she says, sweeping her arthritic
hand through the air. “He would try to hug you or kiss you with the moustache.
You could feel it when he was kissing you.”
This
is a vivid memory. So is the day — maybe a few years later, she’s not sure —
when the priest and a police officer and the community’s band captain, Donald
Joseph Marshall, Donald Marshall Jr.’s father, came to the door.
She
was playing on the living room floor.
“And I
listened. (They said) ‘your husband Charles, we want to talk to you about your
husband,’ and then my mother told me ‘Go in the kitchen!’ so I went and sat
down in the kitchen but I could hear them … then the next thing I hear my mom
cry.”
Her
mother didn’t fully explain what happened. But Elizabeth kept asking.
“Well,
it’s about your father,” she finally said. “He’s not coming home anymore.”
Even
then, she wasn’t sure where he was. And for years, she was sure he was coming
back.
On
another continent, French resistance fighter Jacques Vico heard rumours the
12th SS Panzer Division (Hitler Youth) — part of the 25th Panzer Grenadier
Regiment commanded by Meyer — had massacred Canadians on the abbey grounds
where he grew up.
But,
as the late Frenchman explained in an interview 10 years ago, the bodies hadn’t
been found.
“Those
… soldiers had the right to a good life but they died for liberty, for the
liberty of others,” he told this newspaper then, on the 60th anniversary of the
murders, standing on the abbey grounds where he was born and lived with his
family until he went underground to fight the Nazi occupiers.
They
executed the Canadians there June 7, 8 and 17, 1944 — in a tiny, tree-sheltered
garden on land that also housed an 11th-century abbey, once the home of monks;
and other buildings, once home to Vico, his mother Francine, father Roland and
brother, Michel.
In
March 1945, Michel and Francine noticed something strange about the garden’s
flowers, not popping up in one section as usual, but scattered everywhere.
I had it set in my mind that they’re wrong,
he’s coming back, he’s coming back and nobody can tell me anything … After
school, I’d go home and I’d jump up on that bed rail and I’d look out this
window … And I used to think ‘maybe he’s back today’ — wishing.
“Michel
started digging,” he explained, and within seconds his younger brother found
human remains in a shallow grave. They called Canadian authorities, who
unearthed 17 more bodies. They discovered an additional two later in 1945 — 20
in all, a dozen who’d served with the North Nova Scotia Highlanders, though
only nine of them were Nova Scotians. The others fought with the Sherbrooke
Fusiliers, or 27th Canadian Armoured Regiment. Some were much younger than
Doucette; some were working men — farmers, miners or labourers — like him.
The SS
murdered the Membertou man, four other North Nova Scotia Highlanders and five members
of the Fusiliers on June 7, crushing their skulls or shooting them in the head.
They
shot seven more North Novas in the back of the head on June 8. Eyewitness
testimony later revealed the men knew what was coming, shook hands and walked
stoicly to their deaths.
Meyer
was later convicted in the murders and sentenced to death, but that was
commuted to life imprisonment. He served just eight years in New Brunswick’s
Dorchester penitentiary, something that still leaves Elizabeth and her family
appalled — for their relative and all the men murdered among the flowers.
Today,
their names and pictures cover one of three large cardboard displays Elizabeth
Paul’s family brings to Remembrance Day ceremonies every year.
Back
then, she’d convinced herself her father wasn’t really gone, watched returning
soldiers getting off army trucks and wondered: Was he coming home too?
“I was
still waiting,” she says. “And in our house there was four rooms and there was
one bedroom in the front and there was a middle window and I could stand up on
the rails of the bed … and I used to jump on the top of these rails and I’d
look out this window.
“I
don’t know, I had it set in my mind that they’re wrong, he’s coming back, he’s
coming back and nobody can tell me anything … After school, I’d go home and I’d
jump up on that bed rail and I’d look out this window … And I used to think
‘maybe he’s back today’ — wishing.”
She
kept wishing as the years passed and her mother remarried and started to drink
with this “terrible, awful, awful man,” an alcoholic she says beat and berated
her and her sisters, even as the family sank further and further into poverty.
“You
don’t have shoes, you don’t have socks, you don’t have coats,” she says,
remembering hunger too, eating only porridge or cakes made of flour and water.
She
did what she could, even as a child, to help feed the family, picking
mayflowers and making wreaths or corsages; making paper flowers, lilies and
roses, to sell for money or sugar or tea — whatever people could pay.
She
married at 18 and had four children of her own, cleaning other people’s houses,
sewing other people’s clothes — a “hard worker,” like her dad.
But
the void of his absence never went away. And as her son John explains, the
family didn’t really know what had happened to him until 30 or 40 years after
he died. The sacrifice he’d made to help support his family and to serve his
country.
It’s
something John doesn’t want his children or his country to forget.
“We
just try to show our kids it is very important, if you believe in freedom, if
you believe in Canada and you believe in the freedoms that we have,” he says.
“He believed it was important enough for him to leave here and do that.”
Elizabeth
and her sisters left their homes on the 40th anniversary of his death and went
to France, to the garden where Charles Doucette was killed and the cemetery,
Beny-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery, where he’s buried.
Like
John, who’s also been there twice, she returned again for the 60th, this time
with her children and grandchildren in tow.
Standing
there, on the spot where he was murdered, she wondered what he was thinking.
“How
did he feel? Did he think about us? Was he sorry for going here?
“Then
you start telling yourself he wouldn’t have gone if he didn’t want to but he
thought it was important to join. And who am I to say why did you leave us? He
left to save us from going through the same thing people (were) going through
in France or wherever, wherever there is war. So I said to myself ‘Thanks,
Dad.’”
Even
now, her dad, the man she barely knew but always remembers, is never far away.
Her son believes he’s part of the resilience that has helped her push past
poverty and go on to help her community and her country, as band council member
and community health worker and more.
She
received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Award for her work on behalf of
AIDS patients and AIDS awareness — everything from founding the Nova Scotia
Mi’kmaq AIDS Task Force in 1990 to initiating the first Atlantic First Nations
health conference to embracing, rather than stigmatizing those with the
disease. She’s been on countless committees and made countless visits to the
sick or the dying.
Today,
she has bone cancer, diagnosed over a decade ago.
A
devout Catholic, she believes a visit to what some think are the healing baths
of Lourdes helped keep her alive.
She
has severe arthritis and needs a walker or wheelchair to get around.
She
suffered a stroke, too. And just a few months ago, she had a heart attack.
As she
lay in hospital, near death, she believes she saw her father again.
“He
said ‘Go back.’”
When
she awoke, the nurses asked “who’s Charlie?”
“I
said ‘that’s my father’ and they said ‘well, you were talking to Charlie. You
were happy.’”
She
smiles.
“When a person dies, they have a soul somewheres that will
come back.”
BEAUTIFUL COMMENT:
I have visited the Abbey d'Ardennes several times with North
Novie Vets, one who was a prisoner there. On two occasions I had the honour of
meeting Jacques Vico who personally hosted our group. The gravesites are well
cared for, a tribute to the Vico family and their feeling of gratitude towards
their liberators.
-----------
CANADIAN GIRL- OLYMPIAN CLARA HUGHES- MENTAL HEALTH MATTERS IN CANADA 2014
-----------------
A LOT OF VIDEOS, PHOTOS, POSTING OF INSPIRATION- Let's get it done folks... Our Canada and our Canadians matter.... ENJOY
----------------
OUR CANADIAN GIRL IS IN NOVA SCOTIA- Clara's Big Ride- Let's Talk Mental Health Folks
HALIFAX HERALD
Clara Hughes to chat with N.S. students
Clara’s Big Ride is making some big stopovers in Cumberland and Colchester counties.
The six-time Olympic medallist in sp eedskating and biking will take her cross-country Bell Let’s Talk bike tour to Spring Street Academy in Amherst today for a 15-minute chat with students at 1 p.m. The campaign is about ending the stigma around mental illness by encouraging p eople to talk openly about it.
The tour will als o stop at Colchester Legion Stadium in Truro this evening for a free family skate from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
On Tuesday, the tour will spend an hour at Central Colchester Junior High School in Central Onslow, starting at 8:30 a.m.
AND...
NOVANEWSNOW
Clara's Big Ride comes to Nova Scotia
Andrew Andrew WagstaffPublished on April 14, 2014
Olympic medalist Clara Hughes received a tremendous reception during a visit to Spring Street Academy on Monday as part of Clara’s Big Ride for Bell Let’s Talk, a national cycling tour to raise mental health awareness.
TC MEDIA
Decorated Canadian Olympian Clara Hughes brought Clara’s Big Ride to Nova Scotia April 14, making Amherst the first stop in the province as part og her national cycling tour for the Bell Let’s Talk campaign, raising awareness, acceptance and action on mental health issues.
Hughes appeared quite touched by the huge reception at the Amherst school, as she entered the gymnasium decorated with student artwork for the occasion. Every student drew a picture for the event, creating a wall of art, while large replicas of her six Olympic medals provided a backdrop for her as she spoke, along with a portrait painted by teacher Daren White, whose efforts brought Hughes to Amherst.
“Thank you to every single student for showing us what is possible,” she said. “You have inspired this whole Big Ride team to understand clearly that we can do more, and we can be better.”
Hughes also commended the students for the $776 they raised April 11 for Cumberland Mental Health through a stationary bike-riding event. Representatives from Cumberland Mental Health were on hand to receive the cheque.
She said such efforts embody the Big Ride campaign, which began March 14 in Toronto, and will make a round-trip around the country covering more than 12,000 km before arriving in Ottawa on Canada Day.
“What you have done is contribute to somebody who might be suffering in silence and feeling pretty sad,” she said. “You’re going to give them some hope, and you’re going to let them know they are not alone. That is what this ride is all about.”
While the Amherst stop was brief, Hughes said it was “an absolute gift,” and would provide a tailwind as they make their way onward to Truro.
“I’ll never, ever forget this,” she said. “I know I’m not alone in this. You guys have been with me every single kilometer of the way, and it’s beautiful. Thank you so much.”
A student choir sang I Believe I Can Fly as Hughes, wearing a T-shirt presented to her by the students carrying the slogan “Keep Moving Forward,” made her exit, heading off on her bicycle to more cheers and honking horns from outside the school and along Spring Street and Church Street. Joining her team for the day was White, an opportunity principal Aaron Stubbert was glad to make possible in appreciation for everything the teacher has done within and outside the classroom.
The principal described the visit as “phenomenal.”
“We’re a school that really wants to make a difference, especially with mental illness, which we see in our schools,” said Stubbert. “Any way we can promote and help Clara, we’re on board.”
http://www.novanewsnow.com/Living/2014-04-14/article-3688993/Claras-Big-Ride-comes-to-Nova-Scotia/1
---------------
APRIL 14, 2014
BCE : Clara's Big Ride for Bell Let's Talk arrives in Nova Scotia on Monday on the road to a stigma-free Canada
http://www.4-traders.com/BCE-INC-1409161/news/BCE--Claras-Big-Ride-for-Bell-Lets-Talk-arrives-in-Nova-Scotia-on-Monday-on-the-road-to-a-stigma-18264918/
http://www.4-traders.com/BCE-INC-1409161/news/BCE--Claras-Big-Ride-for-Bell-Lets-Talk-arrives-in-Nova-Scotia-on-Monday-on-the-road-to-a-stigma-18264918/
+(1).jpg)
-------------------
Clara Hughes –Mental Health beyond the Big Ride
Who says we can't be friends?
Clara Hughes, an athlete for all seasons – celebrated Olympic medalist in both Summer and Winter Games – sees her success as more than earning medals; she is a passionate advocate for mental health. As one who struggled successfully through a period of deep depression, she is using her national bike tour, Clara’s Big Ride, to increase awareness of mental health issues, especially depression, and spread the word that help is available and recovery is possible.
Can one path to mental health be a discovery – or rediscovery – of the original source of our health and mental well-being? Is there something more, described by a nineteenth century author and healer, as the ‘calm, strong currents of true spirituality….which must deepen human experience’ that can give us a different perspective on this journey?
Recent studies reveal alarming trends in Canada about the growing incidence of depression and anxiety among all age groups and income levels. Modern life has become more hectic and stressful than ever before.
Medications like anti-depressants don’t always work and can have side effects. One non-medical antidote to lift above the gloom is to ensure he/she feels listened to and valued. Some ways to administer this antidote:
** Listen: suspend all judgment and give your undivided attention to the person speaking to you
** See: see the whole person – don’t lose sight of their positive qualities
** Give: of your heart; be open and loving
** Forgive: help the person to let go of past painful events
These are good mental strengths to develop, but can a growing sense of one’s spirituality also deepen our human experience and keep depression at bay? According to research, the answer is ‘yes’.
‘If you’re not in touch with your spiritual side, here’s a good reason to start: it may hold benefits to your mental health’ says Dan Cohen, co-author of new research from the University of Missouri. ‘Spirituality in general is linked with greater mental health; people reduce their sense of self and feel a greater sense of oneness and connectedness with the rest of the universe’.
In most spiritual practices increased mental well being is tied to keeping one’s thought focused on, and trusting, a higher power. In Isaiah we read “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee.” This is the discovery – or rediscovery – of our relationship with a loving Creator, which can help us enrich our sense of oneness and completeness, of being cared for and loved.
Depression can be alleviated and healed by such a deepening of the human experience. These deep currents of connectedness can bring limitless health benefits.
May Clara’s Big Ride raise the awareness of such possibilities and bring a message of hope and strength to Canadian communities.
Wendy Margolese is a self-syndicated columnist and writes regularly on the relationship between thought, spirituality and health, and trends in that field. She is the media liaison for Christian Science in Ontario. Contact her at Ontario@compub.org. Follow on Twitter: @wmargolese
http://www.durhamregion.com/blogs/post/4433812-clara-hughes-mental-health-beyond-the-big-ride
----------------
Take care of our girl now folks.... We love our Clara very, very much... and lets get our Nova Scotia on and have a wonderful time.... DATES AND TIME- NOVA SCOTIA
Monday, April 14
Family Skate for Clara’s Big Ride for Bell Let’s Talk
Truro, NS
The Colchester Stadium- 14 Lorne Street, Truro, NS
Tuesday, April 15
Welcome Event
Halifax, NS
2:15
Citadel Hill, 5425 Sackville St, Halifax, NS
Tuesday, April 15
Let’s Keep Talking…For Clara’s Big Ride
Halifax, NS
6:00 – 8:00 p.m.
For more info click here
**I’ll be here! So if you see me, please come say HI :)
Wednesday, April 16
Pictou County Voices
New Glasgow, NS
7:00 – 9:15 p.m.
An evening of entertainment featuring George Canyon, Dave Gunning and many more including our keynote speaker- Clara Hughes.
Wellness Center Upstairs Convention Center- 2756 Westville Road, New Glasgow, NS
Thursday, April 17
Welcome Event
Port Hawkesbury, NS
5:00 p.m.
BMO, 634 Reeves Street Unit #11, Port Hawkesbury, NS
Thursday, April 17
An Evening With Clara Hughes
Port Hawkesbury, NS
6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
For more info click here.
Friday. April 18
Welcome Event
Sydney, NS
4:30
The Big Fiddle, 60 Esplanade, Sydney, NS
3) If any teachers are reading this, why not start a conversation about mental health in the classroom!? Or employers, start a conversation about mental health in the office? Follow Clara’s journey through the various social media outlets and all the fun stuff happening with it and see if Clara is coming to your community.
Participate in Partners for Mental Health RIGHT BY YOU Campaign and have your voice heard! Tell government that the fact that suicide is the #1 cause of non-accidental death among youth in Canada isn’t acceptable! Sign the petition! Write letters to your local government! And share the word.
Together we can create change, but it takes all of us to do it.
Go Clara Go!
------------------------
APRIL 11, 2014
According to Clara Hughes’s latest update, she has
now ridden a quarter of the 12,000 km of her circular tour around Canada. After
five stops in New Brunswick, including Woodstuck, Edmundston, Fredericton,
Saint John and Moncton, Clara will cross into PEI today. She will ride 138km
from Moncton to Sumerside. By the end of today, she will have ridden 3,351km
since the tour began.
The last few days, Clara has visited
the Lorne Middle School in Saint John, which hosted three other schools to
ensure that more children could participate. She also spoke outdoors at an
event hosted in downtown Moncton, where again she talked about the merits of
mental health awareness.
Perhaps the tailwind and bright sun
yesterday on Clara’s ride was a welcomed bonus after countless hours and
kilometres spent riding through atrocious conditions. It meant she could cruise
along with relative ease in what must have felt like a tropical sun given what
the tour has endured so far.
Good morning Moncton..we leave New Brunswick today but will never forget the warmth of people! #ClarasBigRide
http://cyclingmagazine.ca/sections/news/claras-big-ride-day-29-summerside-pei/
----------------
.jpg)
Homeless Children - step up Canada it's time..... Mental Health matters... let's fix ourselves
1 in 4 americans suffer with mental illness... Canada is the same- let's talk about it-it's time Canada
SUPPORTING OUR AMERICAN BROTHERS AND SISTERS... THIS WEEK..
O Canada
Let's all take care of r Clara on this important and crucial journey of talking Mental Illness Canada... we love u so much and thank u Clara... u excite us all and allow us each and all dignity darlin
Let's Help each other... always... it's our Canada
NEW BRUNSWICK- april 2014-- a beautiful student
CLARA HUGHES CAME TO MY SCHOOL!!
Premier
of Ontario, Kathleen Wynne, attends Clara's Big Ride Launch
Published
on Mar 7, 2014
Premier
of Ontario, Kathleen Wynne, attends Clara's Big Ride Launch Party in Toronto |
Premier ministre de l'Ontario, Kathleen Wynne, assiste Soirée de lancement Big
Ride Clara à Toronto
--------------
NOVA SCOTIA
The
Somewhere Project: Stella Ducklow’s photo tribute to youth with mental illness
Nova Scotia artist smashes mental illness stereotypes -Artist Stella Ducklow exhibits The Somewhere Project this month at the NSCC Waterfront Campus Art Gallery in Dartmouth. TIM KROCHAK
ELISSA
BARNARD Arts Reporter
Published
April 10, 2014 - 5:08pm
Stella
Ducklow uses art to smash society’s stereotypes of mentally ill youth.
Her
exhibit, The Somewhere Project, at the NSCC Waterfront Campus Art Gallery, is a
series of six medium-format, black and white photographic artworks. Each one
juxtaposes a portrait of a young person with a cold institutional image.
“I
wanted to break down the idea of what a crazy person is supposed to look like,”
Ducklow says in an interview at the gallery.
“When
you think of psychiatric hospitalization, you don’t think of Luke.”
Luke is
a handsome young man pictured next to bleak, metal hospital bedroom doors.
Ducklow
says she would have pictured “crazy people” as stereotypes like the patients in
the movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
“That’s
what I would have thought 10 years ago, but I was very thoroughly schooled.”
She
was diagnosed with bipolar II disorder when she was a teenager, and was
artist-in-residence for the Sun Life Financial Chair in Adolescent Mental
Health from 2010 to 2013.
“My
story has been told a hundred times,” says the Halifax-born artist, who studies
in Toronto.
“This
is about the community and what hundreds of young people in Canada will be and
are experiencing. They are the mirror, they’re making us look at ourselves.
“I
want people to think about who they are condemning when they condemn people
with mental health issues.”
The
show is called The Somewhere Project because society tends to think people who
are sick, disruptive or different should be “put somewhere.”
That
is “not effective treatment,” says Ducklow. “We have a real lack of effective
treatment.”
Her
images from psychiatric hospitals include rooms like prison cells, harsh signs,
a pay phone off the hook and an outdoor, urban concrete bench.
“When
you’re in a place like that, you’re not in a learning space.”
In-patient
units “can be helpful spaces,” she says, but “it’s not where people are
treated, it’s where people are held.
“The
people working in the system are working very, very hard. They do not have the
resources. There are a lot of people getting burnt out.
“I’d
like to see more things like Laing House, which is peer support-focused and is
one of the best things I’ve seen for youth and teen mental health.”
For
the last two years, Ducklow and Ardath Whynacht organized a monthly coffee
house, Youth Against Stigma, at Just Us Cafe.
“We
had youth come out and talk about the stigma, and for one hour a month they had
a safe place. Sometimes 50, 60 people came; we packed that place. Almost all
were under 30.”
Ducklow’s
portraits are of young people, up to age 32, who have spent time in the
hospital.
“A lot
of them are my friends. Two of them, I met through treatment. A lot I met
through my work in advocacy.”
She
set up a studio in her living room for the stark pictures.
“It
was a throwback to Richard Avedon and In The American West. I wanted the very
white background, and I wanted a sense of beauty and strength and overcoming a
struggle.
“I
wanted to bring the human element to the institutional space.”
The
larger-than-life figures are photographed from the shoulders up and wear no
distinguishing clothing. Ducklow didn’t want to label them in any way.
They
look directly and seriously at the viewer. Ducklow purposefully put the catch
light — the sparkle on a shiny object — in their eyes so there is a
window-to-the-soul effect.
She
used a Pentax 645 medium-format film camera for the project, wanting to
challenge herself in film.
“I’m a
thousand times more careful (with film) and I wanted this to be more
contemplative, to think about the lens and composition.”
She
loves to see the black edges of the negative in her prints.
“I
feel it makes it more real and has a film strip effect.”
Ducklow
is finishing up credits at Ryerson in Toronto for her NSCAD University bachelor
of fine arts.
“I
love photography, it’s where my home is.”
Being
artist-in-residence was “life-changing,” she says. “It made the experiences I
have that are normally socially isolating and make it hard to relate to me an
advantage. It was like finding this useful part of all those experiences.”
Her
early work had no people in it and was about isolation.
“This
is more about trying to come together in a community to work for change.”
Well-known
in Nova Scotia as a speaker and advocate, she is enjoying the anonymity of
Toronto. “I want to be known as a photographer, not a person who’s lived
through mental illness. It’s not how I define myself. I want to be known for my
education and talents and not for being quote-unquote inspiring.”
It’s
the first time the gallery space at the community college campus is being used.
“We
have all the students walking through and that will start the conversation, and
the NSCC was super awesome and supportive.
“It’s
a great place to start.”
------
INNERNINJA- CLASSIFIED AND DAVID MYLES- Clara's theme song
CLARA'S
BIG RIDE- NOVA SCOTIA-
Group
hosts evening with Olympian
Published
April 10, 2014 - 5:47pm
The
Mental Health Foundation of Nova Scotia holds Let’s Keep Talking for Clara’s
Big Ride at the Spatz Theatre, Citadel High School in Halifax, on Tuesday at 6
p.m.
The
evening with six -time Olympic medal-winning speedskater and cyclist Clara
Hughes is part of her cross-Canada journey for Bell Let’s Talk, and is an
evening of exploration of mental illness.
It
will feature entertainment by four Nova Scotia women, including several living
with mental illness.
•Spoken
word poet Laura Burke, co-ordinator of the Mental Health Peer Support
Initiative at Dalhousie University, lives with schizophrenia.
•Singer-songwriter
Mo Kenney has written a song dedicated to a friend who lived with mental health
concerns as a teen.
•Artist
Ingrid Singing Grass Cottenden, who lives with mental illness, will create a
live painting to be auctioned off.
•Irish
dancer Sarah MacCallum, a Mount Allison University student with obsessive
compulsive disorder, hopes to raise awareness about the condition.
TSN’s
Paul Hollingsworth will speak at the event.
Tickets
are $25, at mentalhealthns.ca.
-------------------
We
have have our Terry Fox, Rick Hansen,
and Clara Hughes.... 2 eradicate stigmas in our Canada... thank u
Clara's
Big Ride Hits SJ
Published
on Apr 9, 2014
Six-time
Olympian Clara Hughes bringing her Big Ride to the Port City. The aim of the
trek is to raise awareness about the mental health struggles of Canadians. She
was greeted warmly at an event at Harbour Station and was sketched for a mural
associated with a local program assisting youth with mental health struggles
called PEER 126.
-------------
Schizophrenia
on the stage
Schizophrenia on the stage in Nova Scotia - Laura Burke is an actress and playwright whose Heartwood helps the audience navigate the experience of mental illness.
LAURA
FRASER Staff Reporter
Published
April 9, 2014 - 7:33pm
Last
Updated April 10, 2014 - 8:13am
Laura
Burke winces and laughs at the same time, confessing that she recently
celebrated a birthday.
“I
just turned 34,” she says. “Oh no.”
Another
laugh and a wry smile transforms her into a younger, edgier Renee Zellweger for
an instant.
The
moment passes and then Burke, the actress, seems completely herself.
She
returned to the stage this year with her Heartwood, which helped the audience
navigate the experience of mental illness. As writer and actress, Burke took
the audience on her well-trodden path.
She
says her craft seems different now, since she was diagnosed with schizophrenia,
a numbing condition that narrowed the depth of feeling she could draw upon in
life and in character.
She
tries not to divide time into “before” and “after,” choosing to let go of those
thoughts and exist purely in the moment.
“I had
a lot of raw emotional juice … when I was younger. And some of its (loss) could
be age, but I also think it’s the fact that … I’ve had this shift in my brain
which has changed the way that it operates.”
The
change snuck up on her in her teens when she thought, like she believes other
teens do, that bleakness was a normal part of growing up. That manifested into
anorexia, but by her late teens, she found a counsellor who helped her work
through the episodes of depression and anxiety that ebbed and flowed throughout
Burke’s 20s.
She
had felt healthy and happy for about six months when she felt a numbness
overtake her, a fogginess that kind of dulled Burke’s feelings while she was
studying theatre at a Montreal university.
“And
then I started to hear things that weren’t there.”
She
began to see things as well, and although she sought help, no one treated the
psychosis, saying she wouldn’t be able to coherently explain either the voices
or visions that had begun invading her brain.
It
took months, but a family friend told her about the Nova Scotia Early Psychosis
Program in Halifax. A combination of therapy, meditation and medication helped
her recover.
One of
the biggest hurdles, however, became letting go of the person she once was.
“That’s
the thing that is so scary about mental health … that your whole personality
can disappear, everything that you think was you.”
Part
of her recovery meant she had to mourn — and then stop mourning — her old self,
something she said that meditation has helped her achieve, as has immersion in
her work.
That
work focuses on her own experience, using art to foster empathy in people who
may not typically connect with one who has experienced mental illness.
She
would like to see anti-stigma campaigns move in that direction as well, sharing
stories to humanize what she thinks can sometimes be written off as disease. To
capitalize on empathy.
Next
Tuesday, the Mental Health Foundation of Nova Scotia plans to share Burke’s
story and those of three other Nova Scotians, part of a celebration featuring
Olympian Clara Hughes during her cross-country biking tour to raise awareness
about mental health issues.
The
foundation’s chief executive officer said the night at the Spatz Theatre at
Citadel High School in Halifax will be about making connections through
storytelling rather than focusing on medication, doctors or therapy.
“It’s
about everything else that contributes to recovery — passion for sports, arts,
writing,” Starr Dobson said.
For
Burke, some of that meant returning to school for a master’s degree in drama
therapy; she now supports Dalhousie University students with mental health
issues, saying that people likely open up to her because she has shared a
similar experience.
“It’s
not just an illness. It’s an experience that opens you up to a different way of
thinking.”
,+Lauren+King,+Glenna+Paynter-Parsons+and+Michelle+Furlong+at+Autism+Nova+Scotia+Open+House+on+World+Autism+Day.B97301624Z_120140409091507000GRQ57DN2_11.jpg)
------------------------------------
APRIL 8 2014- CLARA'S IN ATLANTIC CANADA FOLKS... 2DA NEW BRUNSWICK
CLARA’S BIG RIDE-SARATONIAN
Friends! Clara is on the road!
I’m writing this post on Thursday (March 20), so by the time you see this, Clara will be back on the road again, but I felt compelled to write this post today because of THIS picture Clara’s people shared today:
ClaraBikeThroughSnowHoly Cow! She is a rockstar.
I hope you know what I’m talking about, but in case you haven’t heard, Clara Hughes is biking AROUND Canada. Not across. Around.
Why is she doing this? To visit as many Canadian communities as she can and start a conversation about mental health.
You can read more about that here.
But I want to tell you about a couple of things!
1) If you are NOT following this incredible journey on social media already, GET ON IT.
She’s on Instagram with the username bell_letstalk
On Twitter you can follow her directly or Bell Let’s Talk or join the conversation with the hashtag #ClarasBigRide..and of course they are all on Facebook.
But perhaps my most FAVORITE thing is the YouTube channel!
Yesterday, they shared this video featuring Clara’s listing the things she has packed for her journey.
I love that watch camera thing. AND I love that she packed her hair products. You and me both girl.
2) Here’s the info for when Clara rolls into the Maritime Provinces:
Saturday, April 5
Awareness Raising Evening for Clara’s Big Ride
Edmunston, NB
7:00-9:00 p.m.
La Cité des Jeunes A.-M.-Sormany : 300 Rue Martin
Monday, April 7
Social & Silent Auction
Woodstock, NB
6:30 – 9:00 p.m.
Best Western Plus, 123 Gallop Ct, Woodstock, NB
Tuesday, April 8
Women & Wellness Event
Fredericton, NB
For more info and to RSVP, click here
Wednesday, April 9
Welcome Event
Saint John, NB
3:15 p.m.
Peer 126 Mural, 99 Station St, Saint John, NB 99 Station Street, Saint John, NB
Wednesday, April 9
Saint John Reverses the Tide with “An Evening With The Champions of Mental Health”
Saint John, NB
6:00 – 8:30 p.m.
Boys and Girls Club, 1 Paul Harris St, Saint John, NB
For more info click here
Thursday, April 10
Welcome Event
Moncton, NB
5:00 p.m.
BMO Moncton, Main Street
Friday, April 11
Welcome Event
Summerside, PEI
4:15 p.m.
Atlantic Superstore, 535 Granville St, Summerside, PE
Friday, April 11
Canadian Mental Health Association Spring Gala
Summerside, PEI
For more info, click here
Saturday, April 12
Welcome Event
Charlottetown, PE
1:45 p.m.
Founder’s Hall, 6 Prince Street, Charlottetown PE
Saturday, April 12
Canadian Mental Health Association Spring Gala
Charlottetown, PEI
For more info, click here
Monday, April 14
Family Skate for Clara’s Big Ride for Bell Let’s Talk
Truro, NS
The Colchester Stadium- 14 Lorne Street, Truro, NS
Tuesday, April 15
Welcome Event
Halifax, NS
2:15
Citadel Hill, 5425 Sackville St, Halifax, NS
Tuesday, April 15
Let’s Keep Talking…For Clara’s Big Ride
Halifax, NS
6:00 – 8:00 p.m.
For more info click here
**I’ll be here! So if you see me, please come say HI :)
Wednesday, April 16
Pictou County Voices
New Glasgow, NS
7:00 – 9:15 p.m.
An evening of entertainment featuring George Canyon, Dave Gunning and many more including our keynote speaker- Clara Hughes.
Wellness Center Upstairs Convention Center- 2756 Westville Road, New Glasgow, NS
Thursday, April 17
Welcome Event
Port Hawkesbury, NS
5:00 p.m.
BMO, 634 Reeves Street Unit #11, Port Hawkesbury, NS
Thursday, April 17
An Evening With Clara Hughes
Port Hawkesbury, NS
6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
For more info click here.
Friday. April 18
Welcome Event
Sydney, NS
4:30
The Big Fiddle, 60 Esplanade, Sydney, NS
3) If any teachers are reading this, why not start a conversation about mental health in the classroom!? Or employers, start a conversation about mental health in the office? Follow Clara’s journey through the various social media outlets and all the fun stuff happening with it and see if Clara is coming to your community.
Participate in Partners for Mental Health RIGHT BY YOU Campaign and have your voice heard! Tell government that the fact that suicide is the #1 cause of non-accidental death among youth in Canada isn’t acceptable! Sign the petition! Write letters to your local government! And share the word.
Together we can create change, but it takes all of us to do it.
Go Clara Go!
http://saratonin.co/?p=1608
--------------
YOUTH PROGRAM RAISING FUNDS- MALI- $$$$ 4 YOUTH... how cool...
APRIL 2014- CALENDER- JUST CLICK THE DATE- go 2 the site
http://clarasbigride.bell.ca/en/calendar-full/
-----------------
APRIL 3 2014
Let's Keep Talking for Clara'€™s Big Ride
Six-time Canadian Olympic speed-skating and cycling medalist, Clara Hughes, is coming to Halifax, and you can hear her speak!
Clara will be sharing her remarkable story of overcoming mental illness at the Spatz Theatre on April 15th.
Let’s Keep Talking for Clara’s Big Ride will also feature Dalhousie’s own Laura Burke. The Dal Student Union’s Mental Health Peer Support Coordinator will share the stage with Clara to present her own personal story through spoken word poetry.
The line-up also includes live art, dance, and the musical talents of Nova Scotia singer/songwriter Mo Kenney.
Hosted by Paul Hollingsworth, it’s sure to be an evening that will educate, engage and entertain.
The event runs from 6–8pm. Tickets are just $25 each and can be purchased online at mentalhealthns.ca
Let’s Keep Talking for Clara’s Big Ride is a fundraiser for the Mental Health Foundation of Nova Scotia.
The Foundation raises awareness and funds to make a difference in the lives of Nova Scotians by supporting mental health initiatives in our communities.
Clara will be sharing her remarkable story of overcoming mental illness at the Spatz Theatre on April 15th.
Let’s Keep Talking for Clara’s Big Ride will also feature Dalhousie’s own Laura Burke. The Dal Student Union’s Mental Health Peer Support Coordinator will share the stage with Clara to present her own personal story through spoken word poetry.
The line-up also includes live art, dance, and the musical talents of Nova Scotia singer/songwriter Mo Kenney.
Hosted by Paul Hollingsworth, it’s sure to be an evening that will educate, engage and entertain.
The event runs from 6–8pm. Tickets are just $25 each and can be purchased online at mentalhealthns.ca
Let’s Keep Talking for Clara’s Big Ride is a fundraiser for the Mental Health Foundation of Nova Scotia.
The Foundation raises awareness and funds to make a difference in the lives of Nova Scotians by supporting mental health initiatives in our communities.
Category
Special Events
Time
Starts: April 15 2014 - 6:00 pmEnds: April 15 2014 - 8:00 pm
Location
Spatz Theatre, Citadel High School (1855 Trollope St.)Cost
$25Contact
Phone: 902.464.6000
Toll Free: 1.866.CARING2 (1.866.227.4642)
Fax: 902.464.3001
info@mentalhealthns.ca
http://www.dal.ca/news/events/2014/04/15/let___s_keep_talking_for_clara___s_big_ride.htmlToll Free: 1.866.CARING2 (1.866.227.4642)
Fax: 902.464.3001
info@mentalhealthns.ca
-----------------
MARCH 25- O BEAUTIFUL CANADIAN GIRL- holy sheeeeeet
Clara's Big Ride through Brockville Ontario
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFRa3fPBj4k
Published on 25 Mar 2014
On March 25th 2014 Olympian Clara Hughes rode through Brockville as part of her 110 day bike across Canada. She is raising awareness about mental illness.
As part of an educational institution of the Upper Canada School board we have paid all of our SOCAN fees.
-------------------
MENTAL HEALTH WELLNESS, HEALING MATTERS IN CANADA- and 2013/ 2014- Canada is stepping up big time...
http://clarasbigride.bell.ca/en/
----------------
.jpg)
Students and youth are stepping up Canada- Fighting Mental Illness in the light- let's git r done- mental illness lives in every home- let's bring it in2 the light CANADA... AND HEAL EACH OTHER WITH LOVE AND HEALING AND CARING... we matter
Breaking the Silence on Mental Illness
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Q1BB26nuIc
Homeless Harley Lawrence- Murdered down on Main Street Nova Scotia- everybody matters
Canada's stepping up- Mental Wellness matters in Canada- Clara's Big Ride 2014- LET'S GIT R DONE
Clara's Big Ride for Bell Let's Talk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MItgZNW2MPY
Published on 25 Apr 2013
In March 2014, Bell Let's Talk is going even further. Now in its third year, we're taking the conversation around the country with Clara's Big Ride, transforming it into an event spanning more than 12,000 km, over 110 days and 95 community stops. Created to reach Canadians at the grassroots level -- at home, school and around the boardroom table -- this endeavour is designed to encourage long-term positive change in communities and help end the stigma associated with mental illness.
Category
Non-profits & Activism
------------------------
Finally... it's been a long, long lonesome battle ... thank u God and all the politicians who actually worked 2 make this happen... it's such a little thing... that does so much healing.
Government preparing to fund service dogs for veterans with PTSD
Richard Madan, CTV News
Published Friday, March 28, 2014 10:00PM EDT
Last Updated Friday, March 28, 2014 11:42PM EDT
OTTAWA -- Canada's embattled veterans affairs minister will soon unveil a pilot project to offset some costs for service dogs for injured Afghan war veterans, CTV News has learned.
http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/government-preparing-to-fund-service-dogs-for-veterans-with-ptsd-1.1751581
COMMENT:
This is fantastic! I follow a few pages on Facebook that follows veterans and their service dogs and the benefits are huge! I really like the idea posted below of using shelter animals with the veterans. I don't think the dog has the be certified to benefit a veteran. I know my mother suffers from severe depression, and she rescued a puppy about 5 years ago. The benefits of just having a dog were immense for her. She says if it weren't for the dog she wouldn't be here anymore because that dog gave her a reason to get up, go out, do stuff, instead of sit at home and wallow in self pity. The $15,000 price tag is understandable as the dogs entire care during training is covered, including medical bills, trainers, food, etc. But for detecting specific issues a certified dog might be the best. I think triage depending on severity could cut down the number of dogs to certify as mild to moderate depression could likely be improved with just a dog rescued from the shelter and put through some behavior courses. I finally have a reason to applaud this government.
------------
Our Homeless- this is incredible what Clara Hughes and Canada's youth are doing... u make us so proud
CANADA Breaks the Silence- APRIL 3RD- MENTAL ILLNESS- ACADIA UNIVERSITY- WOLFVILLE, NOVA SCOTIA- video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krdQ0hnY6jg&feature=youtu.be
Published on 28 Mar 2014
Please Help us advertise for our "Break the Silence" campaign
This campaign will not be successful without team work and advertisement. The advertisement serves to make people more comfortable with participating and helps make the idea of taking a stand seem less scary.
We will have a greater chance of convincing others to participate if we have influential and well known people from our community on board. We want to unmask and de-stigmatize the illness, as well as show that anyone can be affected.
The shirts are FREE.
You can learn more and see the event on the Facebook page below
https://www.facebook.com/events/63107...
This campaign will not be successful without team work and advertisement. The advertisement serves to make people more comfortable with participating and helps make the idea of taking a stand seem less scary.
We will have a greater chance of convincing others to participate if we have influential and well known people from our community on board. We want to unmask and de-stigmatize the illness, as well as show that anyone can be affected.
The shirts are FREE.
You can learn more and see the event on the Facebook page below
https://www.facebook.com/events/63107...
Category
Clara Hughes set to embark on ride her father would be proud of
Sean Fitz-Gerald | March 11, 2014 | Last Updated: Mar 11 6:56 PM ET
More from Sean Fitz-Gerald | @SeanFitz_Gerald
.
Six-time Olympian Clara Hughes says her ride across the country isn't about raising money, as much as it is about raising awareness for mental health issues in Canada.
CNW Group/Bell CanadaSix-time Olympian Clara Hughes says her ride across the country isn't about raising money, as much as it is about raising awareness for mental health issues in Canada..
.
One of the only books Clara Hughes remembers having from the three weeks she spent as a student at the University of Manitoba was called Signs of Literature, a layered text of language analysis. Kenneth James Hughes was the author, as well as her father, as well as the professor of her introductory English literature class.
Clara Hughes gives last race her everything in Olympic swan song
.
“I still can’t make sense of the thing,” she said with a laugh on Tuesday. “My dad had a brilliant mind. It was a complicated mind, but it was a brilliant one.”
Her parents had divorced when she was nine years old, and after a rebellious adolescence, Hughes was on the path to becoming an elite Canadian athlete, and an Olympic hero. Her father — whom she said battled alcoholism, while also living with (undiagnosed) bipolar disorder — encouraged her to pursue sports, and to leave school behind.
She was on a bicycle tour outside Nelson, B.C., last summer, one year removed from her sixth trip to the Olympics, when she received word her father had died. He was 80.
Related
Six-time Olympic medallist Clara Hughes to ride across Canada for mental health
Rebecca Marino’s pain is all too common
.
“He said to me, ‘Clara, ride as long as you can; don’t come back to this place, it’s always going to be here,’ ” she said. “I remembered those words many times throughout my athletic life. But sitting there, on that grass, I just thought we were leading a life my dad was proud of … so we kept riding.”
On Friday, Hughes will begin a new ride that will take her across Canada, a journey of 12,000 kilometres with the aim of erasing the stigma around mental illness. Hughes will begin her ride in Toronto and circle the country counter-clockwise before pedaling to an end in Ottawa, on Canada Day.
Frank Gunn/THE CANADIAN PRESS
Frank Gunn/THE CANADIAN PRESSClara Hughes closed out her Olympic career at the London 2012 Games..
The ride is backed by Bell’s “Let’s Talk” campaign, and will feature 260 events in small towns and big cities across Canada. Hughes will travel by bush plane in areas where she cannot ride, and by train in at least one stretch where it is not safe to cycle. The rest will be her and a modest support team against the elements.
“What we’re going to go through on the bike, that’s where things are going to go wrong,” she said. “We’re going to suffer. We’re going to be cold; we’re going to be wet; we’re going to be tired. And that’s what’s going to give the grit to this whole ride.”
Hughes, who won six medals over those six trips to the Olympics — in both the Summer and Winter Games, as a cyclist and as a speedskater — has been open about living with depression. She has a family history of mental illness, with her father, and with her sister, who she said has been living with bipolar disorder for more than 20 years. The ride will not be to raise funds as much as it will be to raise the discussion about mental illness.
“I’m not doing this ride to paint this happy picture everywhere, either,” she said. “This is to give the message to our government and to our society in general that this is real, and it affects everyone in a different way. So let’s stop pretending that it doesn’t exist.”
She said the plan is to average about 150 kilometres a day on the bike. Every stop on the tour will begin with a welcome visit as she rolls into town, followed by another event in the evening. Hughes said she plans to visit a school the morning she leaves town.
SAEED KHAN/AFP/Getty Images
SAEED KHAN/AFP/Getty ImagesClara Hughes won six Olympic medals, including this bronze in speedskating at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games..
She will be riding alongside her husband, Peter Guzman, a rotation of three other cyclists, and a support staff with a variety of jobs. There will be a support vehicle nearby with new tires or parts or clothing that might be required, depending on the elements.
They will stay in hotels, where available, and in private homes, when necessary. In some of the more remote stretches, they will sleep in recreational vehicles. There will also be a Greyhound bus, supplied by a corporate partner, stocked with supplies.
“The Greyhound bus will be leap-frogging us,” Hughes said. “Because obviously, if there are drivers behind and they have to pass a bus to get past us, I would be a little irritated if I was a driver. I would be a lot irritated.”
Hughes is scheduled to be on the road for 110 days, in all.
“I really hope we can bring just this volume, a message, that this is something that affects all Canadians,” she said. “We can be better as a nation, and we can lead the world in this. We can be the best place to live when it comes to access to care and resources for mental health.”
http://sports.nationalpost.com/2014/03/11/clara-hughes-set-to-embark-on-ride-her-father-would-be-proud-of/
-----------------
- March 14, 2014
- DAY #1
- KM 80
- From > To
- Toronto
- Hamilton
- Distance (Km)
- 80
- Weather (°C)
- 03s
A Memorable Test for The Big Ride
The team and I had to experience what a day on the Big Ride would be like.
Read more - March 15, 2014
- DAY #2
- KM 223
- From > To
- Hamilton
- St. Thomas
- Distance (Km)
- 143
- Weather (°C)
- 04e
A Memorable Test for The Big Ride
The team and I had to experience what a day on the Big Ride would be like.
Read more - March 16, 2014
- DAY #3
- KM 342
- From > To
- St. Thomas
- Chatham
- Distance (Km)
- 119
- Weather (°C)
- -14s
A Memorable Test for The Big Ride
The team and I had to experience what a day on the Big Ride would be like.
Read more - March 17, 2014
- DAY #4
- KM 423
- From > To
- Chatham
- Windsor
- Distance (Km)
- 81
- Weather (°C)
- -08e
Community to Community Making a Difference
The first few days of the Big Ride have delivered beyond my original expectations of cycling around Canada back in 2012.
Read more - March 18, 2014
- DAY #5
- KM 598
- From > To
- Windsor
- Sarnia
- Distance (Km)
- 175
- Weather (°C)
- 06s
Community to Community Making a Difference
The first few days of the Big Ride have delivered beyond my original expectations of cycling around Canada back in 2012.
Read more - March 19, 2014
- DAY #6
- KM 700
- From > To
- Sarnia
- London
- Distance (Km)
- 102
- Weather (°C)
- 08
Community to Community Making a Difference
The first few days of the Big Ride have delivered beyond my original expectations of cycling around Canada back in 2012.
Read more - March 20, 2014
- DAY #7
- KM 809
- From > To
- London
- Kitchener
- Distance (Km)
- 109
- Weather (°C)
- 09
Community to Community Making a Difference
The first few days of the Big Ride have delivered beyond my original expectations of cycling around Canada back in 2012.
Read more - March 21, 2014
- DAY #8
- KM 913
- From > To
- Kitchener
- Oshawa
- Distance (Km)
- 104
- Weather (°C)
- -02e
Community to Community Making a Difference
The first few days of the Big Ride have delivered beyond my original expectations of cycling around Canada back in 2012.
Read more - March 22, 2014
- DAY #9
- KM 1,009
- From > To
- Whitby
- Peterborough
- Distance (Km)
- 96
- Weather (°C)
- 01c
Community to Community Making a Difference
The first few days of the Big Ride have delivered beyond my original expectations of cycling around Canada back in 2012.
Read more - March 23, 2014
- DAY #10
- KM 1,009
- From > To
- Rest day
- Distance (Km)
- 0
- Weather (°C)
- 10
Community to Community Making a Difference
The first few days of the Big Ride have delivered beyond my original expectations of cycling around Canada back in 2012.
Read more - March 24, 2014
- DAY #11
- KM 1,208
- From > To
- Peterborough
- Kingston
- Distance (Km)
- 199
- Weather (°C)
- -04c
Community to Community Making a Difference
The first few days of the Big Ride have delivered beyond my original expectations of cycling around Canada back in 2012.
Read more - March 25, 2014
- DAY #12
- KM 1,364
- From > To
- Gananoque
- Cornwall
- Distance (Km)
- 156
- Weather (°C)
- -07e
Community to Community Making a Difference
The first few days of the Big Ride have delivered beyond my original expectations of cycling around Canada back in 2012.
Read more - March 26, 2014
- DAY #13
- KM 1,466
- From > To
- Cornwall
- Montréal
- Distance (Km)
- 102
- Weather (°C)
- -09e
Community to Community Making a Difference
The first few days of the Big Ride have delivered beyond my original expectations of cycling around Canada back in 2012.
Read more - March 27, 2014
- DAY #14
- KM 1,466
- From > To
- Montréal
- Montréal
- Distance (Km)
- 35
- Weather (°C)
- -08e
What Does Clara Pack for a 110 Day Journey?
Watch the 5 must-have items that Clara will bring on her Big Ride around Canada.
Read more - March 28, 2014
- DAY #15
- KM 1,599
- From > To
- Montréal
- Sherbrooke
- Distance (Km)
- 133
- Weather (°C)
- -08n
What Does Clara Pack for a 110 Day Journey?
Watch the 5 must-have items that Clara will bring on her Big Ride around Canada.
Read more Upcoming events
- 3/28/14 2:45 PMWelcome event at Canadian Tire - Sherbrooke, QC
- 3/28/14 5:30 PMSherbrooke Welcomes Clara Hughes - Sherbrooke, QC
- 3/29/14 5:00 PMMental Health Gathering - Trois-Rivières, QC
http://clarasbigride.bell.ca/en/
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INNER NINJA WITH DAVID MYLES- CANADIAN SONS
Anti-bullying message delivered through basketball tournament at Central Kings
Kirk StarrattPublished on March 23, 2014
http://www.kingscountynews.ca/Sports/Other-Sports/2014-03-23/article-3660279/Anti-bullying-message-delivered-through-basketball-tournament-at-Central-Kings/1
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BLOGGED:
BLOGGED:
F**kING DRUNK DRIVERS- kill u by day or night and the mourning after- Nova Scotia Canada- Stop It!- Natasha Hope-Simpson- the face of damage by drunk hit and run driver- watch this be proven/NATASHA HOPE-SIMPSON MIRACLES UPDATES
http://nova0000scotia.blogspot.ca/2013/12/nova-scotia-canada-hit-run-drivers.html
BLOGGED:
HOMELESS HARLEY LAWRENCE OF NOVA SCOTIA- MURDERED DOWN ON MAIN- We must do better Nova Scotia- Canada- we just must- tears and prayers -a little good news
http://nova0000scotia.blogspot.ca/2013/10/homeless-harley-lawrence-of-nova-scotia.html
BLOGGED:
IDLE NO MORE CANADA- MI'KMACK MONTH IN NOVA SCOTIA- 11,000 years- We mourn Albino Moose murdered- must learn Mi'kmaq nature's way pls./Some fall fun Annapolis Valley/Good Books/Mi'kmaq traditions, history and videos
http://nova0000scotia.blogspot.ca/2013/10/canada-nova-scotia-celebrates-mikmaq.html
BLOGGED:
CANADA MILITARY NEWS: Oct 2013-POPE FRANCIS-cover of Rolling Stone-Time-The Advocate winning the hearts of billions Jan 2014- Our Catholic-Christian Faith in Canada/Pope Francis and Canada's love of our CANADA GAY MILITARY CHAPLAIN GENERAL and our military/love of our Jewish and Muslim brothers and sisters and our Canadian history/Dr.Lockeridge 1976/Latin/Rosary - we are Canadian -God is Angry- WATER MORE PRECIOUS THAN GOLD- Pope Francis
http://nova0000scotia.blogspot.ca/2013/10/canada-military-news-oct-2013-our.html
BLOGGED:
CANADA MILITARY NEWS: Sep 12- Canada's stepping up - no more abuses or excuses of rape, abuse of children and women/photos/videos/ wake up Canada- One Billion Rising/St. Mary's steps up/UBC steps up/ Canada
http://nova0000scotia.blogspot.ca/2013/09/canada-military-news-sep-12-canadas.html
BLOGGED:
CANADA MILITARY NEWS: Gloria Steinem and Marlo Thomas called Canada's Women and girls the bravest in the world back in our days of 60s, 70s and 80s- and we raised our sons 2 treat women and children better- Please don't let us down- March 8- International Women's Day is everyday- no more excuses students- no more excuses- Loretta Saunders 4 u/Rita MacNeil Warrior Woman/BLOGS /DAILY UPDATES
http://nova0000scotia.blogspot.ca/2014/03/canada-military-news-gloria-steinem-and.html
4 all the bullies and cruelty of people with mental health issues-Who are u 2 judge?
Desiderata- U Are a Child of the Universe- U MATTER as much as the trees and the stars...
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LET'S
TALK CANADA- MENTAL HEALTH MATTERS
FULL
INTERVIEW: Clara Hughes
Uploaded
on 8 Feb 2012
Athletes
- like so many other Canadians in so many walks of life - may struggle with
depression and mental illness. Olympian Clara Hughes wants to encourage all
Canadians to talk about mental health, and reduce the stigmas that are attached
to it.
comment:
I'm a 'it could come back' person too and I
admire/adore her way of showing her human-beingness to us....highs and
lows...She is so awesome.
comment:
she
came to my school today, waved at mee haha woot! :)
comment:
Seeing
someone as successful as this talk about the same feelings of hopelessness and
depression I have helps. I hope that anyone watching this video or reading my
words finds strength and gets help if they need it.
comment:
There
is clinical depression depression with "no reason". A person will
cover over more severe illness by using the term "depression". My
daughter said to me one day, "I am mentally ill." It just popped out
of her mouth as a manic depressive. It seemed so easy to say, "I am
mentally ill." So, I said the same thing, "I am mentally ill,"
for whatever reason, and, you know what, the world did not fall apart and most
people are so busy that the response was, "okay, so are you feeling
better?"
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Mental
Health Matters
Bell
Let's Talk: "Suffering in Silence"
---------
A
message from 6-time Olympic medalist Clara Hughes.
Published
on 22 Jan 2014
On
January 28th, your texts, tweets, long-distance calls and Facebook shares will
help raise money and awareness for mental health initiatives in Canada. Please
share. Let's talk. http://www.bell.ca/letstalk
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Canadian
Women for Women in Afghanistan
CW4WAfghan-60Seconds-PSA
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R.E.M.- EVERYBODY HURTS- HOLD ON
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CLASSIFIED- 3 FOOT TALL
R.E.M.- EVERYBODY HURTS- HOLD ON
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CLASSIFIED- 3 FOOT TALL
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April 8, 2014
MENTAL HEALTH FIRST AID CANADA- U CAN SIGN U 4 LEARNING COURSE...
http://www.mentalhealthfirstaid.ca/EN/Pages/default.aspxApril 8, 2014
MENTAL HEALTH FIRST AID CANADA- U CAN SIGN U 4 LEARNING COURSE...
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NOVA SCOTIA COMMUNITY COLLEGES- HECK... CANADIAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES
Mental Health Recovery & Promotion
Work
with individuals affected by mental health issues and help to promote mental
health, recovery, and wellness.
NOVA SCOTIA COMMUNITY COLLEGES-
Explore»
Start Date:
September
Duration:
2 Years
Credential:
Diploma
Delivery:
Full-time
(In-class)
Locations:
September 2014Burridge Campus •
Yarmouth • Waitlist 2016New applications may be waitlisted until Fall 2016.
Mental
Illness affects one in five Canadians. That's the equivalent of 200,000 Nova
Scotians (Canadian Mental Health Association). This program prepares you to
work as part of a multi-disciplinary team promoting mental health and recovery
for individuals of all ages affected by mental illness.
With
the Mental Health Commission of Canada’s launch of Canada’s first-ever Mental
Health Strategy, this program prepares you to be on the cutting edge of
improved support strategies and service delivery for individuals and
communities affected by mental health issues. You develop the knowledge,
skills, and experience to help influence and change the way we think about
mental illness, recovery, and promotion of well-being.
InfoStudents Highlights
reflect comments provided in the annual Program Highlights Survey. Students
participate in this survey to share their experiences and information that they
think will help future students learn more about the program. Highlights
reflect individual experiences (which can vary by student).
Student Highlights
1.
Highlight…"Prepare
for challenging and rewarding work."
2.
Why
Take It…"You can make a difference serving the diverse
needs of people living with mental illness."
3.
Favourite…"Small
class sizes provide individual support and attention. "
·
High School
Graduation Diploma or equivalent.
·
Additional program
requirements, including criminal record check, immunizations and first aid, are
required for Health & Human Services programs. Details are provided with
your acceptance notification – Health & Human
Services Additional Program Requirements (224 KB)
·
This program was
developed to meet the growing demand for services to support individuals
affected by mental health.
·
We keep our class
sizes small to provide individual support and attention.
·
Hands-on learning
and field placements provide you with the experience you need to develop your
skills and gain the experience employers look for on a résumé.
·
Variety of work
settings that support persons living with mental health issues - district
health authorities, community outreach, transition teams, addictions services,
employment and education supports, non-profit agencies, social clubs, group
homes and other residential facilities or services, and peer support
environments.
·
Mental health
support workers are part of a team that builds supports, promotes recovery,
improves quality of life, implements prevention strategies, and eliminates
barriers to full citizenship that affect individuals living with mental health
issues.
·
You work with
clients across the lifespan in the private and public sectors and within a
variety of healthcare settings in the area of mental health including: acute
care settings, rehabilitation centres, community organizations, and outpatient
clinics.
·
Alternate Intake –
This program is not offered each year. Check program locations for upcoming
start dates. The first year of the program will not be offered in September
2015.
·
You participate in
practicum placements in public and/or private clinics within the province.
Students are not guaranteed placements of their choice and may be required to
complete a placement in communities throughout the province.
·
During the
practicum training, students may be scheduled for some night and/or
weekend/holiday shifts. Students are required to provide their own
transportation to clinical sites and may be required to provide accommodation
during some portions of clinical placement.
Courses May Include
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Additional Graduation Requirements
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Next Steps
1. Visit
NSCC
2. Application
Process
3. Program
Fees
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