Belgian singer Stromae — whose hits meld weighty themes with clubby beats — touches on the complexities of mental health on his recent album, Multitude. Ahead of his North American tour, CBC Music host Florence K looks at its lyrics and layers.
From early online CBT to pandemic-era teletherapy, virtual care sheds its “second-rate” label.
Twenty-something years ago, after Y2K did not result in the collapse of the modern world, my university campus general practitioner proposed something radical: while I was waiting for an appointment with specialized mental health services, I could access a newly-developed service that would offer Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) to me online and from the safety and comfort of my dorm room.
Haunted by a father’s bipolar-fueled volatility, I outran trauma for decades—until the pandemic forced me inward. Through compassionate listening, yoga, therapy, and Michael Singer’s teachings, I learned to detach, revisit rather than relive, and forgive.
I realize that, while I may have made great strides and had great awakenings in a short time, it has been a long-term process. All my efforts, everything I did to try to help myself, were all steps to getting me where I need to be. It took me a long time to get here but I never gave up. It takes hard work and dogged persistence to conquer trauma, but I got there, and you can too.
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Pandemic isolation was harsh, but it opened honest conversations about mental health and expanded access to online therapy.
At sixteen I fled an unsafe home into couches, shelters, and squalid rooms, slipping through systems that saw my grades, not my life. From abyss to footing, I’ve learned truths: trust your needs, reject perfectionism and people-pleasing, protect time, and show your uniqueness.
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