Off You Go
One of the main ironies of parenting is that your job is to make yourself irrelevant. Babies are born, children are nurtured and grow up, and then one day — eventually — most are independent enough to move out of the family home.
Rest is not the same thing as recovery
Self-care is the obvious answer to mental health recovery, but it isn’t as obvious what self-care looks like, because it looks completely different for different individuals. In fact, self-care is often maligned as an airy-fairy concept, awash with adult colouring books, meditation apps and yoga poses – and if those are your things, then great! But self-care can be and is so much more.
Fabiola’s Story
Fabiola Phillipe — mother, sister, and friend — was kind, compassionate, generous, and humble. She also lived with mental health challenges that stemmed from experiences of loneliness and isolation during her youth. As she struggled with depression, she began using substances — as a comfort and a substitute for the support and understanding she needed.
Lived Experience
Finding joy in the ordinary
Hustle culture left me burnt out and empty. Therapy and self-awareness taught me to fill my cup first.
Finding joy in the ordinary
As a motivated and ambitious person, I was fully subscribed to the achiever mentality, perpetually running on the hamster wheel. I wanted the success, the accolades, the big career, and everything that I thought went with that level of achievement. What I didn’t know was that I was missing out on a lot of important things. Balance. Wellness. Spiritual growth. The journey of becoming a fully self-actualized human being.
Workplace Stress Tests
For employees, the past two-plus years have been a whirlwind. After COVID-19 threw the world into disarray, people were forced to grapple in the dark and adjust to new work environments.
Lived Experience
Hiding my struggle with depression
On Zoom I look polished; off-camera I collapsed. That’s high-functioning bipolar depression: an exhausting, Oscar-worthy mask that hides real suffering, blocks support, and confuses loved ones.
Why food affects mood (and how healthy nutrition can improve it)
From the food choices we make, to what we put on our plate, our brain demands the most energy from our food. Dr. Bonnie J. Kaplan explains. She is a pioneer in nutritional psychology who is also a semi-retired professor at the University of Calgary, Cumming School of Medicine.
Lived Experience
Some of us are getting left behind
Breaking the Ice at The 519 supports 2SLGBTQ+ people who use drugs in Toronto’s Downtown East through peer-led, harm-reduction outreach
