Beyond the fact that Airdrie, Tod, and Isabella (who were the speakers at the Coping Digitally panel) are all very good friends of mine, I have had a brush with depression not only through my shared experiences with several of my friends (including Tris, who is a dear friend), but also through the very common Seasonal Affective Disorder. During periods of rain (not infrequent in Vancouver), I sometimes (not very often) get all down. And, in case you wanted to know, yes – I have been heartbroken and during that time, I really felt very, very depressed. I came out of it quite quickly, though.

One Thursday last year (November of 2008), I recall being awake at 3 am and feeling incredibly down. I was looking at everything from the perspective of someone who had failed at everything. This, coming from someone who actually has had as much success as I have. But the weather, the fact that it was late at night and the feeling of loneliness all worked me up and I felt like crap. I have thanked Lorraine several times for talking me through and help me break out of it that one time and I will thank her again here. I am grateful that whenever I have felt down, I’ve had my friends there to support me and help me through.

It is rare, very rare that I feel down, but when I do, I am always surrounded by loving people who talk me through it. And therefore, I do have a personal stake in making Mental Health Camp a reality. Not only because several people I love are afflicted with mental illnesses, but also because I am a firm believer that we need to break down the stigma. I admire the bravery and strength of people who speak out about their illness, and I want to help many others speak out.

I am not a mental health professional at all (but Isabella is), but I am a very loving individual and I am good at organizing events, so that’s why I’ve decided to help in any way I can. If you want to jot down ideas and thoughts on the Wiki Page (thanks Isabella for initiating it), please feel free to do so.

Isabella‘s idea of Mental Health Camp is to have a very fluid, organic event. My thought is to have a one day (perhaps on a Saturday) event. I am more than happy to speak to people about sponsorship (mostly food and refreshment sponsorships – I already have an idea of where I would like to hold it). I’ll need volunteers to work the door (registration), help with food set up and stuff like that, but I have learned (from my experience at BarCamp) that the best way to do this is to divide the tasks amongst a LOT of people. Contact me over Twitter or leave a comment or send me an email.

The technical details will be handled by Isabella (e.g. which topics, and so on) – there is a very fertile discussion on her blog already, and on the Wiki page. Add your thoughts too. And if you’d like to volunteer to help with organizing, do let me know!

Related posts:

1. Mental Health Camp Vancouver 2009
2. Mental Health Camp Vancouver 2011: Diversity in Mental Health
3. After a successful Mental Health Camp Vancouver ’09, towards a MHC ’10

I was planning to do a round-up, link-love post, but decided against it because this is too important to be overshadowed. Airdrie, whom I am honored to call a friend, is writing a series (read part 1 and part 2) on her experience as a depression-afflicted individual. Airdrie contributed a really amazing post to my Blogathon writing about her experience as the wife of a cancer patient, and in this series, she reveals some of her struggles with depression.

Beth also linked to her post and agreed with Airdrie that Student Health Services often provide counseling services, and anyone who needs help should definitely look into that. I wish I had received the help from Counselling Services much faster when I broke up with my ex and was really down, but at the end of the day, I was ok. If you, dear reader, ever think you might need help with depression, don’t hesitate and contact the myriad of services available.

Depression has been surrounded with stigma and it’s feared. People don’t want to talk about it, and it’s often spoken about very lightly. But that’s just stupid. Depression IS real, and it is a mental health illness, and should be talked about, blogged about, spoken about. Thank you Airdrie for helping shed some light on this thorny and often-stigmatized topic. By sharing your struggles and how you’ve faced them and you are still going strong, you help us, the general public who may not know what to do when dealing with depression. Thank you, Airdrie. I really applaud you.

Related posts:

1. Restarting the conversation around depression and mental illness in Canada
2. Northern Voice 2009 – Coping Digitally: Breaking Stigma and Healing Mental Illness Through Blogging
3. Mental Health Camp 2009 – A proposal