The York Region TAMI Coalition hosted the 3rd Annual Stomp out Stigma Summit last week in Aurora. The Town of Aurora gave up their Council Chambers and meeting rooms to allow over 100 students and teachers to participate in this day long workshop about reducing stigma in our schools.

I’ve being a member of the TAMI Coalition  from it’s inception over 3 years ago. At that time, my project, called Streetjibe (sponsored by Street Kids International), the Canadian Psychiatric Research Foundation and the Talking About Mental Illness Coalition came together as a Youth Mental Health Committee under the umbrella of the Planning Forum for Children, Youth and Families in York Region.

Over the past 3 years we met regularly to plan our respective projects and support each other. Now that I’m operating independently as a private consultant, I am continuing to contribute my expertise and experience towards this very important cause.

Jesse Bigelow was one of 3 keynote speakers at the TAMI Conference. He shares his story and experiences of living with schizophrenia and his road of recovery. Jesse is a Peer Support Worker with the HOPE Program, Canadian Mental Health Association.

Jesse shares a personal and powerful story with the students and teachers participating in the conference. This is the first of 3 videos featuring Jesse. The first 2 videos are his story and in the last video he answers questions from the audience.

Click here to view Part 2 and here to view the questions and answer segment.

Read on for a list of participating organizations and a background document on the York Region TAMI Coalition. I will be posting a video of one of the young people who was a key note speaker at the Conference.  Jesse is a young man who shares his story of living with schizophrenia and his road of recovery.

York Region T.A.M.I. Coalition Membership:

Canadian Mental Health Association; York Region District School Board; Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences; York Catholic District School Board; Centre for Addiction & Mental Health; Canadian Psychiatric Research Foundation; JerichoYouth Services; COMPASS (Community Partners with Schools), Kinark Child & Family Services, York Region Public Health Department, Addiction Services for York Region, Social Media Tools for Work and Learning;

York Region T.A.M.I. Coalition expresses sincere thanks to Kinark Child & Family Services for its sponsorship & the Town of Aurora for its generous support of this dynamic event.

Stomping Out Stigma in York Region

Recent statistics have shown that over 20% of youth will experience some type of emotional trauma/mental illness that would normally require intervention.  More disturbing however, is the reality that of those, over 80% will not seek help due to the negative stigma and stereotypes associated with mental illness – thereby allowing the problems to worsen and become a much larger and less manageable problem for the person, and society, as they enter adulthood.

For the past 6 years, the Adolescent Department at Ontario Shores for Mental Health Sciences (formally Whitby Mental Health Centre) has been leading a coalition of community partners in Durham to make a change in this phenomenon by coordinating the delivery of an exciting educational program for local high schools.  The program is entitled Talking About Mental Illness (TAMI) and is based upon a ground-breaking program set-up by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.

In 2003, the coalition developed a model called the “Stomping Out Stigma” Summit Conference.  In this model, student ambassadors and a staff member from local high schools get together for a day of learning not only more about mental illness, but also about the stigma associated with mental illness.  In order to do this, the students have an opportunity to listen to trained speakers tell their stories of living with a mental illness and they also work in break out rooms and explore such themes as current stressors, stigma and attitudes towards those living with mental illness.  As well, all schools who attend will be provided with a “tool box” containing ideas on activities that all schools can implement in order to maintain the awareness in all students about how stigma affects those who need to reach out for help.

Our research has shown that students are coming away from a Summit with a 35% increase in knowledge and a 16% increase in improved attitudes towards those living with a mental illness. This model recently won the Minister’s Award for Innovation in Health Promotion and the IBM Ontario Hospital Association Award for Leading Practices at this year’s Health Achieve Expo.

This program has the objectives of:

• Fostering a more positive attitude towards mental illness
• Providing teachers and students with practical, ready-to-use information on mental illness to assist with curriculum-based education
• Offering teachers and students an opportunity to meet and interact with people who have experienced mental illness first-hand
• Providing links to community resources and support for further information and professional help
• Providing opportunities for people living with mental health issues to participate in an anti-stigma awareness campaign

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