03 Jun, 2023
Supporting women’s mental health with the Run for Women
How’s work?
I am asked this question quite often when I’m out and about and run into people I haven’t seen in awhile. I started a position as a writer on the corporate communications team at The Royal four years ago and my answer to anyone who asks is always the same:
GREAT.
Ha. I know. It sounds like a non-answer, but I mean it. It is truly, great. Every day I find myself in a perfect storm of learning and growth. My team is amazing and the people I meet in the context of work (and even around the proverbial water cooler) are so smart and excited about their particular area of expertise that I can’t help but be inspired. These people are doing so much to help some of the most vulnerable and stigmatized people in our community… finding answers to some of the hardest questions known around mental health and substance use. How lucky am I to work in a place like this? My colleagues amaze me every day and their passion is contagious (er, perhaps not a good word to use in a health care setting but you catch my meaning I’m sure)! :D
All this to say, the 2023 edition of the Run for Women is taking place tomorrow. Friends, it’s a biggie; a major fundraising event for The Royal. Funds raised through the run directly support important mental health programming, right here in Ottawa. These are services that truly make a difference to people in our community.
Sidebar: one of the things that I find so cool and interesting about mental health care is the domino effect that happens with treatment and care. It’s something I think about a lot. If we are able to help one person, say, who’s struggling with postpartum depression, we are inevitably also helping their partner, their children, and possibly their extended family, neighbours and colleagues as well. While it may be just the one person who’s receiving treatment, the ripple effect of good mental health, or poor mental health, extends way beyond that one person.
So please think of me on Sunday morning, running (er, walking BRISKLY, let’s not kid ourselves Andrea) to support women’s mental health along with a few thousand generous joggers, walkers, and strollers.
And if you’d like to make a donation to my fundraising page you can do that right here.
Thank you, friends! I appreciate your support.
