The sixth-annual HOPE forum took place on April 15-16 and was deemed a great success by chairperson Jennifer Whalen. During the first day of the forum, participants had the chance to have a pancake breakfast with Theo Fleury.
Fleury also was the keynote speaker, and spoke about his story.
“The HOPE Forum in general was well-attended this year, likely due to building on our past successes with HOPE Forum 1 to 5 but perhaps, also, because we had Theo Fleury who was so well -known and generated interest in our event for the public. Notably, this year, there was a visible increase in the amount of youth that participated. It was noticed how attentive and engaged everyone was for Theo’s presentation. That coupled with the positive comments that have come back to us, meant that having him was meaningful for people”, Whalen explained.
During the second day of the forum, the adults and the youth separated. The adults listened to Ron Buchanan, a HOPE North committee member, speak about his story, and his road to recovery at the Ma-mow-we-tak Friendship Centre.
Kevin Lamoureux also spoke about reducing stigma and promoting resiliency and reducing the risk of suicide.
The youth gathered at the Thompson Regional Community Centre and took part in the first-ever anti-stigma youth summit. The day was in partnership with the Mental Health Commission of Canada, who helped fund the event.
The youth listened to three speakers – R.D. Parker Collegiate student, and Students Offering Support (S.O.S) member Glenn Shatford, Thompson Citizen’s Molly Gibson Kirby and junior chief of Opaskwayak Cree Nation Jeremy Sinclair – speak about their stories surrounding mental health.
Adults and youth then both took part in breakout groups, which focused on finding ways to create a community of inclusion and hope for all. Whalen says the HOPE forum is held for many reasons, but two of the most important are to instill hope and to work towards reducing the stigma that surrounds mental health and illness.
The committee is now eagerly anticipating the seventh HOPE forum in 2016.
