Mental wellness campaign encourages kindness, acceptance, culture, and compassion – Anishinabek News
October 8, 2021
TORONTO– The Soar Above Stigma campaign was recently launched to champion messages of Kindness, Acceptance, Culture, and Compassion by the First Peoples Wellness Circle, Thunderbird Partnership Foundation, and First Nations Health Managers Association in partnership with NationTalk.
“One in three Indigenous people face mental wellness issues, and we lack the support to ease this issue. So, coming down to the essence of Soar Above Stigma, it aims to provide any of our kinship, aunties, uncles, cousins, anyone who is suffering from addictions, mental health or any COVID-related matters a space to see they are not alone in their nation, in their community,” says Marion Crowe, CEO at First Nations Health Managers Association. “We want to provide some outreach and support and stigma education for Indigenous community members.”
The campaign was created to ease the tension of stigma due to fears surrounding COVID-19 as well as escalating mental health issues and substance abuse due to addictions, and it aims to propel the Indigenous values of hope, belonging, meaning and purpose through the sharing of Indigenous voices and perspectives.
