‘The kids are not all right’: Young Canadians describe mental health struggles – CTV
January 22, 2025
Going into Grade 10, Abby Walker switched schools and struggled to make friends. At the time, she had no idea she was suffering from depression.
“I blamed myself,” said Walker. “I thought that there was something wrong with me, and I didn’t really understand why.”
She says she slept all the time and stayed in her room almost every night, scrolling through social media sites. She felt lonely and sad.
“I didn’t know that there was help available because I didn’t even know what mental health was.”
In university, she developed an eating disorder and started therapy. It was only then she realized her earlier depression had gone undiagnosed.
Today, Walker is an advocate for open conversations about mental health and works to remove the stigma around it. She’s a speaker for Jack.org, a network of young people supporting one another through mental health challenges.
“There’s still so much work that needs to be done,” said Abby. “Young people are still seeing mental health as something that can make them weak. And because of that, they don’t want to reach out for support.”
According to Mental Health Research Canada, 1.25 million youth in Canada need mental health supports every year, yet more than half of them aren’t receiving it.
