Mental Health is never an easy topic, but it’s not something we can’t afford to tip toe around.
We have to walk through it.
One local event is helping people do just that.
Darcy’s Nature Walk is a beloved annual event in Crowsnest Pass.
It brings the community together to raise awareness and reduce stigma around mental health, while celebrating the lives of community members who unfortunately succumbed to their own battles with mental illness.
As the Facebook page puts it, they bring the community together to walk, breathe, learn, remember and get “a good dose of Vitamin N (nature) for a good cause!”
The walk began to honour Darcy Rinaldi, an active and giving mother, wife, friend and community member in Crowsnest Pass.
She had faced her fair share of struggles with depression, eventually being led to take her own life on December 5th, 2007.
The event was created with her in mind, but more importantly, to create more access to mental health resources in Crowsnest Pass. The goal has always been to make sure residents get the help they need and prevent more tragedies.
Depression and suicides do unfortunately take more than just a personal tole, and they tend to spread throughout communities where no action is being taken.
A 2003 study by Dr. Ping Qin found that a family experiencing a suicide is about 3.5 times more likely than the general population to experience another suicide death of an immediate family member.
Unfortunately, this was the case in Darcy’s family, and her son Kelly took his own life as well in 2013.
Despite the odds, Crowsnest has proven that they’re not a community to stand back and watch this happen. They have truly gone the distance to improve mental health in their community.
Over the last 15 years, the walk specifically has raised tens of thousands towards supporting mental health initiatives in the community, funding everything from Mental Health First Aid courses to Yoga for Wellness classes.
The “Faces of Mental Health” is one program they’ve put in place specifically to tackle stigma and dispel myths about mental illness.
Displays featuring local residents who struggle with mental health issues are set up in Crowsnest Pass Health Centre and other sites in the community during Mental Health Month in May.
“The fact local people are willing to have their faces in displays encouraging more open talk about mental health really helps reduce the stigma,” said Willie Chorney, a CrowsNest Pass Health Foundation trustee. “I used to hide that my father had mental health issues when I was young, but things have changed a lot since then and people are beginning to realize it’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”
While Darcy and Kelly may not be here any more to advocate for themselves anymore, the people they touched during their lives have created a whole movement. This movement has helped motivate the whole area to care about changing mental health outcomes, and take the steps needed to make a difference.
Visit their website to find all the mental health resources available in Crowsnest Pass.
If you or someone else is struggling, reach out. There’s more help available than you think.
