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Hello there. I am one of the members who created SQUASH STIGMA. My name is Jessica and I am 22 years old. I currently am a college student who has recently graduated univeristy with a bachelor of arts in child and youth studies. I am apart of the child and youth worker program and I went into this program because I want to learn how I can help a child be as successful as possible in life. I decided to go to college to further my education about children and youth and upon this journey, I have been fortunate enough to learn about the stigma against mental illness. I feel the stigma and discrimination a person goes through when they share about their illness is unfair to that person because in reality, a person is a person and we are all have a beating heart and a thinking mind. No one person is the same, yet no one person should be labelled as different.
Meet the members
My name is Stephanie Benard and I am one of the members and creators of the SQUASH STIGMA campaign. We have created this campaign in hopes to help people raise awareness of the Stigma and Discrimination against mental health. I am 20 years old, in my second year of the Child and Youth Worker Program in Ontario, Canada. One of my goals as a Child and Youth Worker is to be a positive influence in a childs life as well as provide extra support whenever needed.
Something that is really important to me is helping people understand that you are not alone and to speak up if you are feeling so. Stigma and discrimination will always be a tough subject and it's unfortunate that people are not aware of what it actually is and how it effects people but by speaking out and raising awareness that will help make a difference. I want to encourage everyone to speak up and never be ashamed. Everyone is different and everyone has different life eperiences. Even the smallest acts can make the biggest difference.
My name is Kayla Phillips and I am one of the creators of Squash Stigma. I am 20 years old and have a daughter who is my absolute world. I am currently a college student enrolled in the Child and Youth Worker program. During my studies I have had the opportunity to learn about stigma surrounding mental illness. The amount of discrimination that I have seen after learning about mental illness is completely unreal to me. What I think about is if my daughter had a mental illness and her classmates were stigmatizing her how she would feel. This is the main reason why I am trying to end stigma. It is wrong to make someone feel as though they are different and unwelcome. We are all humans and should be treated equally.
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