Guest post by: Emily Olsen
Guest post by: Emily OlsenWith just over a month to go before the second edition of the The Connection Project, I pause to appreciate a few very important and wonderful changes since last year.
The Connection Project event last Fall was a huge learning experience for me. It challenged my underlying fears and beliefs. Would anyone come to the event? Was I kidding myself that mental health could be brought to light through storytelling? Would I lose friends and family?
My experience has been incredibly positive.
Through the process of organizing this event, and by watching it grow organically in the ways that it did, I realized the project needed to be an annual event. So, I put a call out through word-of-mouth, email, and social media for anyone interested to join me at the first planning session at the McTavish Academy of Art (thank you, Sean, for donating the meeting space). To my delight, ten people showed up to offer their support. Three of them are on the Connection Project core team. One is the opening speaker, and the others are volunteering their expertise to make the event happen. I cannot express how wonderful it is to work with such a gracious and caring team. Thank you Jessica Williamson (Promotions/Youth Representative/MC), Linda Hunter (Event Coordinator/Sponsorship Lead), and Lisa Bosman (Performance Coach/Musician).
Not long after this planning session, The Connection Project 2019 auditions were held and we were off and running. In early October seven speakers will tell heartfelt and vulnerable stories about the impacts of mental health on their lives. I have recently shared my own personal journey on The Obstacle Course Podcast, and upcoming shows of The Public Circle Podcast, and About the Peninsula on Radio Sidney. As the seventh and final speaker, I will share my own personal healing journey from despair to joy.
Re-connection
This year The Connection Project will again raise funds for the Peninsula Youth Clinic which operates at Shoreline Medical in Sidney on Thursday nights from 5:30 – 7:30 pm. This walk-in health clinic for youth aged 12 – 24 years old, involves family physicians, mental health counsellors, a child and adolescent psychiatrist, as well as a youth worker and First Nations elder. With almost 75% of the sponsorship goals realized, and with the hopes of a sell-out crowd, I look forward to making a much larger contribution to their important work than we were able to make last year.
The event has a 15-minute intermission and will take place in the Charlie White Theatre at the Mary Winspear Centre on October 4, 2019. Tickets are $20 with proceeds going to support the Saanich Peninsula Youth Clinic.
0 Comments