Now more than ever, young people are reaching out and asking for help with their mental health. As a father of three, the challenges that kids and their families face are far from foreign to me. At the very least, my family has benefited from having the means to access every possible resource – not everyone is so fortunate.

When you look at the state of kids’ mental health services in Canada, it’s clear that the system is bending under the weight of unrelenting demand. When I looked at this, I knew I had to do something.

While I could have written a bigger cheque, I believed that I had more to offer. I wanted to bring my talents, leadership and everything that comes with a 30-year career in financial services to the table. And earlier this month, that’s exactly what I did.

I left my position as Managing Director, Head of Institutional Equity Sales at CIBC Capital Markets and became the Managing Director of Capitalize for Kids to lead the organization’s outstanding efforts.

I’m excited to be surrounded by a staff and community of people like you who believe that they can make the world a better place. But more than anything, I’m excited by the work we are doing and its potential to be a significant catalyst in the transformation of kids’ mental health services in Canada.

In the coming months, you should expect to hear more about some of our early successes in this field – like our work with Kids Help Phone to support innovation in the delivery of their services.

You should also expect to hear more about what you can do. Whether you show your support by donating, volunteering or engaging your firm in one of our programs, it will take all of us working together to ensure that no kid is prevented from accessing the mental health resources they need.