Mental Health Week – May 3-9, 2021
#GetReal about how you feel
It’s Mental Health Week, it’s the 70th anniversary of this event, and while that is an enduring period, it doesn’t reflect the true scope of time that mental health or the lack thereof has been influencing our communities’ well-being. This week is a time to understand our emotions and to reflect on the fact that being #happy, #afraid, #sad or #angry are very real emotions and a key part of the full range of a mentally healthy life[1]. Ideally, accepting our feelings and building a foundation of mental fortitude, resilience, coping capacity, and strength is best started with our children, the most precious resource our communities have.
The demand for kids’ mental health services has never been greater and the stress on the system from COVID-19 has intensified that demand. We have been told to isolate to save lives, but social connection has been lost and for kids, playdates have ended, sports leagues are shut down and the resulting shock to their relationships, support network and physical well-being has been meaningful. Kids with mental health challenges are reaching out to agencies like never before and the organizations are trying to respond.
Capitalize for Kids has continued working tirelessly from home to be responsible stewards of our donors’ contributions and elevate services in kids’ mental health to serve kids now and into the future. We have begun the largest and broadest engagement with kids’ mental health organizations in our history as we seek to deploy our intellectual capital in addition to our donors’ and sponsors’ capital. We have recently signed on two new beneficiaries and we have engaged a further ten organizations, where we are exploring operational improvements to their current business model in order to serve more kids and their families.
The challenge that we’ve undertaken is massive—kids and their families are not getting the help they need. Children’s Mental Health Ontario cites 36% of Ontario parents have sought help for their child; of those who did, 4 in 10 didn’t receive the help they needed or are still waiting for treatment. 50% of Ontario parents who have sought mental health help for their child have faced challenges, primarily due to long wait times. We believe that our kids deserve so much more—and hopefully, you do too.
These are challenging times the world over. Our work to drive change and evolution in the mental health sector is needed to allow agencies to quickly adapt to their clients’ needs as those needs change. You have the power to facilitate this change and your financial support is needed.
We appreciate that many have already reached out to support us – thank you. We are asking you to consider what you can give to support kids’ mental health organizations across this country. Of course, we believe your charitable investment in kids’ mental health will be leveraged by supporting our ongoing business model, delivering excellent consulting services, supported by pro-bono work from for-profit consulting teams, all designed to lift the operating performance of kids’ mental health agencies across Canada.
We appreciate your generosity during these challenging times.
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[1] https://eerlab.berkeley.edu/pdf/papers/2011_Troy_Resilience_in_the_face_of_stress.pdf