Fort St. John Hosts World Mental Health Day Community Walk

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — The Fort St. John Mental Health and Substance Use Advisory Committee is organizing a community walk in honour of World Mental Health Day.

The organization seeks to improve mental health services in the city by receiving input from various stakeholders, including service providers and the public.

According to event organizer Cynthia Goerzen, ideas from collaborations with the Salvation Army, the Women’s Resource Society, and others are brought to Northern Health to determine what can be done to help people struggling with their mental health.

On October 10th, organizations come together to raise awareness and fight the stigma against mental health. This event first occurred in 1992 at the urging of the World Federation for Mental Health.

In Fort St. John, a walk will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Pomeroy Walking Track inside the Pomeroy Centre located at 9324 96th Street in Fort St. John.

Goerzen says global events such as the COVID-19 pandemic affected the community, especially its younger members.

She’s hoping people from all walks of life come together to discuss the impacts of mental health. Brochures about the committee and mental health stickers will also be given out.

“We’d like to be able to do stuff for the [younger people,]” said Goerzen, “You can see how dealing with it affected them.”

“People are talking about mental health more.  There’s more information so a person learns how to deal with it.” 

Goerzen also says a meeting to elect a new committee board will occur on November 2nd. 

“We are looking for committee members like executive positions mental health and substance use clients, client family members, service providers and identified support,” Goerzen said.

“I’m looking forward to seeing, seeing people out, seeing if we can get a lot of people out, and let’s walk and talk about our mental health.”

The walk will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. next Thursday, October 10th.