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Standing Up For Mental Health - Changing Hearts and Minds One Laugh at a Time

People with mental illness are always being told what they can't do. In Stand Up For Mental Health (SMH) they get to prove what they can do.

Since 2004, Stand Up For Mental Health has been teaching stand-up comedy to people with mental illness, as a way of building their confidence and fighting public stigma. SMH has performed over 200 shows, and generated a tremendous amount of positive national media coverage for people with mental illness. It was also featured in the CBC TV documentary Cracking Up. SMH is founded and led by Vancouver counselor, stand-up comic, and author of The Happy Neurotic: How Fear and Angst Can Lead to Happiness and Success, David Granirer, who himself suffers from depression.

David helps his groups of 8-10 students create original material about their mental health journeys and teaches them the fundamentals of stand up comedy; Technique, presentation, delivery and timing.

Students then perform before a variety of audiences, including mental healthcare organizations, corporations and government agencies and the most importantly, the general public. Doing stand-up comedy about their mental health journeys has an amazing effect. Often for the first time in their lives, students embrace the word crazy, and learn to laugh at their mental illness – and their audiences are laughing right along with them. They have discovered a talent they never dreamt they had.

SMH is a unique and cost-effective method of encouraging a critical open, frank, compassionate and humorous national discussion about Mental Illness. Stand Up For Mental Health has chapters on Vancouver Island and in Vancouver, Chilliwack, Abbotsford, Edmonton, Toronto, Ottawa, Fort Frances, and Guelph and there is interest in Newfoundland, the Maritimes, Nunavut and Nunatsiavut.

We are proud to partner with the Creative Centre Society in Abbotsford and Chilliwack for those programs. The Society’s mission is to support people with a mental illness as they integrate into society. CCS’s core principles reflect Inclusiveness, Respect, Empathy, Compassion, and Dignity.

However, we are in danger of losing our SMH programs in Abbotsford and Chilliwack due to lack of funding. We refuse to go down without a fight, so we are asking for the support of both communities. We will be holding a fundraising performance at the Cascade Community Church on Thursday November 20. We invite all residents and members of the Abbotsford business and social services community to attend this wonderful event.

Thanks your interest and your support. For further information, or to make a tax-deductible donation, please contact:

Pat Bayes
Fund Development and Administration Coordinator

Stand Up For Mental Health
Tel. 604.707.0483 E-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Visit www.standupformentalhealth.com

Abbotsford Restorative Justice Looking for New Volunteers

Do you have a passion for helping youth in conflict with the law? Do you have an interest in providing support and assistance to those who have been affected by crime? If you are someone who has a strong desire to make a difference in your community you are encouraged to apply as mediator and/or mentors with Abbotsford Restorative Justice & Advocacy Association. Restorative Justice is community-based and aims to resolve crime outside of the traditional court system. The program encourages offenders to take responsibility for their actions and to make amends directly to those they have negatively affected. This is often achieved through a face-to-face mediated process. “The face-to-face is a powerful event that can change the course of people’s lives.” Lesley Harder, ARJAA volunteer explains.

“ARJAA is all about the encounter,” describes Lesley. “It's a passion to see things made right, to empower people to "fix" things between them, to give an offender the tools to make things right and feel good about themselves, to see a victim gain strength, understanding and even a measure of peace from their encounter.”

Training for mediators and mentors will occur this fall. Please go to ARJAA’s website www.arjaa.org for volunteer application forms or call the office at 604-864-4857.

Drinking and driving isn't cool. Neither is making excuses.

We've all heard people say "I always make it home after a few," "I can handle my liquor," or "One more drink won't hurt." But if you drink and drive, you put yourself and others at risk.

ICBC and the police are sending a message to impaired drivers this summer - it's time to bury all excuses for drinking and driving. Along with ICBC's awareness campaign, police forces across the province are stepping up enforcement to combat drinking and driving.

Although the Drinking Driving CounterAttack campaign is one of the many initiatives that has helped reduce B.C.'s alcohol-related crash fatalities by some 50 per cent over the past 30 years, on average, 116 people still die each year in alcohol-related crashes.*

If you plan on drinking, plan ahead to get home safely: