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Youth invited to Get Loud for Mental Health Week

There's a new action team in Prince George ready to Get Loud as they look to raise awareness for mental health in children and youth during the 65th annual Mental Health Week in Canada from May 2 to 8.
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The local branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association is holding Get Loud for Mental Health Campaigne from May 2 to 8 and is asking the community to come together to support it by volunteering to have their photos taken with important messages about mental health and wear green to signify new life, new growth and new beginnings. Citizen photo by Brent Braaten April 25 2016

There's a new action team in Prince George ready to Get Loud as they look to raise awareness for mental health in children and youth during the 65th annual Mental Health Week in Canada from May 2 to 8.

The Prince George Action Team for Child and Youth Mental Health and Substance Use and the Prince George branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association are holding an event Thursday at noon at YAP Friends, 1148 Seventh Ave., where mental health advocate Myles Mattila will speak. Mattila, a local hockey player, was greatly affected when he saw a friend struggle with mental health issues and saw the end result when people don't get the help they need when clinically depressed Rick Rypien, a Vancouver Canucks hockey player, took his own life in 2011.

It is estimated about 84,000 children and youth between the ages of four and 17 in British Columbia experience mental health disorders at any time, said a recent news release from the Child and Youth Mental Health and Substance Use Collaborative, which is a provincial initiative.

"What we do as the local action team is to try and increase the access of child and youth mental health and substance use youth services," said Shari Wallace, project lead for the local action team that sets community based goals and sees if families are getting the help they need when it comes to mental health and addiction. The Prince George local action team is comprised of approximately 50 people representing 14 organizations across Prince George, added Wallace.

The local action team, formed in January, is bringing in a youth action team to offer their perspective, and is looking for people living with mental health issues or as a supporter and advocate, said Wallace.

"We're hoping it will be a great success," said Wallace. "The youth that have come forward so far are outstanding young people and really want to be engaged in a meaningful way and make a difference."

The youth action team is in development and the collaborative wants youth between 16 and 25 to come help build it, added Wallace.

The group would like to reduce stigma around mental health issues, and sometimes that means learning more about it to help understand it, said Wallace.

"Some ideas for the youth action team are to take some training possibly around mental health first aid, safe talk, suicide prevention or to work on a media campaign that broadens the understanding of mental health and works to reduce those barriers," said Wallace. "We're thinking of doing a project around de-stigmatizing language and also to act as an advisory committee to youth-approve initiatives."

This would allow organizations to present their ideas to the youth action team to get their stamp of approval before going forward on campaigns, initiatives or ideas, said Wallace. The youth action team could also offer suggestions on how to improve campaigns, initiatives or ideas presented to them.

The Canadian Mental Health Association's Get Loud campaign asks people to speak up to stop discrimination and build awareness and support around mental health.

For more information about the youth action team contact Wallace at wallaces@unbc.ca.