THE CAUSE
Let’s Bond is an initiative created in 2011 by a group of young professionals eager to mobilize their community, break the stigma associated with mental illness and promote mental health in the workplace. 100% of sponsorship proceeds and donations are given directly to the Fondation Jeunes en Tête, the Douglas Foundation and other organizations that support and promote mental health.
Let’s Bond aims to accomplish 4 goals:
- Awareness
- Increase Prevention
- Improve Understanding
- Encourage Engagement
Funds donated to the Fondation Jeunes en Tête are used to support Partners for Life, a mental health awareness program led by pairs of facilitators in Quebec high schools and offered free every year to 48,500 teenagers and adults. Fondation Jeunes en Tête reached over 1.1 million people over the years. Developed by health experts, Partners for Life’s mission is to teach youth aged 11 to 18, parents, teachers, and health professionals how to recognize the signs and symptoms of depression during adolescence and direct those in crisis to the appropriate community resources. When left untreated, teen depression often leads to school dropouts and even suicide. (https://www.fondationjeunesentete.org)
Funds raised for The Douglas Foundation are earmarked for the development of the Douglas Institute. Its main focuses are patient care and their environment, research in neuroscience and mental illness, as well as training and education.
(www.fondationdouglas.qc.ca)
Donald Berman UP house is a front-line recovery-oriented community centre for people living with chronic and persistent mental illnesses such as Schizophrenia, Bipolar, Depression and Anxiety. UP House provides a safe and welcoming environment where members build on personal strengths instead of focusing on their illness. Members work on reception, run our culinary unit, maintain our garden, support our administration and finance activities and deliver workshops for the benefit of their peers. Members are the key stakeholders within our organization and participate in all of our decision-making and governance opportunities. Our innovative « work-ordered day « approach to psychosocial rehabilitation is progressive and world-renowned. The central tenet of UP House is that members work side by side with staff to co-deliver clubhouse activities as a key means of regaining a sense of confidence, purpose and community.
(www.uphouse.org)