Inaugural Mental Health Summit brings prominent wellness advocates in Calgary

For Doctor Gina Turkowski, mental health is the driving force behind everything she does. Teachers from across the country, principals, leaders, students and families in Canada really needed to come together. Cherkowski and the Head Water Institute bringing the first ever Mental Health Summit to Calgary Academy, sparking the conversation about mental health and Canadian schools. It's an important topic for not only for our family, but for many out there. One of those fire starters Special guest Kelly Rudy, underlining that it's OK to ask for help. His daughter Caitlin spent years waging a quiet battle with severe anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorder. When Caitlin was going through it early, when she was about 11 years old, we thought that she had what I'm going to call quirky little habits. But we didn't put all these signs together. Rudy also open about his own battle with anxiety, sharing an impactful memory of hope from years ago with the attendees. So now she's 16, in high school, and she goes, mom, dad, I'm having more good days than bad. So what a profound statement, right, for somebody that young. And it's not just speaking, but movement that fires up another Summit guest speaker. Her deep pander fusing his love of Bangra and mental health to lift up others, his videos during the pandemic, danced their way across the world. A movement is one of the best way to find joy during tough times. He now uses that passion to bring that joy to a nuanced conversation. We need a lot more awareness about mental health. Still, there are stereotypes. Still there are taboos, topics all tackled at the summit Friday, which featured more than 20 speakers. The Mental health Summit, connecting, inspiring and spurring action with a promise to return next year because all through our lifetime we have ups and downs and we all need those skills and tools. And I think that that's a really great take away from the day. Joel Tomlinson, Global News.