Goals: Hey Lady, U Matter hopes to have more people talking about mental health, changing the stigma that surrounds mental health by sharing stories that people have and by speaking about mental health. We hope people seek out resources so that they are able to seek the help that they need. We will collect statistics so that people know they are not alone and that mental health is just as important as physical health. We will compile resources within the area. All of this will be posted within the neighbourhood on posters. We are going to gather the story audio clips, resources and statistics on an Instagram page that people can access. It will only have the information that we have compiled for this project and it will not be active besides having a few posts up with stories and resources. We hope that it will be another way to get more people looking for resources and knowing that they are not alone. We are hoping that the stories we gather of women that live in Regent Park will get other women to feel comfortable acknowledging and talking about their own stories. By speaking up and having more of an open dialogue of mental health we hope to increase awareness.
Audience: We are focused on women's mental health in the Regent Park community. We want to build a strong sense of self as some women may need to build up their time for themselves, make time for their needs and have some time doing their favourite things.
Research: We are focused on showing the mental health statistics that are discussed within the women's stories that we collect. We have a few that are focused on postpartum depression and depression within divorce. We are also looking for a youth story within the community. Once we collect more stories we are going to find more statistics and resources that are centered for the stories.
Some statistics we have found include: “Sex ratios for selected mental disorders such as major depressive disorder, anxiety disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, seasonal affective disorder, and eating disorders are much higher in women than men.4 Women are more likely than men to have severe depressions and to relapse, with biologic differences in hormone profiles affecting mental health disorder risks and symptoms, the course of those disorders, and recovery.” (Zender & Olshansky, 2009)
“women today have a 10 times greater chance of suffering from depression than their grandmothers did.” (Zender & Olshansky, 2009)
“1 in 5 Canadians experience mental illness in any given year” (CAMH)
“50% of all mental illnesses onset by 14.5 years old” (CAMH Research Impact Report, 2019).
All of these statistics showcase the importance of knowing that you are not alone. Women have higher cases of depression. Postpartum depression is not a topic many people discuss but it affects so many women. As well as not many people know that “postpartum depression is considered the most common post delivery complication of childbirth.” (Zender & Olshansky, 2009). Seeking the resources that work for you is such an important thing to do as not every resource works universally but looking into resources and acknowledging is a very good first step.
An example of a poster we will distribute in the community. Have a section of resources, statistics and part of a story. We want to attract people to the poster and have discussed that less words are better so this poster will probably change but overall the example is to show how we want to bring people to start talking about mental health or at least acknowledging its existence.
A group photo of the team before we brainstorm the next steps for the project.
The Hey Lady You Matter team members are Ines, Annika, Rebecca, and Najiya
Resources used:
Zender, R., & Olshansky, E. (2009). Women’s Mental Health: Depression and Anxiety. The Nursing Clinics of North America, 44(3), 355–364. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cnur.2009.06.002
Mental illness and addiction: Facts and statistics. CAMH. (n.d.). https://www.camh.ca/en/driving-change/the-crisis-is-real/mental-health-statistics#:~:text=In%20any%20given%20year%2C%201,Canadians%20experiences%20a%20mental%20illness.&text=By%20the%20time%20Canadians%20reach,have%20had%20%E2%80%93%20a%20mental%20illness.