My Story

Breakthrough

Kari Ala‑Leppilampi

Fall 2005

By Kari Ala‑Leppilampi

Physical activity helps overcome substance use and mental illness

I have accomplished many things in life, including being a PhD candidate, the race director for the CAMH Don River Run for Recovery, and a competitor in this year's Ironman Triathlon World Championships held in Hawaii. It was not too long ago that thoughts of accomplishing anything at all were not part of who I was because of my struggles with anxiety and depression.

In my early twenties, I had many problems that affected both my personal and professional life, one of which was eating. I found pleasure in eating, but I would overeat to such an extent that I would actually become sick. Eventually I began combining my overeating with alcohol and drugs, leading to a diet that began to negatively affect my physical well-being and self esteem.

My drug and alcohol use started causing memory blackouts; there were many times when I would wake up feeling guilty because I could not remember what I had done the night before. There were countless times when I did not want to associate with anybody and just wanted to stay alone. Sometimes I had thoughts of committing suicide, and there were a couple of times when I was very close to doing it.

My friends walked away leaving me alone, and my professors started worrying that I would drop out of school. My future seemed gray. I was not able to overcome my problems on my own. I decided to seek help. Throughout this time there was one ray of hope — my running.

Through a lot support and effort from many people in my life, I got the help I needed to find both the will and the courage to get better and change my life. While recovering, I went out running. It always made me feel better and I soon realized that by combining exercise, treatment and medication I could achieve great results. Not only did exercise give me more energy and improve my self-esteem, it also gave me time to reflect on my life and what I needed to do to improve it.

After seeing the positive impact that exercise had on my life, I wanted to share my experience with others. I wanted to give back to the organization that supported me through my struggles and also help to break down the stigma around problem substance use and mental illness. I became race director for CAMH's Don River Run for Recovery and became involved in fundraising for CAMH's Fitness in Treatment Research and Advisory Panel (FITRAP). FITRAP's mandate is to promote and champion physical activity among all problem substance use and mental health clients at CAMH.

Being able to help people through the work I do at CAMH has been extremely rewarding personally, and has inspired me professionally as well. Now my life is different. I have meaningful relationships back in my life. I know now that I can live up to my commitments to my family, colleagues and friends. The next chapter of my life is just beginning. The first one has just been written — on October 15, 2005 I completed the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii — something that I would never have dreamed was possible many years ago.

My Story

Breakthrough

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