Introduction

Hear me, Understand me, Support me: In Their Words - Young women's stories, advice and wisdom

In this section:

• Invisible Scars - Tanya
• Comfort In My Skin - Katherine
• Depression: The Unburdening Of My Past - Neva
• When There Is No Way Out - Ida
• Opposite Ends - Priscilla
• Karyn's Story - Karyn
• Please Like Me - Meagan
• Got To Bo In Healthy Relationships To Be Healthy - Meagan, Tiana and Katherine
• Beauty: Let's Redefine It - Shauna
• MizLabelled - Tiana

Their hopes for how this guide will be helpful to you

 

I decided to participate in the VALIDITY project because I believe that speaking out about depression in young women is very important. I am very passionate about trying to minimize the amount of stigma attached to mental health. I wanted other young girls to know that they are not alone and to feel comfortable going to a service provider who will have a better understanding of what we go through. Through this project, I was able to learn a lot about other issues surrounding depression such as media pressure, etc., and it allowed me to learn a lot about my own personal strengths and weaknesses. Working with girls from across the province really brought an interesting twist and variety to the project. I am very thankful to have had this opportunity.

By living through my depression and eating disorder, I discovered that there truly is a silver lining in every cloud (even if that cloud happens to be huge and black!). Of course the cloud was what my life was like during my depression and living with an eating disorder. However, during my recovery from both, I was able to rediscover my remarkable self and redefine my perspectives on life - thus my silver lining. It is thanks to this silver lining that I feel so strongly in both helping other young women recover from depression and concurrent disorders, as well as developing prevention tools for young women in general, which has led me to contribute my own experiences to the VALIDITY project.

I think this project was so important. There needs to be something like this everywhere, because there are girls everywhere and in every community struggling to cope with depression, and there are service providers for these girls struggling too. There needs to be more resources for young girls/women to have an outlet for the depression that they suffer from.

Hopefully this guide becomes the bridge for young girls/women and service providers to communicate effectively and do something about it.

To educate is essential to life; to acquire and use knowledge is powerful.

From the Beastie Boys' "Alive," I thought it would be nice to end it on this:

Dip dip dive so-socialize
Open up your ears and clean out your eyes
If you learn to love you're in for a surprise
It could be nice to be alive.

As you read on you will find very personal stories, advice and wisdom on what it is like to be a young woman today. We hope that they will inspire you to become an ally for young women, and to join the efforts to prevent depression - as well as helping those who are experiencing the effects of depression to make their healing journey an empowering and respectful experience.

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