Ride to end mental health stigma
Penticton Western NewsApr 22, 2017
Suffering in silence.
Like many people who endure daily the emotional pain and internal turmoil of mental health issues, that’s how
“I finally spoke up and discovered what was going on inside my head,” said McGoran, who has since become a strong advocate to help reduce the stigma associated with what is clearly a much bigger problem than once thought.
“Once I started to learn about the shocking mental illness numbers, I decided I wouldn’t be silent anymore and that I would do my part to end the stigma surrounding mental illness.
“But then not only did I start to understand what I was dealing with I started telling people what I was dealing with because I was so surprised to learn how most people just suffer in silence and if that is the case your’e not going to get better.”
Since then he has been using whatever platform available, radio and
McGoran was speaking at the announcement earlier this week at the Canadian Mental Health Association’s
This year’s event, which is held in communities across
“Ride Don’t Hide is an opportunity to come together to fundraise as a community and say mental health is important to me, and it’s time to banish the stigma often associated with it,” said South Okanagan Similkameen CMHA executive director
The money raised here will go to support local programs and projects including
“It takes a lot of courage for someone to stand up and talk about mental health,” said Jakubeit. “It’s something we need to de-stigmatize, so it has the same cache as as going to the dentist or going to the doctor dealing with mental health shouldn’t be a stigma and that’s one of the offsets of raising awareness.”
Ride Don’t Hide started in 2010 when
The ride is open to cyclists of all levels and goes along the
Children 12 and under are free. Start time is