Vic High students take Saanich-reared comic's words on mental illness to heart
Victoria NewsNov 22, 2017
A talented former high school athlete and honour roll student who is outgoing and has a lot going for him,
But the Lambrick Park Secondary grad, who plies his trade these days as a standup comic, has been battling depression for years and has become a sought-after speaker as an advocate for talking about mental illness.
Breel's TED Talk, entitled Confessions of a Depressed Comic, has more than four million views and he's taken part in the Bell Let's Talk day to help bring mental illness into the light.
"Part of it is us as a learning community recognizing the importance of understanding depression and understanding suicide, and [Breel's] story came to mind," he said.
Among the positive feedback Koutougos heard from students was that Breel was "real" and was coming from a place of his own experience. "They thought he was genuine and they liked the message of speaking up and of owning your story."
A concept that school staff picked up on was that Breel encouraged students to seek out supports already available in school, even if reaching out is on a friend's behalf. Some
"What I've noticed about this building is how caring it is," said Koutougos, in his second year at
Given his notoriety, Breel commands a healthy fee for public speaking, which more often happens at universities or corporate conferences. Given his connection with Koutougos, he agreed to forego his fee if the school would make a donation to a charity aiding youth mental health.
That will end up going to jack.org, a network of young leaders in high schools and post-secondary institutions across