“Many of us come from families where mental health isn’t something we can just talk about. Even though that’s the advice we are often given,” Leanne Toshiko Simpson says.
Simpson is a writer, educator and mental health activist, who grew up in Scarborough, Ontario. She was diagnosed with bipolar disorder as she was finishing high school. However, coming from a family that had lived through intergenerational trauma, she found it hard to speak about her diagnosis.
How could she tell her Japanese grandmother, who had been interned in New Denver, British Columbia, “that I couldn’t get out of bed — after she had slept in horse stables?”
Today, Simpson is challenging the stigmas around mental health, especially within racialized communities, and is helping other people find their voice.
Watch her video:
[end]
This video is part of our ongoing coverage of Scarborough. Sign up here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.
Support The Discourse's award-winning community journalism
We won SEVEN medals at this year's Canadian Online Publishing Awards! These stories wouldn’t have happened without our readers' trust and ongoing support. Will you help us produce more award-winning local journalism?
