One Week To Go ‘Till FIHT’s February Fair!

Join us for an unforgettable evening of fun and community at our Good for the Soul February Fair! 🌟

🗓 When: Next Week – Wednesday, February 5: 5PM to 8PM
📍 Where: Sprezzatura Spaghetti Disco
🎟 Last Chance for Tickets: Don’t miss out – grab yours today!

Here’s what’s waiting for you:
🎯 Fun Games for all ages
🎶 Live Music to lift your spirits
🎨 A talented caricature artist capturing your smiles
🍿 A popcorn machine bringing the nostalgia
🎟 Exciting raffles and door prizes

All proceeds go to Hope and Me, a wonderful charity supporting those living with mood disorders. Your participation makes a difference! 💛

🎟 Get Your Tickets Now: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/good-for-the-soul-february-fair-tickets-1112101789389?aff=oddtdtcreator

Let’s come together, have some fun, and make a difference! See you there! 🥳

Help Us Help YOU!

As FIHT continues to live into our vision of bridging the gap between people and mental health services while creating community, we have been hard at work creating a conceptul design for our digital platform and we need your feedback!

Join us on March 26 from 3:30 – 5PM where we’ll take you through 2 design options while gathering your feedback and thoughts.

To make the session as meaningful as possible, we will be working in small groups so participation is limited to 15 people. Click here to register for this free event. The first 15 participates will receive a zoom link to the session.

We’re excited to engage in this next step of our journey and can’t wait to collaborate with you and make a difference in the mental health space! 💚

#mentalwellness #mentalhealthmatters #makingadifference #healingtogether

The Power of Sharing

Your experiences, your words and your story have the potential to help countless people, whether struggling with their own mental wellness or supporting others with theirs. It’s time to make a difference and share with the world.

At FIHT, we believe that every voice plays a vital role on the path to mental well-being. Mental health touches us all, either directly or indirectly. It’s time to shatter the stigma, ignite inspiration, and cultivate a united community where no one faces their struggles alone.

We invite you to be a part of this transformation! Share your personal mental health journey with us. Whether it’s your own story of resilience, words of encouragement, or support for others, your voice has the power to inspire and heal.

Here’s how you can get involved:

  • Visit our page and complete the ‘Become a Friend‘ section to share a glimpse of your personal journey and narrative with us. As we strive to foster a sense of community, we’re gathering stories that can take various forms, including videos, blog posts, inspirational memes, or audio recordings. You have the option to claim authorship or remain anonymous. These stories will be shared with our Industry Friends, fostering a supportive network among us all. Once you reach out, we’ll provide you with additional details on how to participate and the profound influence your words can have.

AND/OR

  • Share your words of encouragement in this thread or in a post of your own using the hashtag #WorldMentalHealthDay and tag @FIHT to amplify the message.

Every word of encouragement and story shared is a step towards dismantling stigma, creating community and aligning with our vision – “To live in a world where mental wellness is a priority for ourselves and others and nobody falls through the cracks”💙

Together, let’s stand strong, lift one another, and remind the world that it’s perfectly okay not to be okay.  United, we will make a profound impact on countless lives.

#MentalHealthMatters #EndTheStigma #YouAreNotAlone #ShareYourStory #FIHT #WorldMentalHealthDay #Mentalwellness

We’re Looking for More Friends!

Following a successful launch during Mental Health Awareness Week and a phenomenal inaugural Hike To Heal event where we raised just shy of $5000 for the Canadian Mental Health Association – York -Simcoe, FIHT is ready to mobilize and get to work doing all the things we need to do to make a difference in the mental health space and we need your help!

FIHT’s mission is “To live in a world where mental wellness is a priority for ourselves and others and nobody falls through the cracks.” To fulfill this mission, our mandate is 3-fold:

  1. Raise awareness and reduce the stigma associated with mental health, while creating a sense of community within the Industry where we can share stories, challenges, successes, tips and support so that no one ever has to feel alone. Because let’s face it, sometimes we could all use a friend.
  2. Create a digital network platform to connect people to resources within their communities. Through our research and our own personal struggles, when identifying where the gaps are in the mental health space, it was evident that finding and accessing resources was the biggest pain point for most. Whether personally struggling or supporting loved ones with mental health challenges, the journey is difficult enough on it’s own. Trying to find help shouldn’t be this difficult too.
  3. Raise funds to support mental health charities and organizations within our communities across Canada. By hosting fundraising events, partnering with Corporate friends and through individual donations, we strive to direct proceeds to where (and when) they are needed most.

And we can’t do it without you!

As a not-for-profit organization, FIHT is reliant upon volunteers to help us achieve our mission. If you’re passionate about mental health, and if you believe:

  • Everyone deserves mental wellness
  • Everyone should have access to the resources they need
  • That there is power in community
  • And that no-one should ever have to feel alone

Then we want to hear from you! We are looking for 20-30 individuals with varying degrees of skill to help us live into our mission. In addition to these individuals, who will form a variety of committees, we are looking for some specific people and skills to fill the roles of treasurer and website developer.

We will be hosting a virtual session on July 24th from 4:30-5:30PMEST for everyone interested in becoming a part of this phenomenal organization. If this sounds like you, then click here to register!

We are so excited to continue the momentum with YOU and drive real change for ourselves, our families, our friends, our industry and our communities. Looking forward to seeing you on the 24th!

Just 2 Weeks Until Our Inaugural Event – Are you ready?

Hello to all of our FIHT friends and friends to be! We are very excited about our inaugural event ‘Hike to Heal’ coming up on June 13th!

There is still plenty of time to register so, so why not grab a couple of friends, your family and/or collegues and join in the fun!  Registration is easy, just click on the Eventbrite link!

On Tuesday, June 13,  from 3:30pm to 6 pm, we are hosting our inaugural event called “Hike to Heal” designed to promote mental health awareness and selfcare through hiking and spending time outdoors.  We’ll be exploring a beautiful trail in York Region.  Hollidge Tract Park is located at 16389 Highway 48 in Stouffville.

You and your teams will enjoy the scenery, team building, engaging in conversations about mental health and wellness, partaking in a scavenger hunt and have chances to win prizes.

By participating in this event, you’ll not only prioritize your own mental health but also help support heath organizations in our community.  This is also a great outdoor team building and connection exercise!

Thank you so much to those of you who have already sponsored the event!  It you haven’t sponsored, but would like to, we are still accepting sponsorship through our Eventbrite link.  We are also seeking sponsors to donate items for individual hiking bags given to each participant. If so inclined, feel free to email us at friendsoftheindustry@fiht.ca.

Thank you so much for your support and we look forward to seeing you on the trail June 13th!  We know we can count on our Industry to step up for this important cause!

FIHT was created to support Mental Health organizations in our communities. Our media sponsor, Canadian Underwriter recently posted this article about our new not for profit organization which provides information about how this organization came to be. For further information on the the organization and our founding members, please visit https://fiht.ca 

Join us for our Inaugural Event as we #HikeToHeal

We are thrilled by the overwhelming response to our launch this week!  It just goes to show how now, more than ever, an Organization like FIHT is so important! 

While ramping up our fundraising and volunteer efforts to fill the needs of many communities, we are kicking off with our first #HikeToHeal event with proceeds being directed to Canadian Mental Health Association York/Simcoe in support of keeping “Mobyss” on the road! 

There’s a scavenger hunt, goodie bags and prizes to boot! What a great opportunity for a team-building event with your peers, a family day out, or simply a chance to enjoy the peace of nature as you stroll on your own.

Registration is now open, don’t delay, click here to start making a difference today!

If interested in volunteering to help with the event or sponsorship of any sort (event itself, knapsack, healthy snacks), contact us to learn how! All sponsors will receive recognition through our social media leading up to the event, day of the event and exposure on our website as a #HikeToHeal partner friend!

We’re excited to hike with all of our friends while raising funds for such an important cause!  See you on the trails!

New P&C Industry Organization Launches to Support Mental Health

Hands holding green happy smile face paper cut, good feedback rating and positive customer review, experience, satisfaction survey ,mental health assessment, child wellness,world mental health day concept

Thank you so much to our media partners – Canadian Underwriter for this great article that really captures the essence of what FIHT is all about! Check it out here!

What Exactly is a “Mobyss”

Did you know that the Canadian Mental Health Association, York Region-Simcoe Chapter operates Ontario’s first and only, mobile walk-in health
clinic for youth aged 12-25 years?

As a result of the pandemic, 70% of school-aged children, and 66% of preschool aged children have experienced a deterioration in their mental health.

Mobbys is staffed by Nurse Practitioners, Youth Mental Health Workers and Peer Support Specialists. The 35’ MOBYSS RV, which is wrapped in eye-catching graffiti, has three zones: The medical office that supports comprehensive primary care; a private one-to-one counselling zone to provide individualized clinical support such as de-escalation, crisis intervention, cognitive behaviour therapy etc.; and a lounge area that allows for small group discussion, education, a safe space to rest, or a place to talk.

Traditionally, MOBYSS provides immediate access for over 2,000 youth annually to mental and physical health care by travelling directly to schools, community centres and shelters throughout York Region and South Simcoe. With the advent of the pandemic, the MOBYSS team now offers virtual services in addition to in-person care.

Learn more about this groundbreaking mental health initiative by visiting CMHA and sign up for FIHT’s inaugural #HikeToHeal event on June 13, 2023 in support of keeping Mobyss on the move!