Not Myself Today

Maybe you were feeling anxious, or stressed, or even depressed. 

Paying attention to those feelings is part of dealing with your mental health. The more you look after it, the healthier your life will be.

Now, imagine living with those same feelings amplified many times and not just for one day but many days.  That's what 1 in 5 Canadians will have to deal with this year.  Worse is that those living with mental illness often live with the shame, discrimination and lack of treatment and support that goes with it. 

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Today, Partners for Mental Health is launching their Not Myself Today campaign across Canada.  The campaign which will run from April 2 to 30 will culminate with Not Myself Today Day, commemorated with numerous special events.

To bring greater awareness to mental health and mental illness and to help transform Canada's mental health system, take the pledge at NOTMYSELFTODAY.COM

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For authentic accounts of individuals dealing with mental health issues, I'll post several lists of titles with a variety of characters, both main and secondary, dealing with issues of depression, trauma, self-abuse, grief, and suicide.  Here's just one of the best:

Virginia Wolf
by Kyo Maclear
Illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault
Kids Can Press
32 pp.
Ages 5-10
2012
Virginia, awakens feeling "wolfish": dark, unhappy and reclusive. Her sister, Vanessa, is surprised by the extent of Virginia's doldrums, and unsuccessfully tries to cheer her up. Only when she makes the effort to ask Virginia what she needs is Vanessa successful in using her artistry to engage Virginia and brighten her mood.

Virginia Wolf

Written by Kyo Maclear
Illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault
Kids Can Press
978-1-55453-649-8
32 pp.
Ages 5-10
2012

As all readers do, I tried to predict the story of Virginia Wolf, without reading the jacket flaps or blurbs. I was sure it was a retelling of a story in which a wolf named Virginia went after a little girl in a yellow dress, treeing her. I should have known that Kyo Maclear, author of Spork (Kids Can Press, 2010) and adult book, The Letter Opener (HarperCollins Canada, 2007) could not pen such a superficial story.  She didn't.

Virginia, awakens feeling "wolfish": dark, unhappy, reclusive, determined to shut out the noises of the world. Her sister, Vanessa, is surprised by the extent of Virginia's doldrums, and unsuccessfully tries to cheer her up. Only when she makes the effort to ask Virginia what she needs is Vanessa successful in using her artistry to engage Virginia and brighten her mood.

In Virginia Wolf, Kyo Maclear's Virginia suffers from "wolfishness", expressively represented by Isabelle Arsenault's frenetic, shadowy illustrations. But Isabelle Arsenault's joyous Bloomsbury of flowers, greenery and iced cakes exemplifies the soothing beauty of Vanessa's artwork which brings relief to her sister's dark mood.

Kyo Maclear's text accentuates the overwhelming nature of Virginia's mood while depicting the nebulous attempts by Vanessa to help her sister. Appropriately, the reversal is gradual, with a swing to help change direction, a ladder to lead upward, and a gray snail that unanticipatedly reaches a mountain top.

"Down becomes up. Dim becomes bright. Gloom becomes glad."

Virginia Wolf is loosely based on the relationship between writer Virginia Wolf (1882-1941) and her sister, painter Vanessa Bell (1879-1961), who both helped establish the Bloomsbury Group, a guild of creative thinkers. The real Virginia Wolf suffered from mental illness, which manifested itself in depression, nervous breakdowns and ultimately her suicide. The sisters' names and the references to their brother Thorby and Bloomsbury suggest that Virginia Wolf is Kyo Maclear's uncomplicated take on depression and how it is experienced intrinsically and extrinsically. The alliance of Maclear's tale with Arsenault's illustrations has produced an accurate, touching, and enlightening portrayal of caring.

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This unique book trailer for Virginia Wolf, narrated by a young voice, helps promote the need to understand how to help anyone who may feel "wolfish".

Uploaded by kyomaclear1 on Feb 13, 2012 to YouTube.