Faces Tribute | Hommage aux visages
Faces campaign
One of Mental Illness Awareness Week’s (MIAW) major initiatives has been the Faces of Mental Illness campaign, a national outreach campaign featuring the stories of Canadians living in recovery from mental illness.
We are proud of the progress our Faces Campaign has made over the past 20 years in destigmatizing mental illness across Canada and thank every Canadian who has contributed to creating a safer and kinder country for those living with, or recovering from, mental illness. This year, we are making some changes and will no longer run the Faces campaign.
We will be sharing a video highlighting the Faces of the past two decades, checking in on where some of them are now, and showcasing the hard work of our partners and supporters. As we move forward, we will be continuing to focus on our Champions of Mental Health campaign while also turning our attention to increasing our advocacy efforts.
The work is not completed, but we believe Canada has come a long way in destigmatizing mental illness, and we think our efforts should turn to increasing accessibility and inclusiveness of mental health resources.
Faces used to need Champions and now they are Champions - this is why we don’t need a Faces campaign anymore
2020 Faces of Mental Illness
Karandeep has struggled with mental health issues since she was 15. At age 24 she was correctly diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, bipolar type after being hospitalized seven times over the previous decade. Following her last hospitalization for severe paranoia and visual hallucinations, she followed an intensive inpatient and outpatient recovery program that helped her cope. Karandeep shares her recovery journey through talks and her mental health awareness Instagram account (@livinginpeacee_), inspiring others to know that they are not alone in this battle.
— Karandeep Gill (Brampton, ON)