I have seen too many people waiting for help
My name is Jean-Rémy Provost, and I am the General Director at Relief.
Relief is a non-profit organization in mental health that supports people living with anxiety, depression, bipolarity, and their loved ones, so they can keep moving forward.
Throughout my career as a mental health worker or as a General Director, I have too often seen people unfortunately on one or more waiting lists.
Waiting for a doctor, a psychologist, or any other healthcare professional.
Fortunately, there are services that are available from the moment the person asks for help. And I have a story to tell you about that.
julie's story
Julie is living with anxiety and is waiting to see a psychologist, but the wait time is very long between 7 to 8 months.
Nevertheless, she still goes to Relief.
Because she wants to have new tools, and it just so happens that Relief offers a workshop to learn how to live with anxiety.
And one of the objectives is to have the right tools to better live with anxiety on a daily basis.
It's good for Julie, she tells herself, because she hasn't set foot in a grocery store in 10 years.
So, she signs up for the workshop. The first meetings go well.
It's a bit difficult to mingle with others, but it's doing her more and more good.
And at the last meeting, just before, she decides to go grocery shopping for her fellow workshop participants.
It's only on the way back that she realizes she went to the grocery store and it had been 10 years.
Every time I talk about it, it touches me deeply.
Because Julie took action and showed that it's possible to accomplish gestures like this and that it can really make a difference in her own mental health journey.
A great example that demonstrates that no matter the waiting list: the person can take action to better live on a daily basis.
a story among many others
Julie's story is one of many.
Currently in Quebec, there are over 20,000 people waiting for mental health services.
At Relief, we can change that. With services that complement therapeutic treatments and with direct access to an experienced mental health intervention team.
And with your help, we can do more now.
Donate to Relief