If it weren’t for opportunities like this to sit back and review the year with some amount of distance, I would never believe all of the things that happened and all of the stories that I wrote about them.
This is the same year that started off with the tragic January shooting of RCMP Const. David Wynn and Auxiliary Const. Derek Bond, and then a few months later St. Albert couple Bruce and Kathy MacMillan were lost in the aftermath of an earthquake during their trek through Nepal.
On my beat, I usually write ‘soft’ news items with a human interest element. Following these two stories, even conversing with some family members, required me to step up my level of safeguarding against emotional over-involvement as a writer. People who know me well know that I can and have been affected by some things that I’ve had to write about. I always try to take these opportunities to offer public and other resources to the readers in case they too find themselves struggling to cope with tough times.
This was never more apparent than during the mental health series that my colleague Doug Neuman and I worked on during the fall. It all started off with the St. Albert Community Foundation’s announcement that it would be bringing in Kelly Hrudey and his daughter Kaitlin to give a presentation at the Arden Theatre all on the topic of her mental health struggles as a youth. The series looked at the issue from different angles, learning more about the onset, symptoms to watch out for in yourself and others, and ways of living in health. It was a great challenge for us to sift through the stories of those who came forward and the suggestions and comments from various experts and other community leaders in the area while still keeping it a human story about people facing their big battles.
I’ve written some pretty interesting and sometimes intense stories over this year and the last several years here at the Gazette. In 2015, some of my subjects included transgender teens, pirate radio DJs, artists who attempt to create ways of healing through tragedies, and the increasing public demand for support from food banks and other social agencies.
On the lighter side, I’ve written a lot of reviews of movies both good and bad, interviewed many a local author regarding their new books, and seen many a fine and interesting art show and museum exhibit too. I even got to speak to intergalactic icon Chris Hadfield, the retired astronaut who captured the public’s attention with his photographs of the planet, his science experiments, his musical outreach program, and his non-fiction account The Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth. If you haven’t picked it up yet, I highly recommend it. You’ll find it tough to put down too.
But in the end, writing about mental health was the most important thing that I did this year. The stories were about real people dealing with real and very serious problems on a daily basis. They seemed to strike a major chord with many of our readers, leading to several follow-up stories and events throughout the community, some of which are still to come. A church sponsored its own presentation and series of workshops for people to take charge of their own mental health. A group of friends collaborated on a fundraising mission to establish a park bench in memory of a man who died by suicide last year. And the St. Albert Community Foundation is now well prepared to start offering back financial support to agencies working in the area of mental health, all thanks to that ball that started rolling with the Hrudeys’ talk in September.
Once again, I encourage everyone to be mindful and observant of how their friends and family members are doing, and to also be vigilant on their own emotional states. Life can be tough and it can take a lot of work to figure out your own path through. Remember to breathe and to ask for help if you need it. Take care of yourself first.
