Youth inspired to help others
Davonna Kasook chosen to attend Toronto youth mental health summit in spring
Stewart Burnett
Northern News Services
Monday, January 9, 2017
INUVIK
"I felt like I was alone for a long time," says 21-year-old Davonna Kasook.
"I felt if I voiced how I felt or what I was going through everyone would look at me like an outcast or look down on me."
That battle to get through mental health issues has inspired Kasook to become a champion for the cause.
She has recently been accepted to attend the Jack Summit in Toronto this spring, where she and 199 other youth seek to gain the skills to talk about and address mental health in their communities.
"I want to go there and I want to learn what I can do to help (other youth struggling with mental health issues), what types of skills I can bring back to Inuvik," said Kasook.
"I know for a fact just by looking at my peers, looking at the young people in this community, even seeing stuff on Facebook, that there are young people out there who are suffering from mental health (issues). I want to go there and learn how I can be a good support for them."
It's not easy for a young person to relate to an adult, she added, hence the emphasis on youth helping youth.
"It's to help young people be more comfortable by hearing from other youth who have experienced the same mental illnesses or had mental health problems," she said.
For Kasook, seeking help was a big step for herself in getting through her own issues.
"I was tired of sitting around and complaining to myself, complaining to my friends and the people around me, 'I'm hurting, I'm depressed and I'm feeling anxiety' all the time," she said. "I was tired of just complaining to everybody and it thought maybe I should seek professional help."
In the end, it's been a mind-over-matter experience for her.
"All I had to do was keep thinking positive and try to do positive things for myself so I could get out of that negative mindset," she said.
"Once I started opening doors for myself my life changed drastically."
That becomes a self-perpetuating cycle, she added, where the better she feels, the more she wants to help and the better she feels from doing so.
The toughest part about applying for the Jack Summit spot was answering the last question on the test.
All the previous questions were the usual fare - 'Why are you a good candidate?' and so on - but the final one asked how Kasook would tell a dog it was the dog's birthday.
After 25 minutes thinking about it, she said she would arrange a party for the dog.
Now Kasook is busy raising the funds to cover the trip. She has a donation page on the Jack Summit website but also plans to hold raffles and fundraise through other means.
