Youth mental health team to give talk at Loyalist

By Mike Fleming

BELLEVILLE – Loyalist College students will be able to hear personal accounts from other young people about mental-health issues this week.

Jack.org, a charity organization that offers talks on mental health, will be holding a session talk at Loyalist at noon on Wednesday.

According to the organization’s website, many of its speakers are college and university students from all over Canada. The organization believes that peer-to-peer discussions are the most effective way to convey mental health issues, the website says.

Jack.org began as a memorial fund for Kids Help Phone in 2010. It was started by Eric Windeler and Sandra Hanington after their son, Jack Windeler, took his life. The fund grew into The Jack Project, an initiative meant to help improve the state of youth mental health in Canada. The organization rebranded as Jack.org in 2013 and funded Unleash the Noise, Canada’s first student-led mental health summit.

The talk will take place from noon to 1 p.m. in the Link Lounge. The event is open to the public.