by Dawn Stilwell and Diane Bergsma The Bergsmas are a local farming family.  Al and Diane, once in the Air Force, took up farming and had five boys, Levi, Dustin, Dalles, Jordon, Jesse and two daughters, Charity and Brooklyn.  Dalles loved growing up on the farm, with the idea that he would grow up and be a farmer himself. That idea blossomed and Dalles bought his own farm at the age of 18.  He married his high school sweetheart, Michelle, and settled into life on the farm.  Over the years, they were able to expand their farm operations, and Michelle...Read More

February 6, 1998 was a day that changed the lives of Mike and Brenda Neuts forever. Devastation struck their lives when their 10-year-old son, Myles, was found hanging on a coat hook in the washroom at his school during the lunch period. Sadly, Myles never went home again. What followed was a funeral, a police investigation and a coroner’s inquest where Mike and Brenda acted as their own legal counsel.  Their experiences during this time of loss and investigation gave this family greater insights into the lives, behaviours, issues and concerns of children. Out of this tragedy was birthed the...Read More

By Dawn Stilwell This space on the website is usually where I write about someone else’s mental health story, but this month, I decided to share mine with you in the hopes of raising awareness about resources for grief that you may not know are available to you. My youngest sister Jennifer was diagnosed a year and a half ago with stage IV inflammatory breast cancer.  This kind of breast cancer is the worst kind to get; the five-year survival rate is only 1 in five.  Jen went through months of chemo, a radical mastectomy and then months of radiation...Read More

My name is Debb Pitel, wife of 31 years to Kevin and mother to four sons. My journey or life experience hasn’t always had a name. There was feeling overwhelmed, being emotional, there were struggles and at times, it all seemed too much to handle. Not all life lessons are taught; in my case, they were learned through experiences.  Countless times, I just needed to talk to someone whom I thought wouldn’t judge me, but instead, I remained silent. When my son Tyler began to struggle, we knew very quickly we needed help. Back 20 years ago, resources were called...Read More

Written by Dawn Stilwell G. Connors spent his entire career in Emergency Medical Services, working as a paramedic. As you can imagine, this kind of work has its share of traumatic experiences for the first responders who attend suicides, horrific accidents and more. Over time, G’s mental health began to suffer and he was eventually diagnosed with PTSD, which was attributable to his experiences on the job. During his tenure in EMS, G and others would ask for debriefings where first responders could open up and share about what they experienced during traumatic calls they attended. Various agencies and services...Read More