The Power of Human Connection
Highlights from MHI Partner, Leslie Bennett’s, Panel Discussion at Health Canada’s Global Peer Support Day Event
Last Thursday, in celebration of Global Peer Support Day (October 21), Health Canada’s Corporate Services Branch (HC-CSB) hosted a virtual panel discussion reflecting on the power of human connection. Catherine Lauzon, Director of Mental Health and Wellness with the HC-CSB, served as moderator of the incredibly successful event with over 150 people in attendance. Catherine was a leading force in bringing the the Stronger Together Peer Support Program to Health Canada, and hosted this event to acknowledge the power of human connection.
MHI Partner, Leslie Bennett, was one of the panelists, along with the Manager of the Workplace Wellbeing and Workforce Development Division at Health Canada, as well as two of CSB’s Stronger Together peer supporters, all of whom have experience in the area of mental health, whether at work, or in their personal lives.
Leslie had the opportunity to share her story on the power of human connection and how it changed the trajectory of her career. She led participants through her journey to becoming open about her mental health in the workplace, to supporting and utilizing Peer Support over the last 24 years. Leslie touched upon the three key elements of peer support: hope, self-determination and empowerment, and how their presence in her life supported her through her recovery journey.
“Peer support was incredibly helpful in the first stage of my recovery. Peer support provided hope and got me back into the workforce.”
Hope is a powerful element of peer support. It can transcend even the most challenging mental health experience. Hope is one of the first steps in recovery. It is a motivator and provides an illustration of how life could be different; it’s a way to imagine recovery.
A kind and strong woman named Eva was Leslie’s first peer supporter. Leslie was awe-inspired by this woman who was able to work full-time, doing something she was incredibly passionate about, continue to nurture her relationships with her family, and handle big life stresses. Eva embodied the hope Leslie needed to see for herself, it was a pathway to managing her illness, all the while living a life that she loved – something she had come to believe was no longer possible. Eva gave her access to imagining what life could be like living with a mental illness and contributing to society in meaningful ways.
“Just by having someone in my life who “beat” the stigma of mental illness unconsciously motivated me to move through the incredibly painful time when I realized that my life was forever changed.”
While self-determination is the concept or recognition that each person has the power to make their own decisions, empowerment is the action of supporting a person to make their own decisions. It is about helping someone find the power they are not feeling within themselves (empowerment) because you know that it is there (self-determination).
Over the years, Leslie’s skills as a peer supporter were shaped by the people that surrounded her. She felt very fortunate to know and be mentored by Karen Liberman, who sadly passed away in 2018. She was a wonderful human, who lives on through the lives of the thousands of Canadians for whom she inspired hope through her work at the Mood Disorder Association of Ontario (MDAO). Karen empowered Leslie to realize that telling her mental health story was positive and that what was even better was offering something meaningful to the participants of her sessions, a helpful strategy or tool that they could immediately implement.
“This changed everything for me, as I went from wanting to tell my story, to building and designing mental health sessions that were impactful for the audience. Karen empowered me to think about how I could contribute to the learning of my participants by offering more than just my mental health story.”
This was a pivotal moment in Leslie’s career, she now had a vision and way forward to challenge the status quo of typical mental health training. She began creating opportunities to educate and train others in transforming how mental health is perceived, by proposing non-clinical, non-traditional approach.
Self-Determination allows the individual to find their own solutions versus being told what to do. This competency in peer support is often difficult to master, as our depth of caring can get in the way. We often want to share what works for us - yet we know when someone discovers and implements recovery solutions on their own, there is a higher chance of it working out and being sustainable. Decisions that don’t work out the way a person intended are also part of the learning process and can support an individual to move further along in their recovery journey. Self-awareness supports self-determination. The more a peer supporter has the peer’s right to self-determination at the heart of each peer support conversation, the more effective the conversation.
“I think one of the most supportive conversations I experienced was with my business partner, Stéphane Grenier, just after my mom had passed away in Oct 2020. I took time off to heal and grieve. What was different was Stéphane’s approach. He gave me the space and time to determine how much work I could handle. He kept in touch with me no matter what and he continued to ensure I was supported.
Stéphane also had a parent that had passed away and so our level of relatability was very high. However, he never told me what he did to support himself. Instead, he allowed me to discover what I needed. I’m fortunate to be working within an organization that has a culture where colleagues are tuned in to each other.”
On a final note, when it comes to peer support, you will always find people who are at different levels of wellness. It’s often not so much about the states we are in, but rather the hope, self-determination and empowerment that accompanies the experience of meeting and talking with others that have a similar experience.
That’s the power of peer support, that’s the power of being connected to our shared human experience.