Becoming the Catalyst in Our Story with Mark Henick

True Thirty with Joey Dumont

Mark Henick dives in with Joey Dumont sharing his personal journey seeking mental health treatment as a young boy and overcoming the breakdowns in a still-broken healthcare system for youth in Canada. He discusses the shift we actively take in our lives that change our course as shared in his personal memoir, So Called Normal.

In This Episode:

• Shifting life’s trajectory
• Different roles we play in other peoples’ lives
• Authoring a book
• Near death experience
• Depression and suicide ideation
• Individuation
• Creating the support needed for mental health patients
• Experience in psychiatric wards and the dehumanization patients experience
• Problem with the current mental healthcare system for youths

Informed by his direct experience with stigma and the mental health care system, Mark Henick dedicated his life from an early age to opening minds and creating change.

Mark is the principal and CEO of Strategic Mental Health Solutions, a boutique consulting firm that specializes in helping organizations and individuals to move strategically from basic mental health awareness toward meaningful, measurable action.

He has previously served as the youngest president of a provincial Canadian Mental Health Association division in history, the youngest member of the board of directors for the Mental Health Commission of Canada, and a national spokesperson for the Faces of Mental Illness campaign. He has worked as a front line mental health counsellor, and the manager of a national workplace mental health training program. Prior to his present role, Mark oversaw the Fund Development and Marketing & Communications portfolios for the Canadian Mental Health Association as National Director of Strategic Initiatives.

Mark’s TEDx talk, Why We Choose Suicide, is among the most watched in the world with over 6 million views. His story of searching for “the man in the light brown jacket” who saved his life from a teenage suicide attempt went viral around world. When Mark learned of products being sold on Amazon that promoted suicide, his successful online petition to have them removed garnered tens of thousands of signatures and again gained global media attention. The worldwide rights to Mark’s first book have been acquired by HarperCollins.

Mark brings a diverse and unique perspective of someone who has been a patient, a professional, and a policy influencer in the mental health system. He lives with his family in Toronto, Canada.

Website:

https://markhenick.com/

IG: @markhenick FB: https://www.facebook.com/markhenick/ TW: @markhenick

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