At 76 years old, Genia is young at heart. Her life has been full of adventure, travel and new experiences. Born and raised in Canada, she lived abroad while raising her three daughters. Genia immersed herself in multiple cultures, learning an impressive five languages and falling in love with the rhythm of every country she travelled to—from Venzuela to London.

As her worlds shifted around her, one thing remained constant: her love of dance.  While Latin dancing will always be her favourite, Genia has a gift for ballet and, after studying alongside a Russian ballet teacher, she even spent time teaching a class herself while working tirelessly to raise her three daughters.

Ten years ago, Genia moved to Oakville and continued working into her late 60s.

Suddenly, due to an infection on her foot, Genia found herself facing severe mobility limitations, and she was confined to a wheelchair for eight months. In that amount of time, the muscles in Genia’s legs—already weakened by the infection—deteriorated, making it difficult for her to go further than a one block radius from her apartment.

“It gets very depressing. I was used to going out all the time… now with my condition I have trouble getting around. I hardly know my own neighbourhood,” she said. “I can’t even do the Cha-Cha anymore,” she jokingly added.

Genia’s already desperate situation was made worse when she went in for a routine surgery to treat pervasive Carpal Tunnel in her hands, after a failed procedure, lost the feeling in six fingers. Not only was Genia confined to her apartment, but she also couldn’t perform daily tasks such as cooking.

Fortunately, Genia is able to rely on the support of United Way, which provides healthy lunches to people in our community just like Genia. With the volunteers’ warm personalities and much needed company, Genia looks forward to their arrival each day.

“I’m so grateful to have help. I really need it,” said Genia earnestly, “it breaks up the loneliness.”

Sitting with Genia in her modest apartment, it’s not hard to see the love she has for her family, and the bittersweet nostalgia that hits from time to time. On looking at the photos of her loved ones, Genia explains, “Some make me sad; but lots make me happy”.

As the world around her has shifted dramatically over the years, she finds comfort in the incredible service that has been made possible through the generosity of donors like you.

At just 20 years old, Marshall is an old soul.

Unlike many of his friends, he never really got the chance to be a kid. When he was 13 years old, his mom was diagnosed with cancer. The younger of two siblings, Marshall stuck close to his mother while she was sick. When she passed away two years later, Marshall was on his own. “So much changed in the course of a day,” he says, “I feel like I’m 30 today.”

With their dad out of the picture, Marshall and his sister temporarily lived with their aunt and uncle. But the new living arrangements proved to be tough on everyone and Marshall soon found himself sleeping at shelters and friend’s houses.

When he turned 16 Marshall was referred to Community Youth Programs (CYP), a United Way Oakville funded agency that provides residential placement for youth not able to live with their family, and not yet ready to be independent. It was a slow adjustment, but with the tough love and support offered by the program, Marshall was able to start putting his life back together.

“The push you need is always a helping hand from someone else,” Marshall reflects about the placement, “they helped me realize that I had to take care of myself first.” Marshall lived at CYP for 2 years, and continued to get help from their transitional support program when he left. His support worker Susan worked with him to find living accommodations, help navigate debt issues and apply for school.

Marshall has been independent for five years now, and Susan has become a great mentor and friend. She has helped him to overcome challenges and deal with problems that seem insurmountable to any child or youth. At a time when he needed help, Marshall received the structure, support and tools to help get him back on his feet. But that’s not all; Marshall was also a big part of his own accomplishments and success. “I always ask myself, ‘what would my mom say if I wasn’t happy today?’” he comments, “and that’s why I work so hard, because she would want me to be happy.”

She had been hiding both her mental health issues and the physical scars on her arms from years of self-harm, covering her wrists with bracelets. As she began to understand herself and get the support she needed she began to think “I’m actually pretty strong.  I’m pretty brave, and the bracelets started coming off and my self started coming out…”

Maria Estrada spent the first years of her life living happily in Peru.  When she was six, her mother moved them to Canada with the hope of living a better life.  They arrived in Canada speaking no English and having left behind the family supports they needed to establish their lives.

Within months of arriving in Canada, Maria taught herself English as a way to stop from being bullied in school.  With her mother still struggling with the new language, Maria became her mother’s translator and found herself doing the talking in very adult situations such as at the food bank when they needed food, and at the shelter when they needed beds.  At 7 years old, Maria was taking care of herself while her mother worked odd hours to pay the rent and began her struggle with anxiety and mental health issues.

When she was younger, Maria suffered from stomach pains and headaches and her mother told her there was nothing wrong.  She spent most of her time alone and afraid, without the emotional attention that a young girl needs to thrive.  The year before high school, her anxiety and mental health issues escalated when she began dealing with the pain through self-harm by means of cutting. That same year, Maria felt that life was no longer worth living and one night, alone and afraid, she tried to take her own life. 

When the attempt on her life failed and she awoke the next morning, no one had noticed.

With the insight of a person twice her age, Maria knew she needed help.  That very morning, she walked herself into a doctor’s office and told them she wanted to kill herself.  She was diagnosed with depression and anxiety, was given anti-anxiety medication and was recommended to a counsellor.

Struggling with the stigma of a child with mental health issues, Maria’s mother chose to move the family to a new community with the thought that it would make her daughter’s problems go away.  Maria was distraught at losing her counsellor and once she settled in her new home, Maria took to the internet to find the support she needed.  She found United Way funded Reach Out Centre for Kids (ROCK) in an internet search and quickly convinced her mother to take her to their walk-in program.  This was the real start to Maria’s road to managing her disease. 

ROCK became her home away from home, offering her multiple options for services and a staff who cared about her well-being.  According to Maria she “lived at ROCK.  It was just my safe space.” 

In her last semester of grade 12, just months before graduating, she says “my mental health just took me down again.” When asked to describe the pain of depression now, Maria says “It hurt to be alive. It just hurt. I would wake up and just be like ‘I have to do this again’. I have to be alive again and it hurts so badly.”

She had her third suicide attempt that semester and spent several months bouncing between hospitals before she was diagnosed with PTSD, borderline personality disorder, depression, anxiety and OCD.  Maria was thankful for the diagnoses and went as far as to thank her doctors for letting her know she’s not crazy.  Now she knows there is something wrong with her that explains why she has been this way her whole life. 

She had been hiding both her mental health issues and the physical scars on her arms from years of self-harm, covering her wrists with bracelets. As she began to understand herself and get the support she needed she began to think “I’m actually pretty strong.  I’m pretty brave, and the bracelets started coming off and my self started coming out…”

Maria is an inspiration to us all.  She has big plans for the world of mental health and she hopes to land right where she started, helping kids like her at ROCK.  She’s already landed a paid position and plans to work there full time once she graduates from college. 

As she says herself, she is a survivor:

“People always ask that ‘Are you better now?’ Yeah, I’m better. Yeah I’m managing. But, you know, I get sad and sometimes that sadness turns into depression and I don’t want to go to school. But I force myself.  It’s just I have to survive.  I survive every single day.” 

Maria’s story isn’t unique.  She shares her fight with hundreds of other teens who struggle with mental health issues every day.  There is a lot of work to be done to overcome stigmas and Maria is now a superhero advocate in the battle against mental health stigma and disease. She aims to change people’s perspective and begin a dialogue on the diseases that shaped her life. She says, “It’s okay to have bi-polar or schizophrenia. It doesn’t matter. You’re still Maria, or you’re still Julie, you’re still whoever, you know. It doesn’t define who you are.”

With the help of our community, maybe Maria’s story will inspire others to join in the battle and more teens will receive the help they need to lead healthy, successful lives.