BOARD OF DIRECTORS
INVITES YOU TO BE THEIR GUEST AND JOIN THEM FOR THE
1st Inaugural Annual General Meeting & Community Forum
Monday September 21 st, 4:00 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.
490 Dundas Street West (Pentecostal Church), Belleville
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
MARK HENICK
Diagnosed with depression and an anxiety disorder following his first suicide attempt in the eighth
grade, informed by his direct experience with the mental health care system as a teen, Mark discovered
the profound opportunity for advocacy through recovery
Poster & Networking Session of ALL of our Integrated Services
1st Annual General Meeting of the Board of Directors
4:00 – 5:00 – Poster Session & Networking
Addictions & Mental Health Services Hastings
Prince Edward Services Forum – an opportunity
to explore and discover the basket of services
that Addictions and Mental Health Services
Hastings Prince Edward currently offers as well
as partnered organizations such as Youth
Habilitation Quinte, Quinte Health Care, 310OPEN.
5:15 – 6:00 Keynote - Mark Henick
Informed by his direct experience with stigma and
the mental health care system as an adolescent,
Mark dedicated his life from an early age to
opening minds and creating change. He has served
as the youngest President of a provincial Canadian
Mental Health Association division in history. He is
currently the youngest ever board member for the
Mental Health Commission of Canada.
Mark Henick was born in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.
Diagnosed with depression and an anxiety disorder
following his first suicide attempt in the eighth
grade, it was not long before Mark discovered the
profound opportunity for advocacy through
recovery.
As a high school student, he wanted to speak with
his peers about the challenges of living with mental
illness, including a history of multiple suicide
attempts and hospitalizations. He was promptly
denied.
Mark’s response was his first formal entry into
mental health advocacy. It came in the form of a
letter to the local newspaper, critical of the
systemic stigma which prevented people from
speaking openly about their experiences with
mental illness. The next morning a television news
crew visited the high school, and a passionate
advocate for mental health was born.
While studying in New Brunswick, Mark organized
and presented four annual, university-wide lectures
on his experience with the mental health care
system. Over this time he also served on the board
of directors for the provincial division of the
Canadian Mental Health Association, and he
organized awareness raising events such as campus
mental health weeks, a full production by Ballet
Jorgen Canada, and a variety show.
In his final year of university, Mark was elected to
serve as the youngest president of a provincial
Canadian Mental Health Association division. In this
capacity he also served as the youngest member of
the CMHA National board of directors. As president
of CMHA New Brunswick, Mark worked on a
committee of the provincial government to develop
the first province-wide mental health strategy.
Mark was selected to serve as the youngest
member of the board of directors for the Mental
Health Commission of Canada. In this role, he has
been involved with the board-level oversight of
such landmark national projects as the first ever
national mental health strategy for Canada, and the
largest housing-first research project in North
America.
Mark spoke at TEDxToronto 2013, becoming one of
the most discussed speakers at the conference.
His Why We Choose Suicide presentation went on
to become the highest viewed TED Talk of the 2013
Toronto conference.
Mark is the Program Manager for Mental Health
Works at CMHA Ontario. Mental Health Works
builds capacity within workplaces across Canada to
effectively address issues related to mental health.
He has previously worked as a front-line mental
health clinician for CMHA Toronto. Mark lives in
Toronto with his wife and son.
Clifford Dell Award
Closing Remarks
Annual General Meeting