Having experienced first-hand the realities of living with mental health challenges, Jody has put a significant effort over the past several years into being a voice for policies and programs that build understanding, change behaviours and improve attitudes about mental health in the community.
She participated in Imagining Inclusion’s PhotoVoice project, an initiative to visually record in terms of community, inclusion, health and wellbeing the experience of people who have lived with mental health issues. This involvement has led to her now serving as a Peer Researcher on Imagining Inclusion’s Upstream Change project, empowering Peers with research skills and hoping to influence change for peer researchers at the policy and governing levels.
Jody is co-chair of the Participant and Family Voice Committee with The Canadian Mental Health Association, Vancouver – Fraser. As a member of the Family/Participant Advisory Committee at Vancouver Coastal, she sits on staff hiring panels as a representative for “people with lived experience of mental health.” Speaking engagements are yet another exciting avenue to living out her vision – a “voice for mental health”.
Jody is particularly proud of her advisory role on the Joseph and Rosalie Segal and Family Health Center stakeholder committee for the newly completed psychiatric hospital at Vancouver General Hospital.