It's Mental Health Awareness Week: Two or more of us around this table could really be struggling. How would you know?

It's Mental Health Awareness week and I had the opportunity to attend St Joseph's Tribute dinner with Howie Mandel as a guest speaker among my colleagues in London Ontario. His story is an amazing one and nowhere near "done". Meaning he copes with his disability every day. Here's the thing with mental health -- as a society -- we are taught to hide it or ignore it. In Howie's very public experience all it took was a stranger to say "me too" which helped to save his life. A simple "human" interaction may have saved his life.

While the statistics would say that 1 in every 5 adults in Canada are struggling with mental health, the reality is that everyone has experienced some form of a mental health 'crisis'. Whether prolonged or short lived, it is the human experience. Howie's story is a reminder that what matters most is that we keep the dialogue open and stay in tune with the human experience of those around us. Whether in the workplace or among loved ones, it is our duty to promote an open environment and to check in with our folks often. Without keeping the lines of communication open, one might never know what our colleagues or loved ones are experiencing so let's leverage this week to get the conversation started and keep it going...