Connections and Developments

A few days ago I posted about the experience of receiving an award from the Canadian Mental Health Association for a column I write regularly for my local newspaper.  The column is about explaining mental health, how to cope as well as possible when it fails us, and the need for continuing efforts to eradicate the many stigma that only add to the challenge of living with a mental illness.

As though receiving an award weren't exciting enough, I've been in contact over the last few days with the Director of Development of the Canadian Mental Health Association, who wants to partner with me to place the column in more newspapers across the province.  She's a little more experienced in the publishing realm than I am, so working with her is an exciting, educational, and very useful experience for me. 

And it will keep my nose to the writing grindstone, which is always good for me.  Sometimes I have more ideas than I can possibly work with at once and often that  means I end up accomplishing very little.  Now I have a focus for my writing energies for the next few weeks as we explore together to see how this will work out.  And who knows where it all might lead?  I certainly had no idea when I pitched the column five years ago to the late editor of the paper I'm presently writing for that it would lead me to the developments that are unfolding right now.

To think that I was reluctant to attend the award presentation!  I didn't think that merely writing a column qualified me as a "Hero of Mental Health."  I still think that a lot of the fuss was a little overboard but, as "the squire" keeps pointing out to me, I'm certainly glad I went!