Twenty-four schools will be taking part in the Stop the Stigma campaign this year. The goal is to have all 34 TCDSB secondary schools involved with Stop the Stigma by 2012-2013.

The campaign’s form of outreach on mental health issues varies from school to school but includes a standard “stop the stigma” week during Mental Health Awareness week in May.

Taggart told the audience that his brother got worse before he could get better.

“The voice in his head told him to destroy all the computers in the local legion because that legion somehow had a controlling effect, so he went to the legion behind our house, broke into it, smashed it up,” he said. “A SWAT team arrived, tear gassed him and got him.”

It was then that he got help.

“Some people are born with these things and some people get them gradually over time,” he said. And whether it’s depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, manic depression, it’s important to keep your mind occupied, he told students. “Keep that (creative) muscle contracting because if you don’t that muscle will be creative against you,” he said. “It turns on itself. Because that’s all it knows is to be creative.”

When nothing is going on, it’s all too easy for negativity to kick in, Taggart said.

The day included various workshops covering topics such as teenage depression, suicide and self-harm and why taking care of yourself matters.

Kendra Fisher, a former member of Team Canada’s women’s hockey program, spoke to students about her struggles at the living and coping with anxiety workshop. Ten years ago, when she was about to realize her dream of playing goal for Team Canada, she was diagnosed with a severe anxiety disorder coupled with panic attacks and depression.

Along with working with her psychologist and taking medication, among other things, she discovered that exercising for well-being gave her more energy and more focus and subtle changes to her nutrition enhanced her mood.

“There isn’t a cure and I don’t consider myself cured,” said Fisher. “I am absolutely in recovery every day of my life, but this is something that I will deal with every day of my life.”

But as long as she does things that keep her at this level, “I know I can be productive and I know I can be happy,” she said.

“One in four people suffer from mental health (issues),” she said.

Fisher has now dedicated herself to sharing her personal journey in an effort to bring mental health issues to the forefront and to provide another platform for discussions aimed at de-stigmatizing mental health.

For more information on mental health issues, see www.teenmentalhealth.org.