Feeling To Healing: A Creator’s Journey To Better Mental Health

Update: Following a press release on Tuesday, June 6, 2023, Henry's is pleased to announce that it has been acquired by Lynx Equity Limited ("Lynx") and joined its portfolio of companies. With this acquisition, Henry's is poised to grow and accelerate its delivery of world-class, innovative products and services to consumers and businesses across Canada.

Consequently, after Friday, June 30, 2023, the Henry’s Foundation will be renamed and no longer associated with Henry’s. Despite its name change, the foundation will continue its vital mission and vision to address the mental health epidemic in Canada while continuing to be widely recognized by other foundations, charities, donors, and its customers and vendors.

Actress, Filmmaker: Mariah Owen, Photographer, Director, Producer, Mental Health Advocate, Canon Canada Ambassador: Ajani Charles, Multimedia Host, Producer, Creator: Brigitte Truong, Creator: Gregor Reynolds, Qualitative Health Researcher: Dr. Chantalle Clarkin, Location: Henry’s, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Year: 2023, Production Company: Henry’s, Photographer: Samantha Robson

On Thursday, May 4, 2023, I was part of a fantastic panel entitled Feeling To Healing: A Creator’s Journey To Better Mental Health, produced by the Henry’s Foundation in partnership with CAMH: The Centre For Addiction And Mental Health, which took place at Henry’s new location at 185 Church Street in Toronto.

The Foundation is associated with Henry’s, one of Canada's most reputable photography and filmmaking equipment chains.

It is a Canadian registered charity that works with a network of partners to support improving mental health for Canadians everywhere.

We have all been affected directly or indirectly by mental health challenges. The Foundation aims to impact those suffering from these challenges and unify support of mental health initiatives across Canada.

My first SLR camera, the Canon EOS Elan II, was purchased at Henry’s when I was in the ninth grade as a student in the Claude Watson Arts program at Earl Haig Secondary School, thanks to my fantastic aunt Marleine. She gave me a gift that completely changed my life and led me to my current career path, among other variables.

A Promotional Video For Feeling To Healing: A Creator’s Journey To Better Mental Health, Actress, Filmmaker: Mariah Owen, Photographer, Director, Producer, Mental Health Advocate, Canon Canada Ambassador: Ajani Charles, Multimedia Host, Producer, Creator: Brigitte Truong, Creator: Gregor Reynolds, Qualitative Health Researcher: Dr. Chantalle Clarkin, Location: Henry’s, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Year: 2023, Production Company: Henry’s

My first digital SLR camera, the Canon EOS 20D, was purchased at Henry’s during the summer before my third year of undergraduate studies at Western University, formerly known as the University of Western Ontario.

Before deciding on my career path and during my early career stages, Henry’s was my primary source for Canon equipment, and I am grateful to now be a Canon Canada ambassador, representing a brand that is in partnership with Henry’s while simultaneously contributing to the fantastic community of creatives that Henry’s has been recently cultivating.

However, it was not until last year, during my solo Project T-Dot photography exhibit at Toronto’s City Hall and Nathan Phillips Square, that I learned that Henry’s is a family business that the Stein family created and that Amy Stein, executive director of the Henry’s Foundation and longtime Henry’s board member, alongside other members of the Stein family (and Henry’s team) created the Henry’s Foundation, due to the mental health challenges faced by the Stein family and the global mental health epidemic.

I learned all this through a tour of my largest exhibit to date, which I facilitated for Amy Stein after inviting her to visit my largest exhibition.

With the help of my assistant Danica, inviting Amy and many other notable Torontonians from a myriad of sectors to my solo Project T-Dot photography exhibit in 2022 and facilitating personalized tours for them was one of the wisest decisions of my career and something that I had not seen any artist in Toronto or elsewhere do.

Through such tours, which lasted 45 minutes to an hour and fifteen minutes each, I expanded my network and met many notable Torontonians I admire and respect and would not have met otherwise. I learned a lot about how different people perceive my artwork and documentation; I shared what I have learned about Toronto’s hip-hop culture, community, and history through the production of Project T-Dot since 2006. I also improved my speaking skills and other communication skills.

Multimedia Host, Producer, Digital Content Creator: Brigitte Truong, Creator: Gregor Reynolds, Qualitative Health Researcher: Dr. Chantalle Clarkin, Location: Henry’s, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Year: 2023, Production Company: Henry’s, Photographer: Samantha Robson

I enjoyed sharing my photography and the thesis of Project T-Dot with Amy while providing her with stories about each exhibit subject that she would only have been privy to during the tour.

However, unbeknownst to Amy until recently, I was overextended and struggled with burnout more than usual when we first met.

I took on too much work last summer, a self-imposed problem that included up to three tours per day. And as a result, MindDoc, the mood-tracking app I have used at least three times per day since the beginning of 2017, stated through its detailed biweekly report that my mental health was “critical” during August and September of 2022 for the first time that year.

Feeling To Healing: A Creator’s Journey To Better Mental Health was organized to facilitate a discussion highlighting unique storytellers and professional creatives who have lived experiences with mental health and how they find healing in sharing their perspectives through their work.

The panel discussion emphasized burnout, its pervasiveness, and how it impacts creatives, particularly in Toronto.

It featured Mariah Owen as the moderator. She is an award-winning, multi-hyphenate actress, creator and filmmaker who founded her Webby-honoree production company GTE Productions, at the age of 21 and has had films play at some of today’s top festivals; SXSW, Sitges, Cannes, and her work can be found through Amazon, Apple, CBC Gem and more.

The event also featured Dr. Chantalle Clarkin, a qualitative health researcher passionate about participatory arts-based approaches and digital storytelling. She is a registered nurse with a doctorate in education and a specialization in non-fiction media and documentary filmmaking.

Gregor Reynolds was another panellist, a content creator with over nine years of experience publishing videos online for large audiences. Gregor has produced branded content for Disney, ByteDance, Sony Music, Uber, FritoLay, Proactiv, and more. Gregor works alongside brands, agencies, and celebrities to produce engaging, comedic short-form videos.

I also had the pleasure of speaking alongside Brigitte Truong, who has become a go-to source in Canada for the latest trends in lifestyle and entertainment as a multimedia host, producer and content creator. Her interview style and relatable storytelling over the past 15 years have garnered the attention of some of the largest global lifestyle brands.

At the beginning of the event, before guests arrived, I appreciated the intimacy of the recently-constructed media production space for creatives wherein our panel would take place. I had a few slices of pizza from Pizzaiolo, which were delicious.

After introducing myself to Mariah, Gregor, and Brigitte, I met Chantalle. We had a great conversation about her career, her work for CAMH, the many burnouts that she has experienced as a healthcare professional over the years, my work as a CAMH volunteer since 2017, the fact that my mother was once a psychiatric nurse for CAMH and that physicians and other healthcare professionals are often the most vulnerable professionals in the world within the context of mental health.

This March, on behalf of Medscape, lifestyle cardiologist Svetlana Chamoun shared some data via the American Psychiatric Association (APA) 2018 annual meeting by stating that "the suicide rate among US physicians is higher than any other profession, including the military. Every day, one doctor dies in the US by suicide. New research shows that the number of doctor suicides – up to 40 per 100,000 – is three times that of the general population. The rate in the general population is 12.3 per 100,000.”

Creator: Gregor Reynolds, Qualitative Health Researcher: Dr. Chantalle Clarkin, Location: Henry’s, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Year: 2023, Production Company: Henry’s, Photographer: Samantha Robson

Nurses and other medical professionals in Canada and other so-called developed countries are comparably vulnerable.

My good friend Rikin Patel, a consultant pediatrician at Markham Kids Clinic and a clinical assistant professor at the University of Toronto teaches medical school resiliency to medical students because of the pervasiveness of burnout in medical professions.

Soon after, I met Amy’s parents, including Andrew Stein, Henry’s chairman, who was very interested in my vintage Canovision jacket from the 90s.

I told him I might have the largest or one of the largest collections of Canon vintage jackets in Canada, and I would send him some photographs of my collection.

Amy’s parents were very kind and led me to reflect on their Jewish heritage and how Judaism may have contributed to the creation of the Henry’s Foundation, directly or indirectly.

In Judaism, several principles and teachings emphasize giving back to one's society, in this case, Toronto and Canada.

These principles are deeply rooted in the Jewish tradition and ethics and include and are not limited to tzedakah and tikun olam.

Tzedakah, a Hebrew word, is often translated as "charity," but its meaning extends beyond mere philanthropy.

Tzedakah involves giving money, resources, or time to help those in need, particularly people experiencing poverty, widows, orphans, and strangers.

The concept of tzedakah promotes social justice and the equitable distribution of wealth. It is considered a moral obligation and an act of righteousness.

Tikun olam means "repairing the world” in Hebrew. It is a central concept in Judaism that emphasizes the responsibility to actively participate in improving the world.

The principle involves addressing social injustices like a lack of viable mental health resources for the average Canadian citizen, advocating for equality, and working to improve society. Tikun olam encourages individuals to identify and rectify societal issues through personal and collective action.

After speaking to Amy’s parents, the panel began, and the positive energy amongst the guests, panellists, and throughout the room was palpable. I felt great, especially after meditating for half an hour.

Mariah did an excellent job as the moderator, and what I learned from her is the importance of detaching from the entrepreneurial rat race and letting go of competing and comparing to the degrees one can, especially given that social media makes keeping up with carefully curated avatars of those in our industries easier than ever.

Gregor taught me much about some of generation z's mental health challenges, especially gen z's creatives.

He began his career in high school, and he is in the process of defining his career more clearly, which is more than I could say at his age.

Gregor also said that sharing himself through social media during high school was very challenging. I was horrified that one of his teachers shared his YouTube channel with one of his classes without permission.

He is now a student at Toronto Metropolitan University. I related to his struggles with burnout as I began experiencing burnout in high school, and burnout negatively impacts my health, well-being, and every facet of my life, even though I teach many people how to transcend it, primarily through mindfulness practices. We all laughed when I mentioned that I have burnt out while creating workshops on how to transcend burnout, although the real-world consequences of burnout are no laughing matter.

Gregor’s father, a professional creative, has supported his career since day one, much like my parents have supported my artistic aspirations since I was a toddler.

A support system that believes in one’s creative endeavours and can remind one to exercise self-compassion and kindness is key. Engaging in any semblance of a career as a creative without such a support system is unwise at best and dangerous at worst.

Brigitte reiterated Mariah’s point on resisting the urge to compare and compete as a creative, even though some level of competition is inherent within the business context.

I also related to Brigitte’s account of the existential crisis that led her to change her life during the COVID-19 pandemic, as an existential crisis led me to change my life for the better during the summer of 2014.

She also stated that she had developed a passion for helping women who have been victims of domestic violence as she learned about the increase in such tragic incidents during the COVID-19 pandemic.

What I learned from Chantalle is that more often than not, especially for those of us who are most vulnerable, there are no substitutes for working with experienced medical professionals and that all creatives and all people ought to reach out for help as soon as they need it.

As previously mentioned, the workaholism and perfectionism I suffer from began in high school, if not slightly earlier, partly due to genetics and other factors like childhood trauma.

I unconsciously developed such patterns to overcompensate and fill the void created by my father’s absence during my formative years due to his work overseas as a professor, the insecurities many teenagers experience, shame, a need for validation reinforced by different forms of media and other sources, and so on.

In my case, the first signs of burnout are pessimism, irritability, lethargy, chronic guilt, and the hard-easy effect, a cognitive bias wherein the perceived difficulty of a task or the effort required to complete it influences our subsequent judgments, evaluations, and learning outcomes.

The hard-easy effect causes me to view seemingly simple tasks as very difficult and daunting. Sending a simple e-mail can be difficult or impossible for me during burnout. I rapidly go from being able to do a hundred pushups in a row with relative ease to being unable to do a single pushup, and I am incapable of being productive for a day or two due to recovering from burnout. And there have been rare instances wherein I took five days to recover from burnout.

Living within a busy culture increases the probability of experiencing burnout for many of us.

In 2016, I discovered writer and visual artist Tim Kreider’s busyness essay, Lazy: A Manifesto. I often think about it when I am recovering from burnout or when someone tells me how busy they are.

Multimedia Host, Producer, Creator: Brigitte Truong, Location: Henry’s, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Year: 2023, Production Company: Henry’s, Photographer: Samantha Robson

Through his essay, Kreider poignantly states that “if you live in America in the 21st century, you've probably had to listen to a lot of people tell you how busy they are. It's become the default response when you ask anyone how they're doing: "Busy!" "So busy." "Crazy Busy." It is, pretty obviously, a boast disguised as a complaint. And the stock response is a kind of congratulation: "That's a good problem to have," or "Better than the opposite."

This frantic, self-congratulatory busyness is a distinctly upscale affliction. Notice it isn't generally people pulling back-to-back shifts in the ICU, taking care of their senescent parents, or holding down three minimum-wage jobs they have to commute to by bus who need to tell you how busy they are; what those people are is not busy but tired. Exhausted. Dead on their feet. It's most often said by people whose lamented busyness is purely self-imposed: work and obligations they've taken on voluntarily, classes and activities they've "encouraged" their kids to participate in. They're busy because of their own ambition or drive or anxiety. Because they are addicted to busyness and dread what they might have to face in its absence.”

Quite often, when I interact with people in North America, especially creatives, whether they are new to their field or so-called veterans, they tell me how busy they are, as if their busyness will impress me and lead me to think highly of them.

The opposite is true; I usually cringe, and their busyness is a sign of insecurity, a lack of self-awareness and self-care, an excessive need for validation and existential safety, and poor time and energy management. I know from experience that every time I worked 60 or 70 or 80, or 90 hours in a single week, keeping in mind that I consider managing my business, lifting weights, practicing any form of yoga, engaging in any form of cardiovascular exercise, engaging in any semblance of personal development and introspection, psychotherapy sessions, forms of work, it was a huge mistake that I paid for.

At this point, I realize that the antithesis to busyness and burnout, and the shame that often informs busyness and burnout, is mindfulness, which is non-judgemental awareness of the present moment, including oneself and others; a state of being that can be cultivated through different forms of meditation (among other practices), in combination with self-acceptance, clear boundaries, and committing to and scheduling breaks and fun activities, while prioritizing quality sleep at night (and daytime naps if necessary).

Creator: Gregor Reynolds, Multimedia Host, Producer, Creator: Brigitte Truong, Location: Henry’s, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Year: 2023. Production Company: Henry’s, Photographer: Samantha Robson

Burnout ultimately culminates in depression and can be a maladaptive way of self-medicating anxiety or depression.

It can lead to death by overwork, which is known as karoshi in Japan. According to a government survey, a fifth of the Japanese workforce faced the risk of death from overwork in 2016. The results of the 2022 iteration of the survey are available here.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), depression is a leading cause of disability worldwide and contributes significantly to the global disease burden.

Depression has a significant impact on work absenteeism and productivity. A study published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry estimated that employees with depression miss an average of 4.8 workdays per month, resulting in a 27% loss in productivity.

I suspect that self-employed creatives, or creatives that own and operate a business, are more vulnerable to burnout due to the culture of workaholism that is apparent in most major cities around the world, the competitive nature of business, the psychological impact of variable income, the isolating effects of being a societal outlier and leader, and other variables.

A recent study published in the journal JAMA found that those who completed a mindfulness awareness program experienced less insomnia, fatigue, and depression after six weeks than those who received sleep education.

Mindfulness practices are easily accessible, cost nothing but time and attention, and can sometimes be the difference between fatigue and debilitating burnout.

Journaling, a mindfulness practice, has been a helpful tool for me regarding transcending burnout.

A study by researchers Fekete and Deichert examined the impact of a brief gratitude writing intervention during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The results indicated that participants who engaged in gratitude writing experienced reduced stress levels and negative emotions, suggesting the effectiveness of this intervention in promoting well-being during challenging times. I recently wrote and published an article about gratitude journaling due to the positive impact of the practice in my life.

As such, I strongly recommended that our panel’s audience and all other creatives engage in mindfulness practices, including but not limited to different forms of meditation and journaling, to prevent or recover from burnout.

It is also important to note that mindfulness practices are not a substitute for working with an experienced mental health professional.

For example, someone that is experiencing a manic episode or auditory hallucinations or persistent suicidal ideation most likely will not be able to meditate themselves out of such a predicament. Only a tiny percentage of people can do that, and most people ought to call 911 (or its equivalent) or reach out to organizations like CAMH while in crisis or on the precipice of an emergency.

A few books I am currently reading have helped me transcend burnout, at least for more extended periods than usual. They are The Intelligence Paradox: Why The Intelligent Choice Isn't Always The Smart One by Satoshi Kanazawa, Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself by Dr. Kristin Neff, How To Be An Imperfectionist: The New Way To Self-Acceptance, Fearless Living, And Freedom From Perfectionism by Stephen Guise, and The Gifts of Imperfection by Brené Brown, a great book that I am reading for the third time.

Feeling To Healing: A Creator’s Journey To Better Mental Health ended with an intriguing Q&A session.

One of the audience members asked about how she can price herself and her business in a way that is proportionate to the value that she creates for her clients. I recommended that she research the pricing of her competitors and that she surrounds herself with leaders in her industry, to learn how they price themselves so that she can use such insights and feedback from her clients and potential clients to determine what her new pricing structure can be.

I mentioned that I learned what my colleague, mentor, and renowned filmmaker Julien Christian Lutz professionally known as Director X and recording artist and entrepreneur Aliaune Badara Thiam, professionally known as Akon, charge for speaking engagements through a series of conversations when I attended the Elevate conference as part of Operation Prefrontal Cortex’s team in 2019. Such interactions have influenced how I price my speaking engagements, especially since I am one of Operation Prefrontal Cortex’s public speakers alongside Julien. Most creatives have no idea what the most profitable creatives charge for their services, nor do they know the upper limits of their earning potential or what the markets they work within are worth. And under-earning and under-earning can have very damaging effects on one’s mental health, as I know from many past experiences and a plethora of research on such subjects.

Another individual asked us how she could address potentially becoming a victim of online bullying after months or years of abstaining from social media, and we collectively agreed that bullying is more of a by-product of the human condition and a small subset of the human population as opposed to social media. Bullies existed before social media.

So, following and engaging with accounts that focus on the positive aspects of life and one’s interests, hobbies, and career; ideally, accounts that do not attract many bullies or trolls, or responding to bullies and trolls in jest, or blocking bullies are all viable options for minimizing interactions with online bullies.

Feeling To Healing: A Creator’s Journey To Better Mental Health led to many practical and insightful conversations, and it was an honour to speak at the event.

Creatives, specifically artists and entrepreneurs, form the foundation of society; we are avatars for self-actualization and self-transcendence; we inspire humanity, minimize suffering, and are often on the cutting edge of innovation.

We also employ billions of people worldwide and create the solutions that form the basis of most workplaces. So, the mental health of creatives matters, as creatives positively impact the mental health of most other individuals, cushioning humanity from the sometimes brutal nature of the human condition, especially during global cataclysms like the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pablo Picasso once stated, “The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls.” How true that is.

Thank you to everyone involved, including but not limited to the Henry’s team, the Henry’s Foundation team, the Stein family, FreeCreates, Samantha Robson, Ben Allmark, Louise Malhotra, the CAMH Foundation, and my fellow panellists.

References

1. Chamoun, S. (2021, December 8). Doctor's suicide rate in the US is highest of any profession. LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/doctors-suicide-rate-us-highest-any-profession-svetlana.

2. Agence France-Presse. (2016, October 8). Japan: one-fifth of employees at risk of death from overwork – report. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/oct/08/japan-one-fifth-of-employees-at-risk-of-death-from-overwork-report.

3. White Paper on Measures to Prevent Karoshi, etc. (2022). FY2021 Summary of Death and Injury from Overwork in Japan and the Implementation of Measures the Government Has Taken to Prevent It. (Note) FY2021 refers to the year from April 1, 2021, to March 31, 2022. Retrieved from https://www.mhlw.go.jp/content/11200000/001065344.pdf.

4. World Health Organization. (n.d.). Depression. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/depression.

5. Evans-Lacko, S., & Knapp, M. (2016). Global patterns of workplace productivity for people with depression: absenteeism and presenteeism costs across eight diverse countries. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 51(11), 1525–1537. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5101346.

6. Hoge, E. A., Bui, E., Mete, M., Dutton, M. A., Baker, A. W., & Simon, N. M. (2023). Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction vs Escitalopram for the Treatment of Adults With Anxiety Disorders: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Psychiatry, 80(1), 13-21. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2022.3679.

7. Fekete, E. M., & Deichert, N. T. (2022). A Brief Gratitude Writing Intervention Decreased Stress and Negative Affect During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Journal of Happiness Studies, 23(8), 2427-2448.