At age 12, Laetitia Satam started volunteering with Kids Help Phone, a Canadian charity which provides mental health support to youth through phone, text, and online services.
“ I remember at that young age being like, why is talking about how you’re feeling not always socially acceptable?” She said. “And of course, when you’re a kid, I didn’t have the words for terms like anxiety or depression, or even mental health sometimes. But I knew that I wanted to talk about how I was feeling and help encourage others to do the same and share those resources.”
Now 20, Satam serves as co-chair of the organization’s board, as well as its National Youth Council. She says she thinks its important for youth to be able to reach out and talk with someone about challenges they may be going through.
“ Not all young people always have that corner or that outlet or someone to turn to,” she said. “ As a young person, when you can have a conversation with even one person, it can really help ground you.”
Satam sees the Covid-19 pandemic as a watershed moment for how society discusses mental health, and says that things were different when she started volunteering for Kids Help Phone.
“ I felt like mental health wasn’t that big of a topic that was really being discussed or that it was a lot more difficult to find resources.”
She says, ultimately, mental health is a community effort.
“ We want our communities to be well and to be healthy, and, you know, it really does tie into like all those social and structural determinants of health,” she said. “ I think that’s when we have to start talking about like health equity. How are we looking at like different subsets of the population and how are we providing them with the resources and opportunities they need to thrive in their world?”
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