Performance reaches out to teens

By Contributor

ReachOut Psychosis will be touring high schools and middle schools in the Boundary to raise awareness about psychosis and mental illness. By identifying psychosis as a serious, but treatable medical condition of the brain this program works to help youth and their friends and teachers recognize it early and get effective help.

If properly diagnosed at early stages, medical treatment has the ability to not just turn young lives around, but to save lives. Teen suicide statistics related to youth mental illness are staggering.

Free school performances, taking place between Jan. 14 - 18, by the popular Vancouver band Proud Animal and comedy by Barbara Adler are interspersed with playful interactive psychosis information and tons of prizes from the sponsors to help educate young people about psychosis. Mike Young from the band speaks personally about how psychosis affected his life. Interviews can be arranged.

ReachOut is a dynamic and highly effective performance touring the province since 2005, performing in gyms and auditoriums to more than 22,000 students annually. They performed to their 100,000th youth audience member last year. ReachOut is a program of the BC Schizophrenia Society and HereToHelp. The presentation provides resources and information for friends, siblings, teachers and parents.

“It exposed them to a lot of information which the students wouldn’t normally talk about in a manner which was just accessible and appropriate to their kind of thinking and their way of seeing the world,” said Andrew Scholfiled, Vice Principal, Kwantlan Park Secondary