Max is a long time volunteer turned employee for mindyourmind as a Youth Outreach Assistant. He enjoys blogging, cats, and the state of Utah. Check him out on Twitter: @maxamilli

Truer words have never been spoken.

In a recent news article from the Vancouver Sun there is a yet another light shining on something that we should have been made aware of much earlier, that mental health illnesses are not just something that happens to a “friend of a friend” but they are something that touches (and has touched) everyone in a household, a community, and across the country.

"One in five Canadians have a mental illness and four out of five know someone with a mental illness. It's touching everybody, basically. Most people may not recognize it, but someone in their life does have it. It's extremely common." – Dr. Frank MacMaster

Seeing all the recent attention that has been paid to mental health in the news recently can only be described as refreshing, mostly because we are finally talking about it openly. And one of the most important things mentioned in this article in particular, and in a lot of articles circulating around the country is the role of children in receiving mental health services.

"Children can be seen, treated, advised and guided before things get into such a desperate situation that there's an emergency," – Dr. Chris Wilkes

This attention is validating for people like us at mindyourmind who strive to reach out to youth and give them the information they need to get help as early as possible.

Check out the article here: http://www.vancouversun.com/health/There+health+without+mental+health/5530730/story.html

-by Max