In Your Words – Faculty of Education at Western University, mindyourmind, youth team – 2015

The project aimed to co-create guidelines that best support youth in the process of telling their story about living with a mental illness.

Through a Design Studio format (35 hours in total) the youth team worked together to:

• determine what it means to tell your story about mental health
• clarify how to make a decision about whether or not to tell your story
• formulate your story in a meaningful way (if you decided to do so).

Youth were invested in:

• “Reclaiming their identity as best experts”.
• “Refuting” negative perceptions about people living with mental illnesses.
• “Recognizing their unique strengths and potential” to effect change.

_{Source: Atkins, M. A & Rodger, S. (2015). ‘Coming Out’ in Canada:  Redesigning an anti stigma manual for youth, by youth. Poster session presented at the Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, Toronto, ON.}

• People who want to tell their story may benefit from these tips from other youth who have been there.
• The Top 10 Tips poster and the animated Powtoon video are tools to support a discussion between people.
• Co-creative research partnerships have great potential in making the research and results more relevant.