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Aurora resident riding for youth mental health

June 4, 2020   ·   0 Comments

Aurora resident and mother Meghan Seybold has pledged to ride 2,200 kilometres to support youth’s mental health.

While a full-time employee as Director and HR Business Partner with RBC, Seybold, 51, founded an initiative of her own entitled Imagine Ride in 2019.

She says this idea surfaced after meeting Eric Windeler, Founder and Executive Director of Jack.org, a national charity organization specifically for supporting youth mental health, at an event hosted by RBC in 2018.

“I was just so amazed with the work they were doing, engaging youth leaders across Canada to really support youth mental health and understanding how to be there for others that are struggling,” Seybold explained.

Seybold is not one to shy away from past struggles of her own. In her early 20s, she suffered from depression. She knows how difficult it is to ask for help and she believes this organization is the right one to support.

There are 28,000 youth across Ontario on the waiting list to speak to someone as per the Children’s Mental Health Ontario (CMHO), says Seybold. The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) recently conducted a survey from April 10 to 24, she added, and asked people aged 14 to 27 to answer questions about their mental health. They reported statistically significant deterioration of mental health from pre-pandemic times to the point of data collection.

Since beginning this partnership last July, Seybold began extensive preparations for her Imagine Ride campaign.

Pre-COVID-19, she was supposed to begin at the RBC branch in Kenora, ON, and then travel to Espanola, Manitoulin Island, Orangeville, Aurora, Toronto and end it off in Ottawa.

Altering her route, Seybold will accomplish her goal of riding 2,200 kilometres.

“So, every Monday and Wednesday night I will be on my bike trainer and ride about 60 kilometres. And then, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, I’ll be out on the roads and I’m hoping to average 120 kilometres a day.”

When riding on her trainer, Seybold will be on Facebook Live and through an app called Zwift. A cadence meter attached to her bicycle will track power, speed and the kilometres ridden. People across the globe can tune in.

Some RBC colleagues of Seybold’s will also be tuning in to witness her efforts.

“We’re so grateful to Meghan for her advocacy and the attention she is bringing to the mental health crisis facing Canada’s youth. Her support means we can work to build a new future for youth mental health, one where all young people have access to timely support, and understand how to look out for themselves and other,” Windeler said in a statement.

According to Jack.org, suicide is still the leading cause of mental health related fatalities.

One in seven victims report suicidal thoughts and in this year alone 150,000 youth have acted on their thoughts.

Imagine Ride has raised over $25,000 for Jack.org thus far. You can head to imagineride.ca for more information and also follow their page on Instagram @imagineride.

By Robert Belardi



         

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