Uploaded August 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
Warning: This video features stories some viewers may find difficult to watch. For support, please visit crisislines.bc.ca or call 310-6789.
Storytelling. It has been used for eons to bridge worlds between people to unite them.
This three-part animated video series will bring you along a journey into the stories of family members of people with lived and living experience of mental health complexities, substance use issues and criminalization. It explores the roles that families play and how stigma has impacted them, how they have navigated trust and identity, and their insights and hopes for the healthcare system.
Three family members were brought together by BC Mental Health and Substance Use Services to share their narratives and wisdom as caregivers and loved ones. Through open-dialogue discussions, guided by words of hope and encouragement from peers of similar experience, the storytellers were asked questions about stigma or discriminations experienced as families assisting their loved one to navigate complex systems, as well as questions about their personal healing journey.
This is video #2 of the three-part series. It is a look into navigating trust and the loss of identity. Culture and connection are often the first to go, when mental health and substance use challenges overtake one’s identity. The family storytellers share how they redefined trust and shifted their perspectives of their loved ones. They discuss how and why their loved ones’ cultural identity changed or was lost. Applying empathy, humility, and acceptance to their loved ones’ conditions facilitated healing within the family. Reclaiming identity is medicine and integral as part of one’s healing.
Led by BC Mental Health and Substance Use Services, these videos are a part of the "Understanding Each Other Together (UNITE)” Project: a journey into our experiences of stigma to celebrate diversity and create change. The videos were created in collaboration with a project team of student designers, faculty, and staff from the Emily Carr University Health Design Lab. Our highest hope is to disrupt stigma, demystify mental health and substance use, and highlight the positive role that health care providers can play in the road towards wellness. By sharing their stories, we can create space for more stories, more dialogue, and more healing – together as a community.
Warning: This video features stories some viewers may find difficult to watch. For support, please visit crisislines.bc.ca or call 310-6789.
Storytelling. It has been used for eons to bridge worlds between people to unite them.
This three-part animated video series will bring you along a journey into the stories of family members of people with lived and living experience of mental health complexities, substance use issues and criminalization. It explores the roles that families play and how stigma has impacted them, how they have navigated trust and identity, and their insights and hopes for the healthcare system.
Three family members were brought together by BC Mental Health and Substance Use Services to share their narratives and wisdom as caregivers and loved ones. Through open-dialogue discussions, guided by words of hope and encouragement from peers of similar experience, the storytellers were asked questions about stigma or discriminations experienced as families assisting their loved one to navigate complex systems, as well as questions about their personal healing journey.
This is video #2 of the three-part series. It is a look into navigating trust and the loss of identity. Culture and connection are often the first to go, when mental health and substance use challenges overtake one’s identity. The family storytellers share how they redefined trust and shifted their perspectives of their loved ones. They discuss how and why their loved ones’ cultural identity changed or was lost. Applying empathy, humility, and acceptance to their loved ones’ conditions facilitated healing within the family. Reclaiming identity is medicine and integral as part of one’s healing.
Led by BC Mental Health and Substance Use Services, these videos are a part of the "Understanding Each Other Together (UNITE)” Project: a journey into our experiences of stigma to celebrate diversity and create change. The videos were created in collaboration with a project team of student designers, faculty, and staff from the Emily Carr University Health Design Lab. Our highest hope is to disrupt stigma, demystify mental health and substance use, and highlight the positive role that health care providers can play in the road towards wellness. By sharing their stories, we can create space for more stories, more dialogue, and more healing – together as a community.
