Loading...
Huron Expositor, 2016-06-08, Page 22 Huron Expositor • Wednesday, June 8, 2016 First Presbyterian Church and Seaforth mother want to create awareness about suicide Shaun Gregory Huron Expositor According to Brent's mother, death did not scare the young Seaforth local. Darkness was shadowing him and as it gradually became worse with each day, he did not see the point in living. On March 28, he committed sui- cide. In his memory, the First Presbyterian Church raised $2300 to be donated to the Huron -Perth Centre for Chil- dren and Youth. It had been nearly two months since his death when the donation basket was passed around the packed church of "well over" 100 peo- ple on May 29. Every spring and fall, the church holds a scheduled concert with the main intention of raising money for the Seaforth & Dis- trict Foodbank. To assist in Brent Powell's family's wishes to create awareness on mental health issues relating to youth, the FPC are now conducting the musical gathering known as "A Traditional Gospel Music Concert» annually for Powell. "I think with Brent, it was a way the community could do something positive in light of the tragedy and show support for the family," stated a member of the FBC, Dale Ann McKichan at the Expositor's office. "Not only for the Powell family, but for young people (who have died) of suicide:' The Sunday after the funeral his mother, Carolyn Powell attended church. McKichan hugged her immediately. She told McKichan, "I just wish we could get the word out about mental health:' They conversed for a short time, brainstorming together to develop a more cognitive awareness surrounding mental illness in general and suicide specifically. The con- cert came up and instantly the two agreed that this would be beneficial. "It was overwhelming, it was wonderful to see that sup- port. The caring people, they dropped everything for us on a hot night," stated Carolyn. "I would just like to see more fundraising and edu- cation. I think people need to learn how to recognize the signs. Come to the realiza- tion that it's okay to ask for help. We need to get rid of the stigma that makes peo- ple fearful of asking for help:' Carolyn said Brent's illness might possibly be genetically passed down from previous generations. It's something that has left her "heartbroken" and yet the death of her son brings back dreadful familiar Painting class receives positive Shaun Gregory Huron Expositor It was not your typical Wednesday night at the Royal Canadian Legion in Seaforth as a group of about 12 women learned the craft of painting with acrylics. Social Art Working or what the teacher of the program, Heather DeJong, owner of fi I would just like to see more fundraising and education. I think people need to learn how to recognize the signs. Come to the realization that it's okay to ask for help. We need to get rid of the stigma that makes people fearful of asking for help," memories because both her father and grandfather had also committed suicide. Back in those days not many people spoke publicly about their own mental health, so the family were never given much infor- mation pertaining to the under- lying psychological conflicts. Carolyn's family members did not show waming signals, how- ever Powell's mother revealed that he left a trail of clues. "He felt like he didn't fit in. He would say things like it's selfish for people to stay here when they don't want to," Car- olyn mentioned to the Exposi- tor in a recent interview. "He just wasn't happy. We had Easter and everybody was in the kitchen laughing, he was in the living room talking to communityfeedb Brush Strokes in Motion calls "ladies night out" is a program anybody can learn - male or female. No skills required, Dejong said. Some of the participants had — stated Carolyn Powell. my older daughter. He said, I never feel like that." To deal with his depres- sion, Powell self -medicated with alcohol. Carolyn said he declined any medical treat- ment for his struggles with mental health. "It gradually got worse, when he was young, he was happy funny loving boy. As he got older in his later teen years, he got more with- drawn," she said. To keep Powell's spirit alive, his mother is hoping more people will come forward and talk about their problems, before it's too late. The more awareness brought forward through social media, news and word of mouth the easier it will be for people battling ack previously only picked up a brush once or twice before. "We even have gentlemen that want to try it out, they are more than welcome," she said while showing a few ATTENTION ADVERTISERS! DEADLINES Our Weekly Deadlines are as follows: ADVERTISING & EDITORIAL Friday @ 2:00 pm OFFICE HOURS: Mon. - Thurs. 9am - 5pm • Fri. 8am - 4pm CLOSED TUESDAYS F;. iffSea Orth8 Main St., Seaforth 11 1IEon Expositor PH:519-527-0240 www.seaforthhuronexposito ':lid f1 r.com ', the same fight as Powell did. "Cancer gets a lot of talk, everybody is right on board. I doubt it was always like that, (but now) people want to sup- port them. It's not yet that way with mental illness, we've got a long way to go" Carolyn said. "Sometimes all people need is a hug, it's time to rally around people that are hurting:' Terri Sparling, CEO for Huron -Perth Centre for Chil- dren and Youth does not con- sider suicide to be hereditary, but statistics show when there has been a member in the family that has chosen to take his or her life, there is a "greater" risk in repeating itself. "There can be biological causes to mental health issues such as depression, people can kind of inherit those genetic predisposition to become depressed" explained Sparling in a phone interview June 3. "I think what's more impor- tant to pay attention to is that for young people, suicide is one of the highest causes of death next to motor vehicle accidents and that's some- thing we should be concerned about as a society." Across the nation there were 3,890 suicides recorded with the magnitude pointing three times higher with males than females, accord- ing to a study by Statistics women some techniques for their canvas art pieces. June 1, the mission at hand consisted of a scenic view of a large body of water contrasted with the sun's shadow, followed Guth Indus &HiA'UFA; C?VEERS Pl57RAEIG llOR DIRECT . YOU A. COMP!. LINE. OFC.V-4E •310 k•I. liNi1.1 i LLE:TO(.X"IMI'LIME:N I MS. :xld.'s t7TVi i;EL FIOxll'. For outdoors, patios', gtrd+'ri areas, rdrar .inoorrr/irr7rrrr a•lrxr'rFraark .l rr�rrr a rias. BEST PRICING ALL 1flfl LONG! o nday - Friday 9;0 = 5:00 Saturday 10:640 -4;flO f Hew/ 519-238-2110 w'w . gocasua1.c U U a) cri CL i 0 0 J Courtesy of Facebook Brent Powell committed suicide last March. His mother, Carolyn Powell is hoping to create awareness on mental health. Canada in 2009. "I don't know if the rates have changed much as our awareness (or) peoples will- ingness to speak up. I think that was one of the most powerful things for the fam- ily and Seaforth as a com- munity was to break the silence," Sparling said. "So here was a mom and family once again impacted by an unanticipated loss that they cannot do anything about. In the old days people would not have talked about it, they would have lied about why someone had suddenly died. It just wouldn't have been dis- cussed. For mom to be willing to talk about it is huge and it also allows the community to embrace he by a couple of sailboats to lighten the atmosphere. Since the 1980s, Dejong has been cre- ating art similar to this. In the past it was considered stroke painting but in today's exercise it was more of a "free form" with brushes. The three-hour course went over the methods a new artist would incorporate with a brash using a variety of four colours. Detailed painting techniques such as shadowing and ways to create transparency in the art- workwere on the agenda. "It's a pretty brief course, but I think they had a lot of fun," said DeJong. The next project requested by the group is to learn how to paint a birch tree under the moon light. Shaun Gregory Heather DeJong shares her knowledge of painting at the event known as Social Art Working.