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CELEBRATE! VRA Canada 2022 Conference

June 1, 2022 @ 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm EDT

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Neil Squire Prairie Regional Manager, Nikki Langdon, will be speaking at this event on June 1st from 1:00pm to 2:30pm. Her topic is titled: Living with Mental Illness: A Personal Journey.

Nikki has had mental illness all her life. She was ill through a time when mental illness was not understood, discussed or even acknowledged. She was diagnosed over 30 years ago in a time when the illness was severely stigmatized, so she did what she believed she had to do. Hide it. Feel shame. Feel Weak. Feel broken.

Through her work with people with disabilities she began to share her story and noticed that in her sharing, she connected her with her clients in a meaningful way. She realized that every time she told her story while sitting in her professional chair, appearing successful and ‘together’, with someone enduring the same war with their brain as she did everyday, she ripped a tiny hole in the stigma attached to mental illness.

COVID exacerbated Nikki’s symptoms to the point where all past interventions had stopped working for her. She was forced to really look into her illness, examine it, dissect it and fully address it on a deep level, as she simply wasn’t able to ‘just manage’ any longer.

Her deepening work in this area brought her to the place of sharing the story of her journey more widespread to tear at the stigma of mental illness in our society. As she worked through her illness, battling it every day, she began to write and in October of 2021 she published her book, Shades, Living with Mental Illness and now speaks publicly about her continual journey, Living with Mental Illness.

(For more information see nikkilangdon.com)

Nikki Langdon is a long standing VRA member, past president of the Saskatchewan chapter and a past national board member – and Nikki also has a diagnosed mental illness that she has lived with and battled for well over 50 years. She has worked with people with disabilities for over 23 years including many with her own diagnosis.

Nikki holds a Bachelor’s degree with great distinction in Adapted Physical Activity Studies (Kinesiology) and has been awarded the YWCA Woman of Distinction award in Leadership and Management. She holds the Registered Rehabilitation Professional Certification from the Vocational Rehabilitation Society of Canada and the Certified Vocational Professional and Return to Work Disability Manager designations from the College of Vocational Professionals.

Details

Date:
June 1, 2022
Time:
1:00 pm - 2:30 pm
Event Category:
Website:
https://www.vracanada.com/conference

Venue

DoubleTree Hotel Toronto
Toronto, Canada + Google Map