The kitchen is an important room at Halifax’s Laing House. It’s a place for members to nourish their bodies and their souls.
“We have a meal and then we all sit around and get to catch up and chat and laugh,” says member Courtney Loveless.
Loveless started coming to Laing House about two years ago.
“I was struggling with mental illness for a long time,” she recalls. “I’ve been struggling with it since about the age of 13. Then in 2015 I went through a lot of struggles and a friend had told me about Laing House.”
“Laing House is an organization that works with youth between ages 16 and 30 who have a diagnosed mental illness of anxiety, mood or psychotic disorder,” says Hilary Rankin, executive director of the Laing House Association.
Rankin says the house is a drop-in centre and a peer support environment.
“It’s a place where people can come and just be themselves. Our tagline is ‘come as you are,’” Rankin says.
Laing House offers a number of programs, including peer mentorship, education and employment help, healthy living and fun activities.
“I love to do drop in art. I’m very artistic,” says Loveless. “I love PSN night. It stands for Peer Support Network.”
Rankin says Peer Support Network is easily the most popular and successful program.
“Tuesday night, people come here. They shop together, plan the meal together, prepare it, eat it and clean up,” Rankin says. “It’s our family meal. That’s how we look at it. It’s our Sunday dinner.”
The program was funded by the first Bell Let’s Talk Day in 2011.
“It’s a really great opportunity to bring attention in a positive way to mental health,” Rankin tells CTV News.
Loveless is continuing the conversation about mental health, becoming a peer supporter, hosting workshops and sharing her story – things she says she never would have done without Laing House.
“Before I was sort of ashamed of struggling with these things, of struggling with PTSD, and I felt kind of like an outcast,” Loveless says. “Nobody really understood it. It’s just allowed me to be like ‘okay, I have this’ and allowed me to talk about it.”
“This is a place where people can come and not have to explain their behavior, how they’re feeling, if they’re down, if they’re up, if they’re all over the place,” Rankin explains. “They can just come here and be who they want to be and who they are.”
