A local book launch event promises to be interactive, eye-opening, and ignite conversations about mental health and wellbeing.
Learn how you can support your own mental health, that of a loved one, a colleague at work, and especially tomorrow鈥檚 leaders, our children and youth at A Transparent Conversation about Mental Health, Comox Valley.
The event will be held on Sunday, Nov. 12, from 2-4 p.m. at the Little Red Church in Comox.
Jocelyn Bystrom wrote FiNDing Hope to process her own journey as well as to support others who may be struggling in silence. Might you be walking in similar footwear: alone, struggling in your relationships, place of employment, or looking in the mirror wondering: Who鈥檚 going to speak for the girl in the mirror?
Bystrom is. She advocates for health and well-being in the Comox Valley, through her new book, soon-to-be released by Stone Tiger Books, New York, and online at FNDingHope.com.
FiNDing Hope: The Mind Body Connection & Importance of Being Seen and Heard, will be available locally at Laughing Oyster Book Shop, in early November.
Bystrom, will share the stage on Nov. 12 with co-hosts Monica Parkin, TEDx speaker and podcast host of Juggling Without Balls, and Tina Pringle, yoga therapist and advanced teacher of therapeutic yoga.
Experiencing undiagnosed symptoms without the clarity of a diagnosis? Join others in a transparent conversation about health and well-being. Tickets, only available at the door, are by donation. All ticket proceeds donated will be gifted to Foundry, Comox Valley. The Foundry, at 575 10th Street, Courtenay offers young people 12-24, across the Comox Valley, access to mental health and substance use support, primary care, peer support and social services free of charge.
Bystrom, is a passionate, driven, career-oriented, workaholic, who, when a career was unexpectedly swept away, buried her grief rather than seeking support to help discharge pent-up emotion.鈥�
A confident perfectionist was brought to her knees by unresolved loss and grief. Finally, with the clarity of a diagnosis, after seven years of complex, physical health that included migraines, myoclonic jerks, and then in 2020-2021 seizures, she鈥檇 known it was time. She reached out, called out and prayed asking for help. She鈥檇 finally realized she needed support and surrendered to her imperfections.
She chose to address her mental health needs and learn how to get comfortable in her own skin.
Now a community-minded mental health advocate, Bystrom advocates for individuals struggling with functional symptoms (FND - functional neurologic disorder) and suggests everyone requires mental health care supports.
Prioritizing our mental health is not only for those sleeping rough or addicted to substances and struggling. Everyone is worthy of the health care supports they require and deserve. Let鈥檚 stomp out stigma and initiate transparent conversations about our mental health, Comox Valley.
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