Is this you? As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.
Claim your profile
Articles by Jessica Ward-King
The invisible gap
If you are in distress, you can call or text 988 at any time. If it is an emergency, call 9-1-1 or go to your local emergency department. What Truth and Reconciliation demands of us When online discussions of mental health are curtailed, people suffer. Why advocates are calling... What makes someone feel safe isn't something we can assume. We have to ask.... One in five people in Canada lives with a mental health challenge. Many of...
Showing Up: Stories of Thriving at Work
If you are in distress, you can call or text 988 at any time. If it is an emergency, call 9-1-1 or go to your local emergency department. Only a month after Joy McNabb completed Talking About Suicide — a refreshed, free,... Today, Alisha Haseeb is a member of the Mental Health Commission of Canada’s Youth... Minneapolis made headlines last winter as a community caught up in a national crisis;... Why people living with mental illness need treatment, not incarceration.
Accommodations: The Bridge from Mental Health Disability to Employee Retention
If you are in distress, you can call or text 988 at any time. If it is an emergency, call 9-1-1 or go to your local emergency department. Stories, insights, and voices that shaped our year. If you wonder whether or not to share your story, read on. I’ve experienced... Rethinking masculinity to end gender-based violence Amid 2020 isolation, aimless drives and a phone camera taught me to live in... Mental health concerns and illnesses have a serious economic impact on the Canadian workforce.
Mental Health Commission of Canada
Explore visionary global initiatives that are reshaping how we access and deliver mental health... Misty Pratt’s book, subtitled How Gender Bias Harms Women’s Mental Health, argues for broader... A new toolkit offers supports for improving working conditions and practices in health-care operations. It starts with learning. A free course on dismantling structural stigma in health care...
Mental Health Commission of Canada
Society Why I keep naloxone at work Subscribe to Catalyst Subscribe to get our magazine delivered right to your inbox Name(Required) First Last #ChatSafe guidelines for young people show how to safely discuss self-harm and suicide online Is it time to take a pause – for your mental health? Online mental health support is breaking down barriers. We look at the potential of... As schools take on tech giants, experts weigh in on the broader implications of...
Rallying as an Ally
In this fourth and final piece in the series, we explore the costs of... A lack of economic awareness or control over one’s finances can have long-term impacts.... Author Dr. Jennifer Mullan’s new book takes a critical look at care If it’s just not working, then don’t ghost. Name your needs.
How to find a 2SLGBTQIA+ mental health service provider
By Jessica Ward-King It’s been a while since I’ve dated (my wife and I celebrated 16 years of marriage in August), but I still remember the horrors – and yes, it was online even back then. Search through dozens upon dozens (hundreds?) of profiles to try to find one that looks like it might match what you want, then message to see if they match you too…then the actual date to see if you ACTUALLY match each other – it was exhausting.
Bread and butter: money and mental health
By Jessica Ward-King Butter just cost me $8. And I live in a major urban centre – I don’t even live in a rural or remote area of our vast country where I am sure that butter costs exorbitantly more. And you know what else just cost me more money? My medication, therapy (if I can even afford that at all), gas to get to the doctor to start with, pretty much every form of self-care – everything costs money, and everything costs more and more of it these days.
You are not alone - let’s talk about suicidal ideation
By Jessica Ward-King This blog post discusses suicide. I’m going to go to a bit of a dark place, and I would invite you to follow me there because it is important. I have had (and the way bipolar disorder goes so cyclically, likely will have again) suicidal ideation, and I would like to tell you what it is like.
Back on the road to recovery
By Jessica Ward-King I was driving my car down the street, heading to a movie with a friend, when all of a sudden: WHAM! A pothole. My tire was in there before I could react, and I don’t know what it did – bent my alignment or twisted my suspension or something (can you tell I’m no mechanic?) – but the next thing I know, I am stranded by the side of the road and being towed to the shop, facing a very hefty bill and a long process just to make her roadworthy again. And I missed my movie.
We hesitate to mention mental health and 2SLGBTQIA+ in the same breath
By Jessica Ward-King It took me a long time to tell my Catholic parents that I am a lesbian. I remember coming home from university one Christmas with my heart in my throat. This was going to be the time. I wanted to do it over the phone so that I wouldn’t have to see their faces, so that I could hang up and cry into my pillow, but I couldn’t do that to them. So, I first sat down with my mother by the fire, over a cup of eggnog, and just…said it.
Peer support changed my life
By Jessica Ward-King I parked my car blocks away, terrified that if anyone saw me near the building they would know that I was one of the “crazy” people attending the meeting. I walked slowly, almost turning back to my car 3 times before I made it to the door. What kind of people would I find inside? I put my hand on the handle, took a deep breath, and entered.
I didn’t imagine that mental health was affected by the colour of one’s skin. I was wrong.
By Jessica Ward-King I am a white woman, but my wife and son are not. And I have seen in the past 17 years that I have loved them, that things aren’t the same for them. As a white woman, even though I wasn’t born into particular privilege in terms of class or status, I was nonetheless born into the privilege of race where most medical and mental health practitioners look and think like me. As a white woman, doctors do not withhold medication from me.
See me as a person, not a diagnosis
By Jessica Ward-King, B.Sc., Ph.D. “You’re so brave.” “You’re such an inspiration!” “You’re so strong – such a fighter.” We say these things to people living with illness and disability all the time, but have you ever thought about what they might be hearing? Bravery is defined as “strength in the face of pain or grief”. And, perhaps to some people, a disability like mental illness is a very painful thought.
5 movies to help you talk to your kids about mental health
By Jessica Ward-King Even children can struggle with mental health challenges. But how do you explain mental health to children in an age-appropriate way? It’s got to be engaging, it’s got to be fun, and it’s got to be relevant. My 10-year-old son gets a lot of mental health messaging from me, his “StigmaCrusher” mom, but I’m “just his mom” so I lean on the power of media.
Is E-Mental Health Support Right for You?
By Jessica Ward-King Twenty-something years ago, after Y2K did not result in the collapse of the modern world, my university campus general practitioner proposed something radical: while I was waiting for an appointment with specialized mental health services, I could access a newly-developed service that would offer Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) to me online and from the safety and comfort of my dorm room.
Rest is not the same thing as recovery
By Jessica Ward-King, B.Sc.(Hons), Ph.D. The other day I was walking down the street when my foot hit a divot in the pavement, and I went over on my ankle. I heard – or maybe felt – a snap. My ankle started swelling almost immediately.
Hiding my struggle with depression
By Jessica Ward-King, B.Sc., Ph.D. I do my hair. Paint my face. Iron my blouse and press it just so. Earrings, a matching necklace. Glasses the complement the look. I’m ready for my close-up – in a Zoom meeting, of course. I am put-together and professional. Trendy, even. Successful. From the waist down I look more like I feel – stained pajama bottoms and slippers, legs unshaven. I am barely able to drag myself from bedroom to home-office. Yesterday’s coffee cup holds today’s tepid brew.
Show More
loading
Actions
Is this you?
As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.Get in touch with Jessica
Contact Jessica, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack