Next week (May 6th through 10th) is one of the biggest week's of the year for the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) here in Weyburn.

"This year marks the 68th annual Mental Health Week and we've got quite a few events going on that week," said Program Director for the CMHA Tasha Collins. "It's an opportunity to shed some light on mental health and promoting our mental health and maintaining our mental health and that's kind of what the events are in place to do."

The week will feature a number of events throughout the community. 

"Monday night, Tuesday night and Wednesday night, our youth theatre program are performing at the Tommy Douglas Centre at 7 o clock. Space is limited there so I do encourage people to get there early. There is not necessarily any cost to attend, we do accept a silver collection at the door but our main goal is to get people in the seats and really enjoy what the youth are able to present each year," said Tasha. "This year, the title of the performance is 'That's the GIF of it' and it's really about social media and some of the things that our youth might see or deal with through social media.They write the play all by themselves and this is the first year I've actually been a part of that process and I was super surprised because, you know, that is them. And I knew that. I knew that they were the writers but to see it first hand was quite an experience."

Every year a local tattoo shop also teams up with the CMHA for a big fundraising event.

"On Tuesday we have our semi-colon event. Again, Mark and Ryan at under your skin tattoos have partnered with us to offer this amazing event. We do this event because the semi-colon represents, for a writer, where a writer could stop their sentence but they choose not to and they choose to move on. That kind of represents someone struggling with their mental health and choosing maybe not to suicide but to move on and to find support and continue living," said Tasha. "I think it really can open up a conversation. Just having that piece on your body, you kind of have to explain why you got it. So I think it's a great way to open up conversation and in doing so your reducing some of that stigma that surrounds mental health."

But it doesn't end there.

"On Wednesday May 8th we have our annual Mayor's Luncheon," added Tasha. 

This year's guest speaker will be Ian Morrison, founder and program co-ordinator for Healing Through Humour in Regina.

"He is a comedian himself and he lives with obsessive compulsive disorder and what we wanted to do this year was highlight wellness instead of concentrating on illness and what people do to keep themselves well," said Tasha.  "Ian has been able to incorporate comedy into his life in order to be well and I think it's a really inspiring message."

The whole week wraps up with a big event in the middle of downtown.

"Thursday and Friday we have our huge book sale. It's our fifth annual book sale with Blue Earth Environmental. Rose at Blue Earth donates all the books, we set them up outside, we have this huge book sale and all the proceeds come back to our branch," said Tasha. "We all maintain our mental health and our wellness in different ways. Some people might go for a walk, some might go for a run, some might draw or sing and some people read. And this is just another way of connecting and maintaining our mental health. The book sale is really a great way for us to have volunteers out in the community, have conversations and reduce stigma and maybe talk about some of the services offered here at CMHA."

That will run Thursday and Friday from 10:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m.

All in all, Tasha is looking forward to the opportunity to be out in the community spreading awareness of how CMHA can help the community and how the community can help the CMHA.