Huron County group looking to 'get real' about mental health

Cassie Greidanus recently left her job as a teacher, so she could more directly help Huron County teens with their mental health and substance use disorders.

"Unfortunately, as a teacher, there’s a lot of barriers to how you can help your students. Here at the Tanner Steffler Foundation, I can finally help those youth who need it, because the pandemic definitely did hurt a lot of our youth, and they’re really struggling with mental health and substance use disorders," says Greidanus.

Her co-worker, Taylor Jones, grew up gay in Huron County, so he knows first-hand the struggles, of being “different” in small town Ontario.

"When you’re struggling with these things, in such a rural place, it just adds layers and layers of difficulty," says the 24-year-old.

Both Jones and Greidanus, now get to directly help local teens, as Youth Peer Mentors with the Tanner Steffler Foundation, who are using Bell Let’s Talk Day on January 25th, to host a Let’s Get Real conversation about mental health, and talk about the lack of resources for it, in Huron County, especially post-Covid.

“Our services in Huron-Perth didn’t accommodate for that, and they haven’t increased their services at all, with the increase in mental health and substance use disorders, that we’re seeing,” says Greidanus.

Tanner Steffler Foundation logo-Seaforth - Wednesday January 11, 2023 (Scott Miller/CTV News London)The Tanner Steffler Foundation was created in honour of Tanner Steffler, a Seaforth teen, who died of a drug overdose in 2017. His parents, frustrated with the lack of local youth supports, spearheaded getting mental health and wellness counsellors in all Huron County secondary schools, with the ultimate goal of creating a safe housing option for struggling youth in the region.

"Hearing Tanner’s name continually in 2023, does make you proud. Heather and I couldn’t do it without the community, good staff, and basically, the health care system having problems," says Tanner’s Father, John Steffler.

Sharing stories like Tanner’s, and others struggling with anxiety, isolation, and substance use disorders, will be the focus of the January 25th event, kicking off Bell Let’s Talk Day in Huron County. For more on the Let’s Get Real event, you can visit their website.