Member Spotlight

Hi, my name is MaryLou and I am semi-retired as a peer support trainer

with Canadian Mental Health - Calgary. I am currently a part-time florist

but stay connected to peer support through the WCPTS. I am a certified

peer support specialist for life! 

I was challenged by my mental health since a very young age, rebelling

and becoming involved 

Hi, my name is MaryLou and I am semi-retired as a peer support trainer

with Canadian Mental Health - Calgary. I am currently a part-time florist

but stay connected to peer support through the WCPTS. I am a certified

peer support specialist for life! 

I was challenged by my mental health since a very young age, rebelling

and becoming involved in street life, finishing high school after

graduation, becoming a single mom, and that - changed my life!

Becoming a mom, rebuilding relationships, getting counselling, and

going back to school began my recovery. I managed to complete two

undergrad degrees in Psychology and Religious Studies, and two

Masters degrees - one in Adult Continuing Education, and a Master of

Theological Studies. Thus began a career journey working with street

people, inmates, the differently abled, and university and college

students, until I finally dedicated my career to peer support in mental

health. 

I have seen and experienced peer support in motion, and watched lives

expand with understanding, surpassing self-imposed and clinical

limitations - opening myself and others to new insight and abilities. Peer

support is the bridge from isolation to connection, it is the realization that

“I am enough.”

As I continue to walk within and towards wellness, I stay connected to

counselling and the peer support of my friendships. Peer support is a

way of life, a way to communicate, a journey of respect and support. Let

us all walk forward in our journeys, crossing paths with peers, and

staying strong and open to new discoveries in others, and ourselves.