Who We Are

We are Step Above Stigma—a Canadian charity dedicated to empowering youth and young adults to love themselves and break the stigmas that say they are unworthy. Step Above Stigma is a home that empowers youth and young adults to critically question social norms and step above the stigmas that prevent them from having good mental health. 

We do this through our Chapters Program where students across Canada have come together to engage in leadership, community-building, and creating impactful events and initiatives that drive positive change in their individual and community’s mental health. Donations to Step Above Stigma go towards building and enhancing our chapters, as well as providing more mental health resources and support for those who need it most, particularly youth who are also members of marginalized communities. 

Our Mission and Vision

Our vision is to empower all young adults in Canada. 

Our mission is to instill community, leadership, and purpose in 250,000 young adults by 2027 so they can live mentally healthier lives.

What we are working to address (the problem)

In Canada,

• Youth have seen the greatest declines in their mental health since the pandemic (Statcan)
• Canada’s youth suicide rate is the third highest in the industrialized world (YMHC)
• An estimated 1.2 million children and youth in Canada are affected by mental illness—yet, less than 20 percent will receive appropriate treatment. By age 25, approximately 20 percent of Canadians will have developed a mental illness. Youth who are engaged in child and adolescent mental health services, and who require continued services, are also often not well supported as they prepare to enter the adult mental health system (YMHC)
• 1 in 4 young adults in Canada always or often feel lonely (Statcan)

These statistics ultimately remain intact because of the stigma that is attached to mental health. Unfortunately, eradicating such stigmas in today’s world requires changing entire systems and having every single person accept, respect, and ensure equitable treatment and support for everyone, which is impossible to do at the snap of our fingers. That is why we want to focus on reducing stigmas on the individual and community level first. 

The antidote to stigma on the individual level is empowerment. To combat and reduce the previously mentioned stats, our goal is to empower youth through community, leadership, advocacy, and enabling them to have a purpose-driven impact. Our Chapters Program is designed around these four pillars so that youth can work on reducing such stigmas in themselves and encourage others to do the same.

Our Chapters Program is not an alternative to therapy. However, with the lack of resources available and significant costs of mental healthcare, we want to be the leaders in creating an accessible community approach to mental health that focuses on reducing self-stigmas, creating communities, and having a positive ripple effect across Canada.

How We Are Creating Change

This year, our goal is to enhance and scale our Chapters Program to amplify BIPOCloud (Black Indigenous People of Colour – loud), and our Systemic Change Research Team.

Our Chapters Program

Our Chapters Program is designed to empower youth to love themselves and break the stigmas that say they are unworthy. We want to empower the next generation of leaders to prioritize their mental health and engage in creative ways that encourage their peers to do the same. Through teamwork, our chapters have come up with creative and impactful events, campaigns, and other offerings that have positively impacted the mental health of those around them.

This year, we want to take our chapters to the next level by providing readily available resources for students to lead, create, and inspire everyone to believe in themselves and love the skin they are in. To achieve this goal, we need your support.

All proceeds will be allocated to designing, building, and enhancing chapters and creating more supportive communities across Canada. Every penny counts.

BIPOCloud

BIPOCloud our technology-enabled solution designed to support BIPOC youth. Through BIPOCloud, youth select from a wide-range of engaging, empowering, and educational culturally specific workshops near them. Workshops will help build community and create a sense of belonging. After surveying 240 youth, 97% want BIPOCloud to become a real platform and 95% told us BIPOCloud is an accessible way to provide engaging and culturally compassionate support

Systemic Change Research Mission

We are conducting research on mental health policy in Canada to learn how our nation can make the mental healthcare system more accessible. Our team is also building lasting relationships with stakeholders in business and politics to create policies developed in collaboration with local and federal leaders that are truly feasible to inform programming and eventually make lasting change.