Suffering from mental health issues, Devon Hodder reached out to the NWT health care system for help.
Now he wants to help fellow teens do the same.
In January, Hodder started a group called Northern Minds with his friends Breeya Matheson and Ally Curtis. He’d just spent a week in the psychiatric ward at Stanton Territorial Hospital. While he’d been intimidated about entering the system previously, he found it had a lot to offer him and perhaps others.
“I think the stigma (around mental health issues) is a big, big thing, but also another thing is a lot of people, they don't know what to do,” said Hodder.
The group’s mission is to better the lives of those in the North struggling with mental health issues through education and service.
Since it began, Northern Minds has picked up steam. It now has seven members and Hodder hopes it will continue to expand.
“Right now, we have our ambassador program, which is really the flagship program,” said Hodder. “And then we have support groups in development and then we have a lot of other things in the works.”
Northern Minds connects teens over social media platforms such as Snapchat and Facebook with other teens who have struggled with mental health issues. Hodder hopes the program will provide answers to questions and help youth discover what resources they can access in the NWT.
“They're just regular youth in the community who want to help people, who feel they can help people who've been through similar experiences as a lot of other people,” said Hodder.
Northern Minds, which is volunteer-run, is now in the process of becoming a registered charity, he said.