Mental illness touches everyone: our friends, co-workers, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters … and even our children. The statistics are staggering … 1 in 5 suffer from a mental illness, that’s 20% of our population but yet only 4% of the total healthcare budget is spent on our mental health. As a result, mental illness drains 51 billion dollars in lost productivity from the Canadian economy each year. We need to do more than just talk about it, we need to invest in programs and services that will make a difference in people’s lives. The stigma is huge and until we accept people with a mental illness we won’t be able to move forward and make a real difference. Remember mental illness affects us all so please help where you can. Let’s start with acceptance.