The ISABC office recently took on the Ride Don’t Hide challenge hosted by the Canadian Mental Health Association. For the month of June, our office will be participating in this event by riding our bicycles in support of mental health within our community. Our mission statement is clear: “We ride for ourselves. We ride for our community. We ride so no one else has to ride alone.”

This spring, the ISABC office will be one of thousands of Canadians riding, spinning, walking, running, doing yoga, and meditating in hopes to raise $500 to help the Canadian Mental Health Association get one more person the help they need.

Many of us don’t feel like ourselves these days. The pandemic has taken a toll on our mental health. Almost half of our entire population is worse now than they were before the pandemic which is estimated to be roughly 20 million people. Prior to the pandemic, 1.6 million people in Canada were already missing out on mental health care each year. With the pandemic still on the rise, we’re now staring down an echo pandemic of mental health issues. We are all aware of the mental health effects of COVID-19 which includes anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts, increased substance use, just to name a few. These behaviours are only going to worsen if nobody does anything about it.

This Ride Don’t Hide campaign is dedicated to help people get the mental health care that they need in order to get back to their normal selves. 

This spring, the ISABC office is riding to take care of our community’s mental health. The $500 we raise will help CMHA get one more person the help they need sooner. It will also reduce pressure on the health care system which already took a hard hit from COVID-19.

Please join us on your bike or in spirit with a donation. Every donation, no matter the size, is a message saying “you are not alone!” 

#NOONERIDESALONE