Little Voice Books is always excited to partner with local initiatives that are making a difference in our community! Our Ambassador Program enables us to get involved with these initiatives and to give back to their own inspiring movement!
Little Voice Books is proud to partner with The Ottawa Mental Health Gala to support their fundraising efforts for Do it For Daron (DIFD) and The Royal Ottawa!
DIFD was founded in 2011 by friends and family of Daron Richardson, who died by suicided at the age of 14. With this initiative came a movement to encourage conversations and spread awareness about youth mental health.
The Royal Ottawa is a specialized mental health centre that treats people with complex and serious mental illness across Eastern Ontario. It focuses on 14 areas of care, including – but not limited to – anxiety, mood disorders, operational stress injuries and PTSD, recovery programs, schizophrenia, seniors, youth, women’s mental health and much more!
Through our partnership, Little Voice Books plans to donate $5.00 from every book purchased from now until the Mental Health Gala on May 4, 2018. All you have to do is enter the coupon code “mhgala” at checkout for this donation to take effect! Join us on May 4, 2018 to support a great cause!
Update: Little Voice Books was pleased to donate $115 to The Royal and DIFD through the Mental Health Gala’s fundraising efforts and our Ambassador program!
A special blog post from Little Voice’s illustrator Samantha Clusiau-Lawlor
The 2017 launch of LVB’s newest book The Lighthouse has enabled me to explore my own journey with mental illness and to share it with others. Sharing my struggle was not always easy; in my first attempt at opening up on our blog I couldn’t help but feel vulnerable and exposed. Looking back, I am proud of how far I’ve come in my recovery and how much my life has changed for the better. With that said, I don’t want my story to be the focus of my advocacy work in support of mental health, but rather the enabler to amplify the conversation, particularly as it relates to eating disorders.
And so, I once more take pen to pad in an effort to promote Eating Disorder Awareness Week in Canada, which is taking place from February 1st to 7th. This year’s theme is One Size DOESN’T Fit All – a theme I not only relate to but commend. You see, when we often think of mental health, and even eating disorders, we begin to classify people – we try to fit people in boxes, boxes with labels. This year’s campaign recognizes that eating disorders affect people of all sizes, genders, races, sexual orientation and socio-economic backgrounds.
This past January, Little Voice was very excited to announce their latest children’s book that would focus on mental health. The decision was a no brainer and instantly became a powerful journey for both author Amanda Bernardo and illustrator Samantha Clusiau-Lawlor.
For many years, Amanda has been an advocate for mental health. She has fought to create awareness for Alzheimer’s disease and has, more recently, opened up about her personal struggle with anxiety.
I have never really opened up about my anxiety. I never wanted to appear weak, I never wanted to feel judged, and I never wanted to have it define who I was or who I could become. Anxiety can be something different for everyone. I never got anxious about work or deadlines, or speaking in front of large crowds; instead, the smallest of details that for many would seem insignificant would replay over and over and over again, until I would feel sick. I hated how certain thoughts could sometimes keep me up all night or even worse, trigger a panic attack. I hated it because I couldn’t control it and if I couldn’t be in control of my anxiety, then a part of me felt like I wasn’t in control of my life. Over the years, I have learned to deal with my anxiety. I guess in many ways I started trying to drown out the thoughts that would make me sick and instead focus on the little voice that inspired me to live life to the fullest. I am extremely proud to be launching this next book in the Little Voice series not only because of how close to home it hits, but because I know it will serve as an important tool to truly start a conversation around mental health. This is our little way of breaking the stigma, but more importantly, our big way of reminding all those suffering from mental illness that they are not alone.
– Amanda Bernardo, Author
This past June, Samantha shared her story for the very first time publicly in a three part series titled Aftertaste. The short series shared Samantha’s journey with an eating disorder and served as the beginning to her own advocacy work towards mental health.
Having struggled not only with a mental illness, but also the fear of sharing my story with others, I know how difficult it can be to share parts of you that for many years you even hid from yourself. As I shared in my short series Aftertaste, I was scared to seek help, I was scared to open up, and I was scared of what others may say when I finally had the courage to say “I have an eating disorder.” I had to first find it in myself to be okay before I could begin to be okay with others. Sometimes those first steps can be the hardest and the scariest but what I learned in sharing my story is that we are not alone. We are each fighting our own battles every single day, but if we do not open up and share out stories with others, we will only continue to let the stigma define us. I am so excited for this next book in the Little Voice series and hope that my art, accompanied by Amanda’s poetry, will serve as an important tool that I only wish I had growing up. This will no doubt be one of the most powerful projects I have ever had the privilege of working on and I can’t wait to share it with all of you.
– Samantha Clusiau-Lawlor, Illustrator
Today, Little Voice is extremely excited to share with you the cover of our newest book: The Lighthouse.
We are also very excited to announce that a portion of every book sale will be donated in support of the National Canadian Mental Health Association. We hope that our newest children’s book will not only start an important conversation around mental health but that it will also support the programs and services that help to build resilience and support recovery from mental illness in communities across Canada.
Over the next few months we will be working to finalize The Lighthouse and will be sharing updates on how you can pre-order your very own copy. Please continue to follow our journey until then!
For the past two years, readers have asked the Little Voice team when the next Little Voice book could be expected.
To be honest, for a long time, I did not know. I knew what the Little Voice series would look like but hadn’t put pen to pad in a long time. I guess you could say I had a major case of writer’s block. When I first set out to create Little Voice, I knew I wanted to create a publishing company that would utilize literature as a means of creating awareness while giving back to my community. The next Little Voice book had to fill this criteria in order for the writing to truly flow. I always refer to the first Little Voice book as the general mantra of what Little Voice is all about. The series that would follow would be more specific, tackling important issues that face the next generation.
– Amanda Bernardo, Author
And so, today on January 25, 2017, to coincide with #BellLetsTalk, the Little Voice team is finally ready to announce their next book. Together, with the talents of Samantha Clusiau-Lawlor and the writing by Amanda Bernardo, the Little Voice team will be launching Book #2 as the official start to the Little Voice Series.
The next Little Voice book will focus on mental health and will serve as a tool to educate children and as a means to help end the stigma.
Mental illness is something Little Voice has advocated for in creating awareness for Alzheimer’s disease, in Samantha’s own story with an eating disorder, and Amanda’s struggles with anxiety. The reality is, we are all impacted by our mental health. For some, it takes major moments in life to recognize that help is needed, while others continue to suffer in silence in fear of being judged. This needs to end.
By creating this new book on mental health, Little Voice hopes to continue to support conversations like #BellLetsTalk while inspiring children everywhere to break the silence and seek support if needed. By sharing our stories, we realize that we are not alone and that our mental health is something that is always worth prioritizing.
We look forward to keeping you updated on our future plans for Book #2 and hope to share an official title with you soon. Stay tuned and until then, please take part in today’s #BellLetsTalk.
Every time you talk, text and join in on social media on January 25, Bell will donate 5¢ more to mental health initiatives.
Today is #WorldMentalHealthDay; a day for global mental health education, awareness and advocacy!
This years’s theme Dignity in Mental Health-Psychological & Mental Health First Aid for Allwill enable us to contribute to the goal of taking mental health out of the shadows so that people in general feel more confident in tackling the stigma, isolation and discrimination that continues to plague people with mental health conditions, their families and careers.
