Journey to Hope Moose Jaw has made some huge changes to this year’s Hope Summit 2020, but the bi-annual inspirational event has moved forward with its launch to offer what organizers hope is another inspiring message in a difficult year.
Hope Summit began in 2016 as a Ted Talk-style event meant to share personal stories of strength and recovery while struggling with mental health. Journey to Hope hosts the event in Moose Jaw every two years, typically bringing forward a lineup of local speakers to take the stage at the Moose Jaw Public Library theatre for a live audience.
“Inspiring hope is our mission,” said Journey to Hope representative Della Ferguson. “And it is our great hope that we can support people in breaking down the barriers holding them back from living life to is fullest potential.”
This year, Hope Summit is taking place through a series of videos to both follow the COVID-19 restrictions on crowds and, organizers hope, to reach a wider audience than ever before.
The goal of the event is to open the conversation about mental health and normalize the act of sharing, to create a more comfortable space for those feeling affected themselves.
“One of the big challenges people are facing is stigma, and we wanted to find a strategy that helps break down that stigma,” said Ferguson. “We all agreed that storytelling, the sharing of a personal story that speaks to how we broke down barriers, is very empowering and inspiring.”
Hope Summit 2020 launched on Nov. 7 with four videos produced with the help of Greg Olson, which are available to view on Journey to Hope’s Facebook and YouTube pages as well as on the Hope Summit website.
Each video has a special message to share, including an intro video featuring Ferguson on behalf of Journey to Hope, which explains what the organization hopes the event will do for those on the other side of the screen.
The main part of the event this year is two separate videos featuring two local speakers sharing their journeys with mental health — Nicole Hebert on grief and loss, and Alison Thomson on recovering from an abusive marriage.
“The goal is that [the speakers’] story might make a difference in someone’s life, that they see it as something that resonates for them, that they see they aren’t alone and there are helpful strategies that might inspire in them some change,” said Ferguson.
Journey to Hope even created a video checking in with the speakers from the previous Hope Summit in 2018, for an update on how their lives have changed since speaking out publicly to help break the stigma.
“For some, it has been really life-changing. It was an opportunity to find their voice, to speak their truth, to process their journey and it was empowering,” said Ferguson. “We are so very grateful to the speakers for their courageous sharing."
Although the change in venue has altered the event, Ferguson shared that Journey to Hope had no desire to cancel this year’s Hope Summit because of the pandemic. She said the local organization felt it was more important than ever to continue breaking down barriers in the conversation about mental health, considering the ongoing strain of the pandemic.
“Other years, we had it in the [MJPL] theatre, which was so wonderful and it was an intimate setting which really makes a difference for the speakers,” said Ferguson. “But we were passionate about this going forward [this year] because people need it.”
Journey to Hope spends many hours working with speakers, to help them bring their stories to the public for Hope Summit. Ferguson encourages anyone who feels inspired to share their own story to reach out to the organization.
Applications to be a speaker at the next Hope Summit in two years are welcome, as well as any interest in being part of a smaller video project headed up by Journey to Hope member and Hope Summit speaker Hebert.
Hebert is working on the Voices of Hope project, which features smaller video interviews with individuals about their challenges, sources of hope and strategies in dealing with mental health. The interviews are being shared on the Journey to Hope Facebook page and have received lots of positive feedback.
“This is all about speaking up and out, and de-stigmatizing things that have been kept silent so that people know they’re not alone,” said Ferguson.
To contact Journey to Hope, email Ferguson at dferguson@sasktel.net or reach out through the group’s Facebook page. To get involved with the Voices of Hope project, contact VoicesofHope2020@outlook.com.
