Dennarah Martin-Wilk is hoping to offer a whole new way to hear about mental health resources available in Saskatchewan with the launch of a new informational podcast called The Hope Collective.
Martin-Wilk will host the biweekly audio podcast and its affiliated blog, where she will feature interviews and information about mental health-related resources, supports and programs available across the province.
“The Hope Collective is a podcast and blog, centring specifically on mental health and wellness resources [that] we want to just really get out there, so people have more understanding about what they have available to them,” said Martin-Wilk.
The idea for The Hope Collective came from Martin-Wilk’s experience working as a volunteer with local mental health initiatives, as well as her personal interest as a second-year psychology student.
After volunteering with the Moose Jaw branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association, Martin-Wilk was introduced to the local non-profit advocacy organization Journey to Hope Moose Jaw, where she pitched the idea of teaching people about the mental health help available in their area.
A recent survey from Journey to Hope is what really supported the pitch, said Martin-Wilk, as it asked a selection of residents if they were aware of any mental health resources in their area and where they would go if they were in need of help.
“The results were astonishing. There’s really not a lot of knowledge out there,” said Martin-Wilk. “And I mean, the struggle is universal and we can see that things need to be out there, people need somewhere to go, and they need the right information for that.”
The idea is to talk in detail about the many resources available in the province and how they work, said Martin-Wilk, to hopefully shed some light — and hope — on what’s available to people seeking help with their mental health.
“I want people to know that there are options. There is hope. There are people you can reach out to, and there are programs and so many things you can do,” said Martin-Wilk. “We just want everybody to have access to that.”
The podcast is based in Moose Jaw, so Martin-Wilk is planning to begin by looking at the local resources in the city before expanding to feature resources located across Saskatchewan.
Confirmed topics on The Hope Collective’s future schedule include an in-depth chat with the CMHA about its many programs and an interview with one of the Moose Jaw Police Service’s Police and Crisis Team, an initiative here in Moose Jaw that pairs a mental health professional with a police officer to respond to mental-health-related service calls.
Martin-Wilk is also working to organize episodes about the University of Regina’s free Online Therapy Unit, as well as a spotlight on programs available at the Wakamow Manor Detox Centre here in Moose Jaw, the CMHA’s Hope Learning Centre in Regina and even the Schizophrenia Society of Saskatchewan, to name a few.
“We will also be planning some special episodes to shake things up, where we’ll be kind of onsite to do our interviews,” said Martin-Wilk.
The Hope Collective is similar to another initiative from Journey to Hope called Voices of Hope, a video interview series organized and hosted by Nicole Hebert that people’s stories about their experiences with mental health. For Martin-Wilk, she feels the two projects are complementary — one inspirational, the other informational.
“We really want to differentiate between the two, because they’re both so important,” said Martin-Wilk. “Voices of Hope is the who, and [The Hope Collective] is the how.”
Martin-Wilk is more than ready to get started, with three episodes already lined up and ready to release in February. The first episode of The Hope Collective will be introductory, but the following two shows will dive right into the topic at hand with guest interviews.
As for the future: the sky is the limit, said Martin-Wilk, as she plans to continue producing episodes of The Hope Collective so long as there are mental health initiatives in Saskatchewan to highlight.
The Hope Collective podcast will be available wherever people download their other favourite podcasts, including Apple and Spotify.
The Hope Collective also has a Facebook page and Instagram account, with a website coming soon that will feature the podcast’s partner blog, episodes of Voices of Hope and Journey to Hope’s recurring Hope Summit event series.
