The Community Connector Award
Michelle Neville
Michelle Neville has played an integral role in connecting our organization to the many schools in the Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario, to whom we deliver our preventative program, Celebrate EveryBody. She has also helped us foster relationships with other organizations that support our communities in the areas of mental health and eating disorders. When deciding who our first Community Connector award should go to, Michelle was an obvious choice for her many years of support and contributions to Hopewell.
What inspires you to contribute or work with Hopewell and our cause of eating disorders?
Schools are perfectly positioned to reduce the stigma associated with mental health concerns and offer prevention programming for children and youth. As the Mental Health Leader for the Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario, my role is to help ensure kids in our schools maintain mental wellness and know where to turn for additional care if they are struggling. Hopewell has been an amazing partner and support to our schools through their Celebrate EveryBody prevention program. Schools that have hosted this program rave about it. As we all know, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. I feel honoured to play a part in helping children and youth avoid disordered eating and raising awareness about this amazing resource in our community. As a youth, I struggled with anorexia nervosa and spent many months at CHEO. My mom, Lucyna Neville, is one of the three founders of Hopewell. As a parent frustrated by the lack of support and treatment for eating disorders in our area, she and two other Moms decided to create Hopewell to offer comfort and hope to others facing these devastating illnesses. I know, firsthand, the challenges faced by someone dealing with an eating disorder, so if I can help prevent even one of our students from having to experience this same pain and anguish, it is such a privilege to be in a position to do so
What changes do you hope to see or help make in our community?
First, I would like to see changes around the stigma associated with mental health concerns, including eating disorders. Campaigns like Bell Let’s Talk are definitely helping to get the conversation started, but more needs to be done. By showcasing Hopewell in our schools, kids (and staff) are more likely to learn reliable information about these disorders and feel comfortable reaching out for help if they need it. For those who are struggling with disordered eating, my hope is that they don’t feel alone in their struggle and know that there are people, and organizations like Hopewell, that they can turn to.